The polysystem theory, developed by the Israeli literary and translation theorist Itamar Even-Zohar, describes every national literature as a polysystem consisting of multiple literary systems, which all interact and influence one another. Each system occupies a certain position within the polysystem – some are central to their national literary polysystem, others are more peripheral, and their positions can change at different points in time. Children's literature can be seen as one of these systems. Children's literature has often been studied in isolation and excluded from other literary studies, partly because it is often reduced to its perceived functions of education and entertainment and seen as trivial and easy to both read and write, and as such, unworthy of serious consideration. Using the polysystem theory as the basis, this paper explores the existing attitudes towards children's literature and the perceptions of its roles and relevance, as well as the state of research in the field and the extent to which it has been included in general literary discourse. It focuses on the status that children's literature, in its original language and in translation, tends to have in literary theory as well as in the context of national literary polysystems, along with the reasons leading to it. The thesis discusses several issues relevant for the translation of children's literature. Finally, it includes the translation of two short stories by Morris Gleitzman's into Croatian.