How to a write a partly- serious story with kids as its main character? How would the tone be like?

Question

I want to write a story about a segregated city with a river a border between the two sides -> a black girl and a white boy become friends when they both come to the river... they make a pretend "world" together.

When the girl tells her friends about the world, her friends don't believe her not because the world doesn't exist, but because people don't think that a black and a white kid can be friends.

This is to answer the prompt "write about a favorite memory that did not actually happen." Does it fit the prompt well? If so, can someone tell me how to write the tone and mood of the story?

Answer 1

It's very possible to do, and has been done before. To Kill a Mockingbird has a protagonist that's a child, and that's a serious story, as well as the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin.

The question isn't whether or not it can be done, but can you pull it off while keeping the characters true to their ages.

This website provides some insight. But as a summary of the headers:

Don't:

• make your characters cutesy
• make your characters sagely wise
• make your characters unintelligent
• have them use baby talk

Do

• write your characters as unique individuals
• give your characters goals
• make your characters smart
• keep in mind your characters are children

The link I provided above provides the explanations for these.