Children’s literature

Abstract

Adults as well both can and do read children's literature, either together with children or without them, just like children and young adults can read diverse literary materials targeting adults. The origins of children's literature are often traced back to early modern educational books for boys and girls that taught religious virtues and good manners to the upper classes. Some kinds of topics are by many adults deemed to be especially difficult for children to deal with, such as books culminating in a suicide, since such a denouement would leave the reader without any hope for a change for the better. After some initial reflections on the translation of children's literature as a performative and multimodal practice, the chapter presents a series of examples of typical interventions that take place in the translation of children's literature regarding violence, religion, racism and sexuality.