Why Write for Children?

All of us who write for young people have experienced it, that moment when someone asks what we do, we tell them, and they say, “Oh, that must be fun!” or “How sweet!” or a head-patting “Isn’t that nice!”

And we’re annoyed. This is serious work, after all.

P.L. Travers

But how often do we ask ourselves the unspoken question that lies behind that rather condescending response. Why do we choose children or young people as our topic, as our audience? Why are we compelled to reach so far back into o...