Research Paper on:
Child and Adult Voices in Literature for Children

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
consider the significance of the adult and child voice in the three works studied, it is useful to look first at the way in which adult authorship in childrens literature  is perceived, and the way that childrens attitudes and experience are dealt with by the adult narrator.  For instance, it is generally assumed that any adult will be qualified to write perceptively  and accurately about the state of childhood, simply on the grounds that he or she has already experienced being a child, and therefore has the freedom to write about that  stage in their life. In addition, it could also be asserted that the adult has a more balanced and valid viewpoint on childhood than children themselves could have since an  adult has the benefit of hindsight and a more distanced perspective from which to analyse the thoughts and feelings of childhood.  However, it could also be asserted that the adults memory is  not necessarily reliable, and that the imposition of an adult viewpoint on childhood events and emotions is bound to present a distorted perspective, being coloured as it is by later  experiences and information. In other words, the experiences of childhood are always filtered through the interpretative lens of the adult standpoint, and consequently perceived as having diminished accuracy and validity.  The use of the