Some thoughts on Children’s and Youth Literature: Literature and Subliterature

Abstract

That the Children's Literature occupies an important place in the training of students in primary and secondary education is unquestionable. However, the consideration of this kind of literature is a much less clear factor. In this debate, the notion of canon is vigorously involved and how this canon institutionalized through educative laws, forces the treatment of certain topics and the reading of some works that do not have to coincide with other major purpose of the educative system: the building reading. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between canon and the literature of children and the youth, observe its space, that is, its nature as literature or sub-literature and examine how this literature gets its place with its distinctive features within the educative system.