Explorando la Literatura

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When we are young and small, so many things are beyond us — beyond our reach and beyond our understanding.

As we grow, we realize that harm lurks out there and in there: out in the world and in our heads. Awake or asleep, we may become afraid.

Imagination gives life to fears. Children imagine abandonment and being lost. They imagine unseen harm arriving with strange noises and shadows. They imagine being threatened by both real and fantasized wild things and evildoers. And they imagine summoning up the courage, the wit, and the powers to triumph in the end.

Every culture has scary tales for children, often where children (or animal surrogates) transcend their size and strength through sheer pluck and wit to overcome the witch, the dragon, the evil giants, or the humans. Because children under the age of 5 often can't distinguish between fantasy and reality, they need the gentle, manageable unease generated in Where the Wild Things Are, The Nightmare in My Closet, Bedtime for Frances, The Tales of Peter Rabbit, or the current Book of Excellence, My Lucky Day. Wild Max, Frances, Peter, and the quick-thinking pig each summon up the courage to face their anxieties.

The world can be a scary place, and we all feel small when faced with natural calamities or man-made evils. From our earliest selves, books help us come to terms with whatever life may throw at us — the good, the bad, and the frightening.

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