The Spatial Dimension in Palestinian Children's Literature: A Reading of Employing Place in Examples of Modern Children's Literature

Abstract

The story prepared for children is based on an elaborate construction that consists of a set of narrative elements that employ in its context many important connotations for the recipient child, whether he is a reader or a listener of the text. This article aims to identify the element of place and its use in children’s literature in examples of modern Palestinian children’s literature, and aims to clarify what role the place plays within the narrative text prepared for children and the extent of its importance in it, based on the assumption that the place has an important and effective role in the structure of the narrative event. And that moving the event from one scene to another requires moving between multiple places that all serve the plot of the story, and the article assumes that the writer’s choice of place is a deliberate choice that is very consistent with the meaning and central idea in the text. The article divides between a brief discussion of the concept of children's literature and highlighting its importance, then it deals with the place in children's stories and its types and functions, then it deals with a brief analysis of a sample of ten texts from contemporary Palestinian children's literature; In order to identify the characteristic of the place and its employment. The research adopts an analytical approach based on the analysis of the selected texts based on the relationship of place in them to the main idea and meaning; In order to explain the role of the place in the plot and its impact on it.