On Playfulness In Wayside School Series

Louis Sachar is an outstanding representative of playfulness in the contemporary American children's literature. His works, Wayside School series, has put the playfulness to the top. The thesis aims at exploring the playfulness in the Wayside School series, and consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its main contents as follows:The first part is the introduction, which begins with introducing the writer Louis Sachar and his literary works. Then it talks about the theory of playfulness in children's literature through the analysis of the significance of play in child development, and stresses the important roles played by playfulness. In the end, it points out that the thesis will study Wayside School series from the new angle of playfulness, and it illuminates the significance of the thesis.The second part consists of three chapters, which explore the playfulness respectively from the aspects of character, plot and language. The character is mainly classified as two types: naughty children and toy, which both glitter the light of the playfulness. Their confidence, playful spirits and fantastic thoughts show their desires for freedom, happiness and releasing natural instincts heartily. The playfulness runs through the plot, which completes with the control of the character's psychology of play and fulfils the children's curiosity and desire. By reading it, children are entertained, touched and fully involved. The playfulness in language is showed by Louis Sachar through his artistic techniques. He does not follow the convention and likes turning the common sense up-side-down to show his taste for wordplay, which makes children enjoy the excitement of surprise and expresses his strong playful spirit.In conclusion, the final part of thesis points out that the playfulness greatly contributes to the success of Wayside School series. It breaks up from the traditional children's literature, which was expected to be realistic, educational, and moral, and subverts traditional fairy tales, which focused on showing sentimental and lyric tone. Louis Sachar creates a fantastic children's world, which serves as a compensation for children, expands their imagination and satisfies their desires for happiness and freedom.