Short Attention Spans

Today at the mall I saw Clifford the Big Red Dog! I also saw a man doing magic tricks and people trying to sell some awesome new toy. I noticed how easily children's attention is caught by things like these, but if they are not very interested, they quickly loose attention. People who write for children must take into account young people's short attention span. Whether picture books or novels, they have to be interesting and stay interesting. Most picture books use the illustrations to carry the story, while longer books are often divided up into chapters to hold attention for a certian length of time. Even games and lessons for kids make sure that they will hold attention and not be too long. This is an important part of children's literature.