Writer Lina Kilani calls for using Syrian heritage in children’s stories

Whoever writes for children in light of the proliferation of technology tools and digital educational platforms requires the writer to be able to use his tools in a specific manner  because the literature of children  has its conditions and foundations which the writer must adhere to and master.

As the story is the closest way to reaching the child’s heart and world, the writer seeks to identify and unite  with its  characters and considers it a reality that was adopted as a broad field to transmit values, knowledge and life experience so that the child can learn from it and create his own experience.

According to the writer, Lina Kilani, this goal will not achieve its unless the language of the speech is from within the child’s linguistic dictionary, so that child does not find himself facing an obscure vocabulary that he does not understand its meaning.

Kilani affirmed that the children’s literature writers are required to present real literature for the children that pleases them, nurtures their thoughts, and sharpens their imagination. She pointed out that the Syrian heritage is still alive among us, and works on spreading moral and educational values that the writer  should refer to, benefit from, and make it a bridge among generations.

Kilani emphasizes the importance of adopting accuracy and skill in dealing with  heritage texts to acquaint children with it,  in addition to addressing some of its contents with a contemporary vision that fits with the age of technology without spoiling the heritage aspect or the original text, with a focus on the elements of suspense and surprise.

In wartime, Kilani made it clear that heritage stories aren’t enough , but rather we must provide our children with what is related to our struggle against colonialism, which arouses the interest of the child and confirms the struggle values that should be forming within him. 

The success of child literature and reaching it audience requires a coherent plot, interesting events, sound language and an aesthetic text, along with the spirit of fun far away from direct preaching, rhetoric of dialogue and the logic of events.

The time of the Internet, according to Kilani, necessitates new methods of writing for the children which would help them to express themselves without fear, adopt  educational, attractive and pleasant methods that they absorb and love to fix information in their minds, in addition to our need for the diversity of ideas that generate creativity.

Kilani underlined the importance of the participation of children themselves in what is presented to them so that the writer knows to what extent the children have accepted this.

Inas Abdulkareem