Action in Children's Literature
Kids are cute and all, but they're not quite keyed into all the abstract ideas and emotions that we adults are privy to. And that's why children's books are full of action: kids are much more able to understand actions (someone fell! someone yelled! someone ate a piece of cake!) than emotions and thoughts (someone…feels something very specific and hard to define?).
Whatever emotions we find in children's literature tend to be quite basic (and the younger the audience for a book, the more basic these emotions will be): we're talking sadness, fear, anger, happiness…not existential angst.
That said, children's literature has a knack for meeting kids where they're at. So Max's frustration in Where the Wild Things Are is to a five-year-old what Camus is to suffering college kids everywhere. As children grow more cognitively able to understand bigger ideas, the books will grow with them.
But for the most part, children's stories focus on things happening. Characters don't just sit around and chat all day—they do things.
Chew on This
Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go! is all about getting off our butts and exploring the world.
Those kids in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe may be stuck in a big old house, but it doesn't stop them from having adventures. Check out this quotation (Quote #2) from the book.