The article discusses the phenomenon of the absurd as one of the most characteristic and typicalfeatures of children’s literature, on the example of Polish works for young readers. Within the framework of prolegomena for the postulated more profound research, it outlines several literary versionsof paidocratic absurdity, understood here as founded on humor, nonsense, and carnivalizationstrategies. The way of defi ning the absurd by Polish researchers of children’s literature is comparedwith the uses of this concept in logic, linguistics, theory of literature, and philosophy. The analysisfocuses on three aspects of absurdity in Polish children’s literature: poetry, the anti-pedagogicaltrend, and the travesty of canonical fairy tales.