Should books have happy endings?

Some people think children’s stories should be positive.

The mission of World Book Day, on 6 March, is to promote reading for pleasure – and there’s no doubt that a book’s ending is usually a big part of that joy. In children’s books, endings tend to be happy. Although the characters are often faced with dangerous situations or tricky challenges, everything usually gets wrapped up nicely in the end. This could mean the main character achieves their goals in life, defeats a sinister villain or meets their true love. Yet some people say that happy endings can be too simplistic and the real world is a lot more complicated. For example, if a book sets out to tell the story of a life it makes sense for the main character to die at the end, even if that…

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The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 481

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