Syllabus Childrens Literature

Course syllabus: Children’s Literature
Course Description:
The course is designed to introduce students to the phenomenon of children’s literature in its
complexity and genre variety, including oral tales, nursery rhymes, myths and legends,
literary tales and young adult fiction, and to provide a chronological survey of its historical
development. Among the topics the course addresses are: the origins and development of
literature for children; major works, writers, and illustrators in its development; distinctive
genres and their characteristics; nature and function of illustrations; social issues addressed in
children's literature today; problematic aspects of contemporary children’s literature; critical
approaches to children’s literature; and uses of children’s literature in the elementary
curriculum.
The main objectives of the course include:

 To provide an overview of the history of children’s literature from its origins as oral
literature intended for adults to a written literature encompassing all major genres;
 To indicate historical shifts in the purposes for children’s literature: as didactic
literature intended to provide moral instruction, or as literature intended to stimulate
the imagination or provide useful information in interesting ways;
 To examine some of the social issues dealt with in contemporary works of children’s
literature; •
 To describe possible uses of children’s literature in the elementary classroom
The course will combine a lecture format, supplemented with examples (textual, visual,
possibly audiovisual extracts) with a seminar one, i.e. class discussions over the individual
topics indicated on the syllabus and specific textual examples.
Requirements for successful completion of a course:
Active class participation

Knowledge of the assigned readings, preparation for their analysis in class
Credit presentation: choose one text of children's literature that is NOT on the syllabus, and
prepare a short presentation about it. In it, focus primarily on answering the following
questions:
1 - What is the genre of the text?
2 - What are the main issues that it addresses?
3 - What are the typical features of its language and style?
4 - What makes it an example of "children's literature"?
5 - What age group is it aimed at, and what would you tell about it to a child reader?
Final exam – oral colloquium
Syllabus:
Week 1:
Introduction:
Defining Children’s Literature. Typology and Functions of Children’s Literature
Week 2:
The Origins: Stories in the Oral Traditions
“Why the Owl has Big Eyes”
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/03/01/why-the-owl-has-big-eyes-an-iroquois-tale/
„Jack and the Beanstalk“

https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/h-r/jack-beanstalk/jack-beanstalk-tale.html
Week 3:
Traditional Stories Retold and Rewritten
Charles Perrault: “Little Red Riding Hood”
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault02.html
Roald Dahl: “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”

https://ace.home.xs4all.nl/Literaria/Txt-Dahl.html
“Little Red Riding Hood: Politically Correct Version”

http://wordyenglish.com/p/little_red_riding_hood_pc.html
Week 4:
The Onset of the Literary Form: The Didactic Mission
Isaac Watts: “Against Idleness and Mischief”
https://genius.com/Isaac-watts-against-idleness-and-mischief-annotated
Maria Edgeworth: “Forgive and Forget” from: The Parent’s Assistant, Or Stories for Children
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3655/3655-h/3655-h.htm#page173
Week 5:
The Golden Age
Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm
Week 6:
Classical Adventure
Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island
Week 7:
Classical Fantasy and Visual Imagination
Norman Lindsay: The Magic Pudding
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/23625/pg23625-images.html
Week 8:
Coming of Age Stories
Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables
Week 9:
Modern Fantasy
Roald Dahl: Matilda
https://online.pubhtml5.com/pien/hbbk/#p=1
Week 10:
Controversial Issues in Children’s Literature
Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are
JT_Where the Wild Things Are.pdf
Helen Bannerman: Little Black Sambo

Week 11:
On the Verge of Genres: Children’s or Adult’s Lit.?
Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Week 12:
Young Adult Fiction
Louis Sachar: Holes
https://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YWJwbnByLm9yZ3xlbmdsaXNofGd4OjZhMjExYmUwOTlkOTk4M
zU
Week 13:
Credit Week
Recommended Readings:
Zipes, J., ed. The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature: the Traditions in English . New
York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
Hallett, Martin, and Barbara Karasek, eds. Folk and Fairy Tales, 2nd edition. Toronto:
Broadview Press, 1998.
Harrison, Barbara, and Gregory Maguire. Innocence and Experience: Essays and
Conversations in Children’s Literature. London: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1987.
Horning, Kathleen. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books . New
York: Harper Collins, 1997.
Hunt, Peter, ed. Children’s Literature: An Illustrated History. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1995.
Hunt, Peter. Children’s Literature, An Anthology. London: Blackwell Publishing, 2000.
Johnson, Edna, Evelyn R. Sickels, Frances Clarke Sayers, and Carolyn Horovitz. Anthology of
Children’s Literature, 5th edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
Meigs, Cornelia, Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbitt, and Ruth Hill Viguers, A Critical
History of Children’s Literature, revised edition, London: Macmillan, 1969.
Nodelman, Perry. The Pleasures of Children’s Literature. New York: Longman Press, 1992.

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Course syllabus: Children’s Literature

The main objectives of the course include:

Requirements for successful completion of a course:

Active class participation

„Jack and the Beanstalk“

Roald Dahl: “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”

“Little Red Riding Hood: Politically Correct Version”

Helen Bannerman: Little Black Sambo

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