ILS 517

History of Children's Literature

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Study of materials that have lasted over the years and examination of periodic trends and social patterns that produced them.  Emerging types of children's writing and major authors are considered. 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Students will:

• Identify the effect historical children's literature has on current children's literature;
• Trace the history and development of the various types of genres of children's literature;
• Identify the major contributors to children's literature in the past;
• Describe how the social and political environment of the period influenced the literature published.

 

COURSE OUTLINE

Unit 1 - Oral Tradition
A. What is oral tradition
B. Aesop
C. Beowulf
D. Folktales
Assignment:  Listen to Beowulf (recommended version by Seamus Heaney)
Unit 2 - Anglo-Saxton period
A.     History
B.     Influence of Huns
C.     The Venerable Bede
Assignment:  Listen to Morte D'Arthur
Unit 3 - Medieval period
A.     Background
B.     Look at London
C.     Passages of childhood
a.     Birth and Baptism
b.     Childhood (3 - 8)
D.     Literature available to children
E.     Advent of printing
Assignment:  Look at the Canterbury Tales
Unit 4 - The Renaissance and the 1600s
A.     The Renaissance period
a.     Henry VIII
b.     Splitting of Catholic Church, influence on reading for children
B.     Puritan literature
C.     Puritans going to America
Assignment:  Look at catechisms
Read New England Primer (samples of it)
Unit 5 - The Eighteenth century
A.     Eighteenth century Europe
a.     England
i.     Defoe
ii.     Swift
iii.     Newbery
b.     France
i.     Perrault
ii.     Antoine Galland, translator, The Arabian Nights
B.     Eighteenth century America
Assignment: Read Perrault
Goody Two Shoes
One Thousand and One Nights
Unit 6 - The Nineteenth Century
A.     Nineteen century writers
B.     Nineteenth century illustrators
C.     The Grimm Brothers
D.     Nineteenth century writers in America
E.     Nineteenth century illustrators in America
F.     Illustrating techniques
Assignment: Read Grimm's Household Tales
Read Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Tale Book (or one of the others in the series)
Read Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Little Women
Huckleberry Finn OR Tom Sawyer
Kidnapped
Read books by illustrated:
Randolph Caldecott
Kate Greenaway
Walter Crane
Arthur Rackham
Edmund Dulac
Kay Nielsen
Unit 7 - Early Twentieth Century
       Assignment:  Read Wizard of Oz
Beatrix Potter
Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh
Wind in the Willows OR Secret Garden
Any three Newbery Award winning or honor books from the first 10 years
Any 10 Caldecott Award winning or honor books from the first 10 years
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
The Story about Ping
The Story of Ferdinand
And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 1.     Folktale Comparison Select a European folktale that was written down by one of the famous collectors in the 1800's (Grimm, Lang, etc). Read it as it was written in that time (without illustrations). Select 3 modern versions of it, preferably ones that state "From the Original Grimm" (or other similar wording) and compare it to the original. Compare original text, character descriptions, outcomes, and any other features that are distinctive. Length: approximately 5 pages.

2.     Development of a Genre The various genres of children's literature have changed over the centuries. They mostly reflect the times they were written, but they have also evolved as reading material and a more sophisticated reading audience developed. In this paper, take a genre of literature, such as fantasy, realism, poetry, series books, or non-fiction and trace the development of it. If you select non-fiction, I recommend that you select a portion of non-fiction, i.e. geography OR religious books, etc., otherwise you will be overwhelmed. Another interesting subject is moveable books or toy books. In the paper, trace back as far as you can any records of the earliest forms of the type of literature, find out what the content consisted of, look at the length of the books, and any other important features that are unique to that genre. Identify any landmark titles and see if you can find how they were received upon publication. The time period should end with the most current form of the genre and how it is presented in today's form. Length of paper: 8-10 pages. 

3.     Annotated Bibliography Select an era, i.e. Medieval Times, and develop an annotated bibliography of books that were written about it. There should be approximately 20 titles. The books can be modern, for example Karen Cushman's books. The purpose is to be able to have children read about a particular era and have it come alive through fiction. Even though this is History of Children's Literature, using modern books will entice the children to read. As much as I love this topic, many of the books are difficult to read because of the language! Hints for finding books: look at the Scott O'Dell award winners, also, I'll post a webpage in Unit one that is helpful in finding award winning titles (not that all the books need to be winners of something!). iCONN is also another excellent source, using the database What Do I Read Next?

Grading policy:
·     Class Participation  25%
·     Each paper(3)   25% (75%)

 

Approved by the ILS Department Curriculum Committee and Faculty, Spring 2009.