Children's Literature Studies at EMU

Literature 208:

Introduction to Multicultural Children’s Literature

Class meets: Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Professor: Dr. Annette Wannamaker

Office: Pray-Harrold 603L

Office Phone: (734) 487-0148

Office hours: 1-3:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays

Other times can be scheduled by appointment

Email: awannamak AT emich DOT edu

Children's Literature Web page: http://www.emich.edu/public/english/childlit

“Links” Page contains numerous online resources for Student Research

Required Texts and Materials:

Course Packet: Contains articles and essays we will read throughout the term.

Novels:

Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House.

Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child.

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars.

Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising.

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee.

Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Picture Books:

Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace.

Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China.

Pohrt, Tom. Coyote Goes Walking.

Soto, Gary. Too Many Tamales.

Steptoe, John. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale.

Wiles, Deborah. Freedom Summer.

Journal Materials: Folder and paper (no binders or notebooks), which will make up the reading/class/quiz journal (see description below).

Reading, Test, and Project Schedule:

I. Definitions, History, and Current Debates:

During the first few weeks of class we will read essays and various works of literature in order to work together to explore such questions as:

How is Multicultural Children’s Literature defined?
What is at stake in defining it?
Why study multicultural children’s literature?
What are some of the problems, issues, and controversies currently being debated?
What is the history of Multicultural Children’s Literature? Its politics?
Should the race, gender, or ethnicity of an author matter when discussing a text?
What literary concepts like point of view or the implied reader do we need to consider when discussing multicultural children’s literature?

Jan 10: Introduction to Course

Jan 12: Read in the course packet, MacBeth, Janine, “Diamonds in the Rough: The Search for Socially Responsible, Multicultural Children’s Literature” and “The Five Chinese Brothers Lesson Plans” from Weston Woods Videos. Discuss in class The Five Chinese Brothers and Tikki Tikki Tembo.

Jan 17: Read in the course packet, “Multicultural Children’s Literature in the Elementary Classroom” and Stotsky, Sandra, “Academic Guidelines for Selecting Multiethnic and Multicultural Literature.”

Jan 19: Read in the course packet, Taxel, Joel. “Multicultural Literature and the Politics of Reaction” and Sleeter, Christine, “Multicultural Education as a Social Movement.”

II. Picture Books: Visual Representations of Cultures

There are many sources for teachers and parents that list examples of positive multicultural picture books we should share with children.

What is a positive example of a multicultural picture book? How it is characterized?
Are there negative examples? Why?
What factors go into book selection? Visual representations? Language use? Characterization? Realistic portrayals?
What about factors outside of the text? Community? Cultural Context? Relation to other texts?
What do critics mean when they use the term “authentic”?
Can cultural “authenticity” be easily defined?
Many multicultural texts for children are folktales. Are folktales a good way to teach children about various cultures? What are the benefits and problems of teaching multicultural folktales?

We will briefly discuss in class a variety of picture books, such as: Aardema, Verna, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears; Bannerman, Helen, The Story of Little Black Sambo (illustrated by Christopher Bing): De Paola, Tomie, Strega Nona; Hamilton, Virginia, The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales; Katz, Karen, The Color of Us; Keats, Ezra Jack, The Snowy Day; Mandela, Nelson, Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales; McDermott, Gerald, Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti; Seeger, Pete, Abiyoyo; Sendak, Maurice and Tony Kushner, Brundibar; and Young, Ed, Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China.

Jan 24: Read in the course packet, Henderson, Darwin, “Authenticity And Accuracy: The Continuing Debate” and read Steptoe, John, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale and Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace.

Jan 26: Read in the course packet, Mo, Weimin and Wenju Shen, “Reexamining the Issue of Authenticity in Picture Books” and Louie, Ai-Ling, Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. Journals Due.

Jan 31: Read Soto, Gary. Too Many Tamales.

Feb 2: Read in the course packet, Cockrell, Amanda, “When Coyote Leaves the Res: Incarnations of the Trickster from Wile E. to Le Guin” and Pohrt, Tom. Coyote Goes Walking.

Feb 7: Picture book discussion continued, and rough draft of essay no. 1 due for writing workshop.

Writing Assignment, Essay No. 1: Research and write about a multicultural picture book not discussed in class. Students will receive a detailed written assignment for this essay.

III. Case Study: Teaching What One is Not:

How much do we need to know about various cultures? How carefully do we need to think about our own subjectivity? How well do we need to know our community?

Feb 9: Discuss in class: Herron, Carolivia. Nappy Hair and hooks, bell. Happy to Be Nappy. Read in the course packet, Martin, Michelle, “Never too Nappy” and Jeffries, Rhonda, “Analysis of the Impact of Carolivia Herron’s Nappy Hair on Literacy and Literature.” Essay No. 1 due.

Feb 14: Read in the course packet, Lester, Neal, “Nappy Edges and Goldy Locks: African-American Daughters and the Politics of Hair.”

Writing Assignment—Essay no. 2: Choose a picture book or a novel that represents a race, culture, or ethnicity that is different from your own to research and write about. What factors would you have to consider in order to share such a text with children? Write an essay that summarizes and analyzes the text, in which you anticipate and work through difficulties you might encounter in teaching the text. How does research help you to better understand the text? Who is the implied reader of the text? What is the point of view? How might you best share the text with a variety of children? Students will receive a detailed written assignment for this essay.

Feb 16: Midterm: For the midterm, students will demonstrate knowledge of current debates about multicultural children’s literature and various texts that serve as examples in these debates. Journals due.

IV. Teaching the Unspeakable:

We have an obligation to teach children about the darker side of humanity—war, slavery, genocide, prejudice, poverty—but, at what age? in what ways? for what purpose? What do we need to consider when teaching about topics such as the Holocaust or the bombing of Hiroshima?

Feb 21: Discuss in class, Coerr, Eleanor, Sadako and Maruki, Toshi, Hiroshima No Pika.

Feb 23: Read in the course packet, Jordan, Sarah D., “Educating Without Overwhelming: Authorial Strategies in Children’s Holocaust Literature” and Baer, Elizabeth, “A New Algorithm in Evil: Children’s Literature in a Post-Holocaust World.” Essay no. 2 due.

Feb 25 through March 4 – No Class – Winter Break

Mar 7: Read, Lowry, Lois, Number the Stars.

V. A Literary Case Study: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Mar 9: Taylor, Mildred, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Read pages 1-139.

Mar 14: Taylor, Mildred, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Read pages 140-276.

Mar 16: Read in the course packet, Bigham, Shauna, “African American Short Stories and the Oral Tradition,” Tolson, Nancy, “The Black Aesthetic within Black Children’s Literature,” and Cobb, Cicely Denean, “’If You Give a Nigger an Inch, They Will Take an Ell’: The role of Education in Midlred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Let the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Mar 21: Read in the course packet, Brooks, Wanda and Gregory Hampton, “Safe Discussions Rather Than First Hand Encounters: Adolescents Examine Racism Through One Historical Fiction Text” and Mc Dowell, Kelly, “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Culturally Specific, Subversive Concept of Child Agency.”

Writing Assignment—Essay No. 3: Use the research we have read about Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to develop your own interpretation of the novel. Students will receive a detailed written assignment for this essay.

VI. Literal and Metaphorical Border Crossings:

Which texts best encourage border crossings, dialogues, and understanding without oversimplifying issues of race, ethnicity, and culture or minimizing difference?

Mar 23: Wiles, Deborah. Freedom Summer.

Mar 28: Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. Read pages 1-120. Journals due.

Mar 30: Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. Read pages 121-240.

Apr 4: Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising. Read pages 1-138.

Apr 6: Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising. Read pages 139-262. Essay No. 3 due.

Apr 11: Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Read pages 1-72.

Apr 13: Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Read pages 73-134.

Apr 18: Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Read pages 1-76.

Apr 20: Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Read pages 79-184. Journals due.

Final Exam at scheduled time and day during exam week. For the final, students will demonstrate knowledge of the novels and picture books we’ve discussed in the second half of the term and their historical/cultural contexts.

Course Requirements and Grading

Reading/class/quiz journal:	250 points
Essay No. 1	125 points
Essay No. 2	150 points
Essay No. 3	125 points
Midterm:	150 points
Final Exam:	200 points
Total possible points:	1000 points

Grading Scale: 1000-940=A; 939-900=A-; 899-870=B+; 869-840=B; 839-800=B-; 799-770=C+; 769-740=C; 739-700=C-; 699-670=D+; 669-640=D; 639-600=D-; <600=F.

Projects: I will give out detailed written assignments for each essay and we will go over these in class (see schedule). For each class day an assignment (journal or essay) is late, I will deduct 10 percent from the grade for that assignment.

Tests: There will be a mid-term and a final in this course and I will do a brief review before each test. The tests will be a combination of fill in the blank, short answer, and essay questions.

Reading/class/quiz journal: Throughout the term you will complete a variety of short writing assignments—some at home and some in class—which you will collect in a 3-ring binder. I will periodically collect your journals (about once every three weeks). Some of your journal entries will be responses to the reading that you are assigned, some will be pre-writing for papers, and some will be activities to help you to study for the exams. Some of these writing assignments will take the form of in-class reading quizzes, which you will not be allowed to make up if you do not attend class, and which I will collect and grade the day you take them. Some of the assignments will be responses to lectures or in class group activities, which you also will not be able to make up if you miss class.

Attendance Policy: I will take roll each day for the first few weeks of class until I learn everyone’s name, but will not take roll after that. Students at EMU are adults, and therefore are able to make their own decisions about when or when not to attend a class, therefore I do not count students’ absences as “excused” or “unexcused.” This is not to say that (as in every other class) there are no consequences for missing class: there will be many written assignments and quizzes we will do in class and that simply cannot be made up outside of the classroom. Missing two or three of these should not adversely affect a student’s grade, but students who miss more than this will lose points, especially from their journals. Also, we cover a lot of material in this course, sometimes very quickly. We do something important every day that will either be on an exam or be included in one of the written assignments. In other words, students who miss more than two or three classes will not do very well in the course. The official English Department policy is that students who miss two weeks worth of a class should expect to fail that course and should probably drop. Keep this in mind as you plan your schedule for the term.

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. I’m assuming that the following statements will seem obvious to most of you, but 14 years of teaching college students has taught me that there will be some students who need these rules of classroom etiquette spelled out in an obvious way:

Be on time. When you come to class late, it is disruptive to everyone around you. If you cannot make it to my class on time (8 a.m., not 8:02 or even 8:01) please drop the course.

Turn off your cell phone. It is not okay for your cell phone to ring in any classroom, ever. If you are expecting a very important call (your wife is about to have a baby, for instance) you can talk to me before class to let me know that your cell phone will be on. Otherwise, turn it off.

Be respectful of the instructor and your fellow students.

These are examples of behaviors that are not respectful. When students exhibit the following behaviors, I assume they do not want to be in class and will ask if they prefer to leave.

doing your math homework or reading the newspaper during a lecture.

coming to class unprepared. We cannot have a discussion about a text if students have not done the assigned reading. Since my classes are based on the assumption that students have read the assigned material, most often, you will not get a lot out of our discussions if you didn’t do the reading.

text messaging a friend on your cell phone or blackberry; playing a game on your cell phone.

whispering or making notes to the person sitting next to you.

putting your books into your backpack 5 minutes before class is over.

interrupting other students when they are speaking, telling a fellow student to “shut up,” telling a fellow student his/her beliefs are stupid, immoral, wrong, silly, etc.

Walking in and out of the classroom during class (unless, of course, there is an emergency).

These are examples of behaviors that are okay:

You can always raise your hand to interrupt me (even in mid lecture) to ask a question or ask for clarification.

As you will soon learn, children’s literature is a controversial field of study (people have a lot invested in their children, in what they think children should or shouldn’t read, etc.). It is okay to disagree with me or with your fellow students, but you must engage in intellectual debates in ways that are polite and you must keep your mind open to a variety of viewpoints.

Is it okay to dislike a text we are reading or to openly disagree with an interpretation of a text taught in class (in discussion or in writing), however, you must complete all of the required reading.

Plagiarism Policy:

Plagiarism is a complicated thing: sometimes students plagiarize material because they simply do not know they are doing so (forgetting to cite paraphrased ideas, for example). Other times, students consciously plagiarize by downloading an entire paper from the Internet, “borrowing” a paper from a friend, or by copying from a book or cutting and pasting text from the Internet. Plagiarism will be handled on a case-by-case basis. I can usually tell if it is accidental or purposeful. If it is an accident, the student will be allowed to rewrite the paper, if it is done on purpose, the student will receive a 0 on the plagiarized assignment and may fail the course. We will go over this issue in detail in class when we discuss the essay assignments.

Journal Entry No. 1: Contract:

I, Annette Wannamaker, promise to treat all students with respect and to maintain a structured learning environment where all students feel comfortable and able to express their views, both in discussions and in writing. I want to help all students to succeed in this course and will be available—in the classroom, through office hours, by appointment, and via the Internet—to answer any questions students might have. I will do my best to make the requirements and grading of assignments clear to students, and to offer as detailed explanation of students’ grades as is possible for each test or assignment. Most importantly, I will work to challenge students and to help them to gain a richer understanding of the fascinating, complicated field that is children’s literature.

_________________________________________________

Student’s pledge:

I have read the entire syllabus for Literature 208, I understand the course requirements, and I have asked questions about material that is not clear.

I understand that I am required to purchase (or check out from the library) all of the required texts and the course packet, and that these are all required reading for the course.

I understand that my job as a student is to come to class prepared, having done all of the assigned reading and writing assignments in advance.

I understand that I am expected to behave in a respectful manner toward my professor and fellow students and that I am expected to come to class on time.

I understand that my grade on an individual assignment will drop 10 percent for each class day the assignment is late.

I understand that I will not plagiarize any work; that any ideas or words I borrow from others will be properly cited.

I understand that it is my responsibility to keep up with the work schedule outlined on the syllabus, to come to class regularly and on time, to get notes from peers on those days I must miss class, and to seek help from Professor Wannamaker throughout the duration of the semester, and not only during the last week or two of class.

___________________________________________________

Course Bibliography:

(Some texts students are required to purchase--see list--and others will be read and/or discussed in class).

Novels:

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Bantam, 1971.

Block, Francesca. Weetzie Bat. New York: Harper Collins, 1989.

Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. New York: Hyperion, 1999.

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. New York: Dell Publishers, 1973.

Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. New York: Yearling, 1989.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. New York: HarperTempest, 1999.

Ryan, Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic Press, 2000.

Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. New York: Little Brown and Company, 1990.

Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. New York: Bantam, 1976.

-----. Let the Circle Be Unbroken. New York, Dial Books, 1981.

Yolen, Jane. The Devil’s Arithmetic. New York: Puffin Books, 1989.

Picture Books:

Aardema, Verna. Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears. New York: Scholastic, 1975.

Angelou, Maya. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me. (with paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat). New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1993.

Arnold, Katya. Baba Yaga. New York: North-South Books, 1993.

Baby ABC. New York: Funfax, 1998.

Bannerman, Helen. The Story of Little Black Sambo. Illustrated by Christopher Bing. Brooklyn: Handprint books, 2003.

Baylor, Byrd. The Way to Start a Day. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1977.

Beeler, Selby. Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

Buller, Laura. A Faith Like Mine: A Celebration of the World’s Religions—Seen through the eyes of children. New York: DK Publishing Inc., 2005.

Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako. New York: Puffin Books, 1993.

De Haan, Linda and Stern Nijjland. King and King. Berkeley, California: Tricycle Press, 2000.

De Paola, Tomie. Strega Nona. New York: Scholastic, 1975.

-----. Tomie’s Little Mother Goose. New York: Putnam, 1997.

Frasier, Debra. On the Day You Were Born. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1991.

Gobel, Paul. Brave Eagle’s Account of the Fetterman Fight. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.

-----. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses. New York: Alladin Paperbacks, 1978.

Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1985.

Herron, Carolivia. Nappy Hair. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace. Illustrated by Caroline Binch. New York: Scholastic, 1991.

hooks, bell. Happy to Be Nappy. New York, Hyperion, 1999.

Isadora, R. Ben’s Trumpet. New York: Greenwillow, 1979.

Katz, Karen. The Color of Us. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999.

Keats, Ezra Jack. The Snowy Day. New York: The Viking Press, 1962.

Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. New York: Puffin, 1982.

Mandela, Nelson. Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.

Maruki, Toshi. Hiroshima No Pika. New York: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard Books, 1980.

McDermott, Gerald. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti. New York: Scholastic, 1972.

Mosel, Arlene. Tikki Tikki Tembo. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1968.

Pohrt, Tom. Coyote Goes Walking. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1995.

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. New York: Dragonfly Books, 1991.

Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo. New York: Alladin Paperbacks, 1986.

Sendak, Maurice and Tony Kushner. Brundibar. New York: Michael di Capua Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2003.

Sneve, Virginia Driving Hawk, Ed. Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth. New York: Holiday House, 1989.

Soto, Gary. Too Many Tamales. New York: Paperstar Books, 1993.

Steptoe, John. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale. New York: Scholastic, 1987.

Wiles, Deborah. Freedom Summer. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.

Williams, Sherley Anne. Working Cotton. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1992.

Yolen, Jane. Encounter. New York: Voyager Books, 1992.

Young, Ed. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. New York: Putnam Penguin, 1989.

Course Packet Materials:

Baer, Elizabeth. “A New Algorithm in Evil: Children’s Literature in a Post-Holocaust World.” The Lion and the Unicorn 24 (2000) 378-401.

Bigham, Shauna. “African American Short Stories and the Oral Tradition.” In Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents. Edited by Darwin Henderson and Jill May. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005, 146-156.

Brooks, Wanda and Gregory Hampton. “Safe Discussions Rather Than First Hand Encounters: Adolescents Examine Racism Through One Historical Fiction Text.” Children’s Literature in Education 36.1 (March 2005) 83-98.

Cobb, Cicely Denean. “’If You Give a Nigger an Inch, They Will Take an Ell’: The role of Education in Midlred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Let the Circle Be Unbroken.” In Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents. Edited by Darwin Henderson and Jill May. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005, 196-204.

Cockrell, Amanda. “When Coyote Leaves the Res: Incarnations of the Trickster from Wile E. to Le Guin.” In Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents. Edited by Darwin Henderson and Jill May. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005, 168-177.

The Five Chinese Brothers Lesson Plans from Weston Woods Videos.

Henderson, Darwin. “Authenticity And Accuracy: The Continuing Debate.” In Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents. Edited by Darwin Henderson and Jill May. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005, 266-276.

Jeffries, Rhonda. “An Analysis of the Impact of Carolivia Herron’s Nappy Hair on Literacy and Literature.” Journal of Curriculum Theorizing 18.2 (Summer 2002) Firstsearch Database.

Jordan, Sarah D. “Educating Without Overwhelming: Authorial Strategies in Children’s Holocaust Literature.” Children’s Literature in Education 35.3 (September 2005) 199-218.

Lester, Neal. “Nappy Edges and Goldy Locks: African-American Daughters and the Politics of Hair.” The Lion and the Unicorn 24 (2000) 201-224.

MacBeth, Janine. “Diamonds in the Rough: The Search for Socially Responsible, Multicultural Children’s Literature.” ColorLines (Fall 2005), 49-53.

Martin, Michelle. “Never too Nappy.” The Horn Book Magazine 75.3 (May 1999). Infotrac Database.

Mc Dowell, Kelly. “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Culturally Specific, Subversive Concept of Child Agency.” Children’s Literature in Education 33.3 (September 2002) 213-225.

Mo, Weimin and Wenju Shen. “Reexamining the Issue of Authenticity in Picture Books.” Children’s Literature in Education 28.2 (1997) 85-93.

“Multicultural Children’s Literature in the Elementary Classroom.” Kidsource Online. www.kidsource.com.

Sleeter, Christine. “Multicultural Education as a Social Movement.” Theory into Practice 35.4 (Autumn 1996) 239-247.

Stotsky, Sandra. “Academic Guidelines for Selecting Multiethnic and Multicultural Literature.” The English Journal 83.2 (February 994) 27-34.

Taxel, Joel. “Multicultural Literature and the Politics of Reaction.” Teachers College Record 98.3 (1997) 417-448 http://www.tcrecord.org.

Tolson, Nancy. “The Black Aesthetic within Black Children’s Literature.” In Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents. Edited by Darwin Henderson and Jill May. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005, 65-78.

Web Site Maintained by Annette Wannamaker