Children's Literature
Studies at EMU
|Department of English Language
and Literature|Pray-Harrold Hall|Ypsilanti, MI|48197|
2009
Fall Semester:
CHL518: History of Children’s Literature
Description:
This course surveys the major children’s authors, genres,
and literary movements that constitute the history of children’s
literature. The course also considers the history of childhood
and other subjects related to children’s social and
intellectual development.
Professor: Dr. Annette Wannamaker
Class meets: Mondays 6:30 –
9:10 p.m.
Office Hours: Mondays 5 - 6:30
p.m.
Wednesdays 10:30 – 12:30
a.m. and 3:15 – 4:45 p.m.
Students also are encouraged
to make appointments during other times and to email with
any questions: awannamak AT emich DOT edu
Required Texts:
Stahl, J.D., Tina Hanlon and
Elizabeth Lennox Keyser, eds. Crosscurrents of Children’s
Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Caroll, Lewis. Alice in
Wonderland. (doesn’t matter which edition, but
since I teach the Norton Critical Edition in the theory
and criticism course, you may want to get that one).
Kipling, Rudyard. The
Jungle Book.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard
Book.
Schedule for Reading
and Writing Assignments:
Sept 14:
Starting point: one version of the history of children’s
literature (which we’ll spend the rest of the term contradicting
and problematizing, but one has to start somewhere . . . );
sign up for student presentations; introductions.
Sept 21: Assumptions about children
and literature written for children; the implied child (adult?)
reader; cultural studies and childhood as evolving social
construct as a frame for the course.
Read:
• Charles Perrault “Little Red Riding Hood”
(23-24) and “Bluebeard” (27-29).
• Roald Dahl, “Little Red Riding Hood and the
Wolf” (811-812)
• John Hudson Wynne “from Choice Emblems,”
(141-142)
• William Wordsworth “Intimations of Immortality
from Recollections of Early Childhood” (143-145).
• Heinrich Hoffman, “The Sad Tale of the Match-Box”
(157)
• Robert Lewis Stevenson, “My Shadow”(443)
• Mark West, “Teaching Banned Books” (857-862)
• Judy Blume, “from Forever” (862-6)
• Skim the timeline (995-1002)
Sept 28: Instruction or (and?)
delight
Read:
• Editors, “To Teach or Entertain” (1-5)
• Sheila Egoff “Precepts, Pleasures, and Portents”
(12- 15)
• Aelfric, “Carius est nobis flagellari pro doctrina
quam nescire” (20-22)
• Sarah Trimmer, “On the Care Which Is Requisite
in the Choice of Books for Children” (29-31)
• Maria Edgeworth, “The Purple Jar”(35-38)
and “The Birthday Present” (38-44)
• Jane Taylor, “The Little Fisherman” (44-45)
• Peter Parley “The Pleasure Boat: or, The Broken
Promise” (48-50)
Rachel's folklore presentation:
folklore.ppt
Weeks 4 and 5: Folktales and
fairy tales adapted for the child
Oct 5: Read:
• Bruno Bettelheim, “Uses of Enchantment”
(265-284)
• Maria Tatar “Reading Fairy Tales” (284-291)
• Brothers Grimm, “The Frog King, or Iron Henry”(146-148)
and “Hansel and Gretel” (149-152).
• Angela Carter, “Vasilissa the Fair”
(359-362).
• Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the
Beast” (366-373)
• Joseph Jacobs, “Jack and the Beanstalk”
(393-397).
Annette's
outline for discussion: Terms
Oct 12: Read:
• Editors, “Satires and Spin-offs” (767-774)
• Joe Winston, “Revising the Fairy Tale Through
Magic” (787-793)
• Antonia Barber, “The Enchanter’s Daughter”
(794-798)
• Jon C. Stott, “Will the Real Dragon Please
Stand Up?” (799-805)
• Edith Nesbit, “The Last of the Dragons”
(806-809)
• H. C. Andersen, “The Little Mermaid”
(891-902)
• Waller Hastings, “Moral Simplification in
Disney’s The Little Mermaid” (903-907).
Oct 19: Illustrated texts
Read:
• Editors, “Words and Pictures” (707-714)
• Maurice Sendak on “Randolf Caldecott”
(733-4)
• Comenius (735)
• Walter Crane (738-40)
• Randolf Caldecott (741-2)
• Kate Greenaway (743-4)
• Beatrix Potter (744-6)
• Wanda Gag (744-6)
• Garth Williams (751-3)
• Maurice Sendak (754)
• Trina Schart Hyman (760-1)
• Chris Van Allsburg (762-3)
Leslie's
PPT Presentation
Oct 26: Read:
• Elisabeth Segel, “Realism and Children’s
Literature” (417-419)
• C. W. Sullivan, "Fantasy" (420-428)
• Ursula Le Guin, "Why Are Americans Afraid of
Dragons?" (428-431)
• Nathanial Hawthorne, “from A Wonder Book
for Boys and Girls” (51-59)
• Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat”
etc. (312-315)
• Carlo Collodi, “from The Adventures of
Pinocchio” (440-441)
• Francis Hodgeson Burnett, “from The Secret
Garden” (595-609)
• Louisa May Alcott, “from Little Women”
(82-87) and (559-571)
• Robert Louis Stevenson “from Treasure
Island” (587-94)
Nov 2: Read:
• Isaac Watts, “Against Idleness and Mischief,”
“The Sluggard,” and “Obedience to Parents”
(32-33).
• Jane Taylor and Ann Taylor Gilbert, “The Star”
(46).
• Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (just
Wonderland, not Through the Looking Glass)
Nov 9: Gender as Genre: boys’
and girls’ books:
Read:
• Elizabeth Segel, “As
the Twig is Bent: Gender and Childhood Reading” (511-524)
• Astrid Lindgren, “from Pippi Longstocking”
(170-172)
• Thomas Bailey Aldrich “from The Story of
a Bad Boy” (158-165)
• Thomas Hughes, “from Tom Brown’s Schooldays”
(543-559)
• Carolyn Keene section (642-647)
• Ellen Seiter, “Toy-Based Videos for Girls”
(830-843).
• Marina Warner, “Boys Will Be Boys” (844-851)
Jenna's
PPT on Boys' Books
Ricah's PPT
on girls' books
Nov 16: Ideology and/in children’s
books
Read:
• Herbert Kohl, “Should we Burn Babar?”
(877-891)
• Laura Ingalls Wilder, “from Little House
on the Prairie” (954-965)
• Michael Dorris “Trusting the Words” (965-970)
• Louise Erdrich “from Birchbark House”
(970-982)
• Francesca Lia Block, “from Weetzie Bat”
(820-825)
• Bruce Coville, from Am I Blue?” (824-829)
Sandra's PPT
on Hollindale
Nov 23: Rudyard Kipling, The
Jungle Book
Nov 30: Neil Gaiman, The
Graveyard Book
Dec 7: Seminar Papers Due and
Student Presentations of Research.
Dec 14: Final Exam
Some General Policies:
Attendance Policy: The official
English Department policy is that students who miss two weeks
worth of a class – for whatever reason -- should expect
to fail that course and should probably drop.
The Children’s Literature
Program policy is that graduate students should never miss
classes, except for an emergency. Therefore, graduate students
in our Program are allowed one “excused” absence
in case of an emergency. For each absence after one, for whatever
reason, the student’s course grade will drop a grade:
1 absence = no points deducted
2 absences = - 3 percent
3 absences = - 8 percent
4 absences = - 15 percent (final grade B or lower)
> 4 absences = -25 percent (final grade C or lower)
Late paper policy: I will accept
late work, but will deduct points from the grade – a
half grade (3 percent) for each late day.
Politeness Policies: Part of
my job as a professor is to create a learning environment
where students feel safe, respected, and able to get the most
out of their learning experiences. I promise to treat all
students with respect, but also must work to maintain a structured
learning environment where student learning is the top priority.
Be on time. When you come to
class late, it is disruptive to everyone around you. It is
rude. If you cannot make it to my class on time, please drop
the course.
Turn off your cell phone. It
is not okay for your cell phone to ring, vibrate, chirp, or
chime in any classroom. If you are expecting a very important
call (your wife is about to have a baby, for instance) you
can talk to us before class to let everyone know that your
cell phone will be on and may disrupt class. Otherwise, please
turn it off.
No laptops. Some students take
notes on laptops, but too many students use their laptops
to poke one another on Facebook, to check email, or to play
World of Warcraft during class. Only students with a documented
learning disability are allowed to use laptops during class.
Respect your fellow students!
If there are students dominating class discussion by taking
up too much space (speaking so much that others can’t
“get a word in” or interrupting others or blurting
out comments before anyone else can speak) I’ll need
to institute a “hand-raising” rule to make sure
everyone is able to participate equally. Also, everyone needs
to feel the classroom is a safe space. In other words, while
disagreements about issues are a normal part of academic debate
and are encouraged, rudeness is never acceptable: students
will listen to one another, respect one another, and address
differing points of view politely.
Assignments and Grades:
Students will complete assignments
that require them
• to read a variety of literary and critical texts,
• to research historical texts and trends, and
• to effectively present this research in both written
and oral formats.
There will also be a final exam
covering the reading assigned during the course. The final
exam serves dual purposes:
• first, students will
demonstrate they comprehend the texts read for class and that
they are able to synthesize ideas by putting a variety of
texts and concepts into dialogue with one another and,
• second, the exam serves as a practice run for the
MA exam students take in order to complete the Program, which
follows a similar format.
Here’s a break-down of
the grades for assignments:
• Final Exam: 20 percent
(200 points)
• Oral Presentation on selected topic: 30 percent (300
points)
• Seminar Paper (paper + 10 minute oral presentation
of research to class on December 7): 50 percent (500 points=400
for paper+100 for presentation)
• All work must be turned in for students to earn a
passing grade in the course.
Grading Criteria:
All student work for the course will be evaluated on the comprehension
and application of current critical theories, terms, and debates
in the field of children’s literature; on the ability
to conduct academic research; and on the quality of the writing/presentation
of information. The quality of writing will be evaluated based
on audience awareness, organization, correctness, adherence
to MLA citation guidelines, and on the effective use of evidence
to build a convincing argument or interpretation. Oral presentations
will be evaluated based on all these, plus the student’s
ability to effectively, clearly communicate ideas to an audience.
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