Critical Analysis: C.S. Lewis's Three Ways of Writing for Children

This essay provides a critical analysis of C.S. Lewis's article "On Three Ways of Writing for Children." The essay discusses Lewis's perspectives on crafting literature for young audiences, highlighting his views on effective and ineffective approaches. It explores Lewis's concept of the 'good' and 'bad' ways of writing for children, examining his critique of writers who cater specifically to children's perceived desires versus those who write what they themselves enjoy, and how this impacts the quality and appeal of children's stories. The essay also touches upon Lewis's literary influences, particularly his mentor George MacDonald, and his stance on the inclusion of adult themes in children's literature. It concludes by emphasizing Lewis's preference for fantasy as a suitable genre for children's literature, advocating for writing that combines both the author's and the child's perspective. The essay references various sources to support its arguments and provide a comprehensive understanding of Lewis's views on the subject.

Running Head: Advanced Critical Writing
Three Ways on Writing to Children
Essay
System04104
7/29/2019

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Introduction
On Three Ways of Writing for Children” is a famous article written by C.S. Lewis in
which he mentioned about two good ways and one generally bad way of writing for children.
Lewis is a famous writer and in this essay, he talked about the way of writing to children.
Lewis talked about the good ways of writing stories and books for children and focuses on
the key things which is required to write children literature. This essay critically argued about
the approach of the writer (Lewis, 1963). The present essay describes the writing style of
Lewis and his thought about writing for children. In his writing style (third writing way),
Lewis describes that it is a bad writing way to write a story about the children for children.
This essay describes the work of Lewis and tries to understand the thought of writer about the
best writing style for children. However, this essay will also explain that it may be a wrong
perception of the writer because children can also enjoy the story of children. It can be also
considered that the third way of writing can be considered as a bad way of writing for
children.
C. S Lewis shared three examples of writing in this article. In the first example, he
mentioned a woman and in the second example, he mentioned about a married man. Both
writers were known for their conceived writing for children as a special department of ‘giving
the public what it wants.' He also stated in the article that children are the special public and
the writers find out what they want and provide them with the special thing that children
asked for (Lewis, 1963). While in the third way of writing, he considers that this is the only
way of writing that writer has used for himself (Aitchison, 2018). The writer also accepts in
the article that writing for children is a tough work in comparison to writing for adults. He
stated in the article that children either like the work or completely reject it or do not like the
work. Although, with some extent, the opinion of writer about the children is true because
children do not have capabilities to evaluate the diction of the authors, or understand the
thematic complexity of the writer rather they simply react which might be in a positive way
or in a negative way (Kessler, 2019). However, some of the literature about the children is
better than the adult literature because they attract the reader from the magnificent writing
style and content. The author also stated about this that he have read some wonderful books
on children that are more powerful in content and writing style than the adult stories or any
other adult literature book. Those books seem to have more clarity and focus on a particular
topic that children like to read (Nikolajeva, 2015).

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This article was also critically acclaimed among adults. However, this article is
written about the children literature that how children can be attracted through great
literature, and which type of work they like or dislike. Lewis also mentioned about his
literary mentor George MacDonald (Lewis, 1963). Both were not known for their work on
children rather they like to write those adult stories that they themselves would like to enjoy
after reading as both adult and as children. However, the writer self-rejected the use of adult
or sexual contents used in the children literature or even any movie, which is created for
children (Lewis, 1963). The writer considers that vulnerable content such as sexual scenes or
bad language used in the latest Hollywood movie is a great combination of both adult or
children literature (Burnham, 2009). He rejected this concept and said that it is vulnerable for
both children and their family. Many writers who are known for their writing stories or article
on children considers that if a writer focuses on delivering what children want to read, then it
will be considered as good writing way for the children otherwise it will be considered as the
bad way of writing (Leal, 2015). Lewis also mentioned several writers as an example who are
not known for their children literature but they deliver wonderful work for children and
children liked their stories what they delivered to them. The author stated in the article that
any book is like a journey, which the author and reader both take together. It is a nice thought
of Lewis that shows his depth knowledge about the need of children in the book readings
(Shanahan, 2015).
The author also described the third style of writing in which he considers himself. The
author said that a children’s story is the best way to attract children and it is the best art form
through which one can say something to the children (Lewis, 1963). It is the responsibility of
a good author to identify the need of children and write the story according to their need.
However, it will be better that book which is written for children may also attract the young
people towards the story (Leigh, 2012). The author finally concluded in the article that the
final way is the best way of writing for children in his opinion and found that writing about
the genre of fantasy is a most suitable way of writing for them (Lewis, 1963). If they
composed such type of writing for children then it will be really excellent for the children.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the author wants to state that story about fairy tales or about any
fantasy is a childish work for the children. The author also states that the only way of writing
literature is to write the book, which is aimed squarely at adults. The author also included that

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the modern view of authors seems to display a false conception of growth for the children.
However, it can be said that a better children literature also focuses on the need of children
that what they want to read and the author should have the ability to include those tastes,
which the younger had in their own childhood.

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References
Aitchison, D. (2018). The Young Archive and First-Year Writing: Using School Stories to
Encourage Students' Scholarly Identity. Pedagogy, 18(2), 295-316.
Burnham, J. J. (2009). Contemporary fears of children and adolescents: Coping and resiliency
in the 21st century. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(1), 28-35.
Kessler, R. C. (2019). Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a
Forgotten Age with CS Lewis. Anglican Theological Review, 101(2), 339-340.
Leal, P. (2015). Connecting Reading and Writing Using Children's Literature in the
University L2 Classroom. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(2), 199-218.
Leigh, S. R. (2012). Writers draw visual hooks: Children's inquiry into writing. Language
Arts, 89(6), 396-404.
Lewis, C.S. (1963). On three ways if writing for children. Retrieved from:
http://myweb.scu.edu.tw/~jmklassen/scu99b/chlitgrad/3ways.pdf
Nikolajeva, M. (2015). Children's literature comes of age: toward a new aesthetic. UK:
Routledge.
Shanahan, T. (2015). Common Core State Standards: A new role for writing. The Elementary
School Journal, 115(4), 464-479.