Themes of awarded children's novels in turkish literature (1948-2016)

Novels are important literary works in terms of indicating the changes and developments within the community structure and directing the society. Prize-winning novels have been studied in order to reveal how and to what extent the changes in a community find place through writers' narrations and in what way the concerns of the jury differ. Prize is an essential criterion both across the world literature and the Turkish literature. It is believed that the examination of novels on children's literature which have been analyzed by a jury will help draw the line of children's literature and set the content. It is aimed at portraying how children's literature have had its course from the date the prizes started to be bestowed to this day in the light of the themes obtained. The themes worked on in the prize-winning novels are classified under 9 main topics as themes about individuals, society, communication and technology; national and historical themes; religious and moral themes; themes about education and arts; themes about nature and science; fantastic and humanity themes. The subgoals of the research included establishing how often those themes take place in the novels. The novels analyzed in the research were limited to 66 children's novels that won the novel of the year prize or the ones that won the first prize, the second prize and the third prize starting from the year 1948 when children's literature contests began in our country to the year 2016 when the prizes were given to certain novels. The data of the study carried out through qualitative research method in the survey model were gathered via document analysis. The obtained findings were analyzed by content analysis technique. That the messages of the themes have shown an alteration through years is a proof that children's novels are a reflection of the fluctuation within the community structure. Fantastic novels, which outnumber other types come to the forefront among the prize-winning children's novels. It is observed that the prize-winning novels, most of which consist 100-200 pages, mainly include social themes. The most handled themes are 'love' with a frequency of 57 novels; 'game' and 'reading' with a frequency of 52 novels; and 'family' with a frequency of 45 novels. The most covered subthemes are books, love for animals, siblings and love for siblings. It was also concluded that the ideological concerns of the competition organizers affect the determination of the award winning works. The themes in novels are treated through various reasons such as their causes, situations and occurences they make way for and their solutions. It was established that the themes, which play an important role in terms of reflecting life as it is and preparing children for life, are embraced with both their positive and negative sides. However, some negativities discussed in some novels have been identified as pushing the limits regarding the suitability for and reality of a child. It was concluded that prize-winning children's novels generally protect the approved line of children's literature yet writers and jurors occasionally step out of the line of children's literature regarding the approach and interpretation of the themes in some children's novels. Keywords: Children's Literature, Children's Novel, Theme, Prize-winning Novel