Child Narrators in Grown-Up Books

Powell's has an essay by Susan Henderson about exploring grown-up problems through the eyes of children.

From the piece...

In my novel, Up from the Blue, I explore depression and suicide from the perspective of eight-year-old Tillie Harris. To me, it's a different story when you hear it from her point of view precisely because she doesn't understand the larger picture. The gaps in her awareness create misunderstandings as well as surprises of compassion — Tillie has no expectations of what her mother should be and so is free to enjoy what others might condemn.

It was important for me to give voice to this child. Before I was a full-time writer, I worked as counselor for sexual abuse survivors. My youngest client was four. And while my novel is not about sexual abuse, I had these survivors in my head as I wrote, urging me to bear witness to a child's experience of grief. I also wanted to speak to the assumption that children are unreliable narrators. Survivors are often asked, Are you sure it happened the way you're saying? Could you have imagined it? And I play with this in the book — setting up the reader to doubt Tillie's experience, just as she doubts herself.