...Lina Bustami English 4382 Fall Semester 2014/2015 Laila’s Bike By Astrid Lindgren, Ilon Wikland Laila is a 5 year old girl who wants her parents to get her a bicycle for her birthday because she wants to ride a bike like her older siblings, but unfortunately they don’t. Determined to have a bicycle, she decides to borrow her neighbor’s bike to have a ride. At the end, Laila suffers the consequences of her decision learning that not all bicycles are actually the same. There were many reasons why I used to love this story when I was a child. My mother used to gather all my three siblings in one bed and starts reading the story for us. It wasn’t only my mother’s calm, tender voice that used to make me feel comfortable but it was something in that book. The story of Laila and her little adventure was very interesting and pleasurable to me; the beautiful illustrations and pictures in the book used to make me very interested and I remember I couldn’t wait for my other to finish reading one page and turn to the other so I could delve through the remarkable colors. Everything in that story seemed real to me when I was a child. I too wanted my parents to get me a bike in my birthday just like Laila. I really thought that Laila existed somewhere. Once the story reaches the end, my mother used to talk to us for quite some time about the ending of the story and how Laila learns from her own mistake. She used to tell us that it’s okay for one to make mistakes as long as he/she learns...
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...Children’s Literature Philosophy Children’s Literature provides students and educators with a tremendous amount of valuable information. Involving children in a variety of ways with children’s literature is a very important contribution of the development of children’s cognitive and social growth. Children’s Literature educates individuals on how children’s stories can be combined with all domains of the curriculum. This class makes individuals aware of the many types of genre in children’s literature and the variety of ways it can be presented. Through the Children’s Literature class, students and educators will realize how a literacy-based classroom should look and sound like. After this class, educators will be more apt to teach with a literacy-based, child-centered program where children will be read to aloud everyday and sing all throughout the day. Children’s Literature shows how open discussion of a book is more valuable then just reading it and putting it aside. After open discussion, having the student’s color, sing and/or do hands-on activities pertaining to the concept(s) taught from the book is priceless and will provide visuals to teach concept(s). This class has provided the opportunity to create several interesting and eye-catching used visuals to enhance children’s motivation for reading particular books and to introduce/reteach concept(s) found within a particular book. Newbery Award and Cadecott Medal Books were made knowledgeable through the Children’s...
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...A history of Western children’s literature begins with oral tradition in which spoken stories, commonly described as “folklore,” “folk literature,” or “mythology,” are spoken aloud. This oral tradition predates written history and prior to the 1700’s there was little evidence of a childhood culture. The stories of oral tradition shared during those times were told to both children and adults (Kiefer, 2010, p.65). These oral stories such as Beowulf, King Arthur, and other ballads were often told by minstrels, adjusted to suit the audience (Kiefer, 2010, p.66). Some early books, such as Elucidarium, were written to provide children with general knowledge. Many children adopted fanciful tales and books for entertainment, such as Gulliver’s Travels and The Arabian Nights, but as these stories were written for adults, they contained adult content beyond the understanding of children readers (Kiefer, 2010, p.67). In 1744, John Newberry, an English publisher, printed Little Pretty Pocket-Book, which is recognized as the first book categorized as children’s literature. This book remains a stark contrast to the early folklore and tragic myths that have been told over the ages because it has easily read games and rhymes to help with the memorization of the alphabet (Kiefer, 2010, p.69). The successful publishing of the first children’s literature brought about a new era of children’s books during the time of Colonial America. These early writings were inspired by John Locke,...
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...Running Head: CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY Children's Literature in a Pluralistic Society Children's Literature in a Pluralistic Society One benefit to reading and listening to books is they can stretch the attention spans of children. Children’s literature has not always been so extensive and colorful as it is today. At the beginning children’s books read like instruction manuals rather than escapism or a fun educational tool. Even though Children's literature can misconstrue a Childs point of view, Children’s literature is needed to ensure a future because each milestone of children’s literature develops social functions within a pluralistic society. There are five specific key milestones/events/developments of children’s literature that includes social functions within the trends. Puritanism The books from this period were basically “Goodly Godly" books. They were focused on religion and how to obtain passage into heaven. These books did not have rhymes or pictures, but reinforced the way to the Lord and how to remain moral. Even though the books were the same type of books that are known today, they were written specifically for children and teaching. These are the some of the first type of children’s books. The books could be extreme in theme, for example James Janeway's A Token for Children: Being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children (1672) The book consisted of multiple deathbed...
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...18th or 19the Century Children’s Reflection Consider in particular the topic of didacticism, answering the following questions: would you consider this a didactic text (in other words, do you think it is primarily designed to teach moral virtues rather than to provide entertainment, or vice versa)? How do you think a child would receive this text in the twenty-first century? Does this suggest any differences between how children and children’s literature were perceived in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries as opposed to today? Your reflection should be in MLA or APA format, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, and double-spaced. Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in Laura Ingalls Wilders ?Little House? series. The year is 1871 and five year old Laura Ingalls and her family, Pa, Ma, Mary, and Baby Carrie, live in a log cabin in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. There is only one road that passes near by their cabin and they rarely see very many wagons going down the road. It is a full day's walk from their cabin to the nearest town, Pepin. They have an attic up stairs where they store food for winter time and other things, and down stairs there is one big room and one small room. There are many aspects of farm life that Laura learns, such as making cheese, hog butchering, butter churning, and fur trading. They also learn how to make maple syrup, watch Pa make bullets for hunting, and learn about surviving in the pioneer times She even goes to town for the first...
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...A Perspective on Traditional Literature • Traditional literature can provide a window on cultural beliefs and on the spiritual and psychological qualities that are part of our human nature. The Origin of Folk Literature • Children sometimes identify these stories as “make-believe,” as contrasted with “true” or “stories that could really happen.” • The origin of the myths has fascinated and puzzled folklorists, anthropologists, and psychologists. • Folktales are also of special interest to scholars of narrative theory because of the way the tales are honed by many generations of telling; only the most important elements of the story survive. The Value of Folk Literature for Children • When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of their Household Stories in 1812, they did not intend it for children. • Originally folklore was the literature of the people; stories were told to young and old alike. • Traditional literature is a rightful part of a child’s literature heritage and lays the groundwork for understanding all literature. Folktales • Folktales have been defined as “all forms of narrative, written or oral, which have come to be handed down through the years.” • Questions often arise about which of the available print versions of a tale is the “correct” or authentic text. Types of Folktales • There will be features of these stories that are unique to each culture...
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...CLB 9003 Cross-cultural Studies of Children's Fantasy Literature (1st Term, 2013-14) Term Paper “Compare children’s images in Western and Chinese children’s fantasy literature” Name : So Lok Ching Student ID :4028177 Instructor : Dr Tong Man The development of Western and Chinese children’s fantasy literature varies a lot. Western children’s fantasy literature has a much earlier development process. In Ancient Greece and Rome, there was no distinction between children and adult’s literature, children and adults shared the same literature. Until the 18th century, a remarkable French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, believed that every child has a unique value and children should not be seen as immature adults. He also emphasized the importance of moral development in his writing ‘Emile’, in which he believed it could be performed by living a simple life. Rousseau’s ideas had a major influence on the development of children’s literature. People raised awareness about children and children’s fantasy literature was flourishing in the 19th century. In this Golden Age, different varieties of children’s fantasy literature were written to entertain children, such as modern fantasy stories and adventure stories. The naughty image of children could be shown in many adventure stories as well, such as ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ (1876) by Mark Twain and ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ (1883) by Carlo Collodi. Up to the 20th century and recent decades, Naughty main...
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...Gender Roles in Disney Movies It is undeniable that the company that is leading to many generations in their child age is Disney. Who does not remember Mickey and Minnie Mouse?, Who has not thrown a tear when Snow White was poisoned by the evil witch?, Who did not want to ever be in the place of handsome John Smith or Pocahontas herself to revive their love story?, that tender these films, is not it, for example the Little Mermaid and Sebastian the crab song, who does not remember that song from "under the sea”? Has anybody ever wondered why the dwarves themselves did not do the housework when they came home once Snow White "moved in" with them? Or why an Indian as Pocahontas, falls for a murderer of thousands of his countrymen as was John Smith? Or why witches are always bad? Or why women are always in the background in these films (Hubka, Hovdestad & Tonmyr, 2009)? The world of Disney Princess began in 1937 when Snow White entered the world with the Seven Dwarfs (McRobbie, 2008). Since then it continued to add princesses in this world and the most recent movie was Tangled (Rapunzel) in 2011. In the past years, due to the lack of portraying ethnicity, Disney movie makers were highly criticized by their audience. Therefore, Pocahontas appeared in 1995 and after three years in 1998 came Mulan, which created a racially diverse collection of Disney princesses. After a decade The Princess and the Frog was released in 2009. It is important to understand that Disney plays an important...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” This is important for kids to grasp because a great deal of messages can be interpreted inaccurately in the books they read. Children’s literature doesn’t always send the right message when it comes to self-esteem, which is a crucial factor when kids are becoming comfortable with being themselves. The way that body image, self-acceptance, and popularity are portrayed can lead to false beliefs in adolescents and affect their self-esteem. When it comes to weight and body image, kids tend to be very insecure if they stand out from their peers. It is crucial for kids to know that their size and appearance...
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...Literature Program Jane Wilson ECE335 Children’s Literature Instructor: Jamie Worthington December 12, 2011 The primary goal of a literature program is to create the love of literature. It is said that children who enjoy literature will become life-long readers and learners. I will define the criteria for selecting literature titles, identify developmental goals that support the, and describe activities and teaching strategies that support at least one developmental goal for each area of development. There are several things you would look at when evaluating fiction. You would look at the following; strengths and weaknesses in plot, setting, characterization, theme, and style of writing (Giorgis & Glazer, 2009). The plot of a story is what happens in the story. A good plot is interesting and logical (2009). When accessing the plot and during the evaluation you should chose books where things in the story happen logically. The setting in a story is where and when the story takes place (2009). The setting is a very important part of the story that affects the whole story if it were to be changed. Setting may be either specific to a certain time or place or more general in nature such as far, far, away. Characterization is how the author portrays the characters in the story (2009). Character takes on a lifelike appearance to small children if the author is creative enough, and this is done in the correctly. Theme is usually the moral of the story...
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...Learning English through children's literature Submitted by admin on 18 December, 2002 - 12:00 This article is about the British Council's Young Learners Centre in Paris and how they use children's literature in their teaching of English * The role of stories and storytelling in language teaching * Selecting story books * Pupil responses * Personal and professional development of teachers * Other support materials * Books referred to in this article The role of stories and storytelling in language teaching Once upon a time and not so very long ago in the capital city of France, a teaching centre for little children and not so little children was opened. One little child and then two and then three and then many, many more came along. And so our story unfolds ….. There was a little red hen, a meerkat in trouble, a brown bear, a black elephant and a white elephant, a very hungry caterpillar, Spot the dog, a clever tortoise, a big, roaring, yellow, whiskery lion, a kangaroo from Woolloomooloo and many more. These are just some of the colourful characters from children's literature who have helped children aged 5 - 10 attending holiday classes at the British Council's Young Learners Centre in Paris learn English. These weekly courses take place each afternoon for two hours. The educational value of using stories and the technique of storytelling has always been undisputed throughout the world. Now more and more English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers of...
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...YC: Young Children; Nov 2011, Vol 66 Issue 6. P100 Title – Fiction vs. Informational Texts Which Will Kindergartners Choose? Author – Marlene Ponte Correia This article discusses what informational text is and how it supports children’s overall literacy development. Informational text or non-fiction includes but is not limited to textbooks, magazines, directions, etc. Informational text is written and read to answer questions and to learn something new. Informational text can be intimidating to adults let alone small children so it is understandable that some teachers may be intimidated introducing non-fiction to their early learners. There is an assumption that children will understand and make sense of a story that is fiction before they will be able to comprehend text that is a nont-fiction text (Bortnem). Some teachers may feel the text is too complicated, the vocabulary is too topic specific, there is not enough age appropriate material and many may such as storybooks, fairytales, etc. The author like many teachers was convinced that kindergartners preferred fiction, even though much of the research cited children's preferences for the content of informational books over narrative text. The author decides to investigate the children's book preferences through a study to determine if her perception that they preferred fiction was accurate. The core of the article centers on her study that was done among a class of kindergarteners. The study was done to determine...
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...Some juvenile fantasy literature pieces can be seen as too scary for the audience that it was intended for. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is said to be for ages eight and up, but the context of the story may be too frightening for an eight-year-old child. Although Tim Burton released a movie adaptation for Gaiman’s novel, Coraline as a novel is not well known and therefore would not be considered a classic. As in the other fantasy pieces covered, there are strong themes of good versus evil and many archetypes. Coraline is a young girl whose curiosity gets the best of her. She enjoys exploring and one night finds an alternate universe that contains her “Other Mother” and “Other Father.” Both other characters are foils for Coraline’s actual parents....
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...Walter Dean Myers is an African-American writer of young adult fiction and children’s books. His novels are about teens and the challenges they face. He is known to write tough stories about kids who don't appear in most storybooks," asserted Sue Corbett in a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service report. "Children whose fathers are absent or jailed. About children who share playgrounds with drug dealers and gangs. About teens struggling to maintain their dignity and living with poverty, violence, and fear." Walter Milton Myers was born August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Myers lost his mother, Mary Green Myers, at age two, during the birth of his younger sister Imogene. Since his father, George Ambrose, was struggling economically, Walter and two of his sisters were informally adopted by family friends Florence and Herbert Dean. The Dean family moved him to Harlem. His foster mother, a half-Indian and half-German woman, taught Walter to read at the age of four, even though she was barely literate. She read to him every day from True Romance Magazine. He had a speech impediment when he was little, which made it hard for him to communicate with others, but he overcame it by expressing himself through writing short stories and poems. At the age of ten he began to write fiction. His favorite places in his childhood were the basketball courts and the library. The library was a favorite place because he couldn't believe that one of the things he enjoyed most, reading, was...
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...northern European literature and folk tales in the poem, “Open the gates of the peaceful castle, rosy in the West/ In the sweet dim Isle of Apples over the wide sea’s breast… Beyond the tide of the ocean/ hidden and sunk away/ Out of the sound of battles, near to the end of day/ Full of dim woods and streams” (C.S Lewis). The reader can feel the young writer’s desperation, a glimpse of his desire for something much more powerful than anything in this world, for comfort. By 1925, C.S Lewis had gone from student to professor and he became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, teaching English and Literature. At this time, Lewis also became a member of the Inklings, a tight literary circle of professors, writers and other scholastics that included Lewis’ brother Warnie, Charles Williams and J.R.R Tolkien, who would become a close personal friend. The famous Inklings read their literary works to one another and give critiques and advice. J.R.R Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series, was a pious Roman Catholic and he helped set about C.S Lewis’ momentous conversion back to Christianity. The two were influential to one another and they both helped each other in writing their beloved classics. Colin Duriez states that had the two never of met, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia would never have been written. C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien were both lovers, researchers and professors of English, Celtic, and Norse mythology and literature, however “they...
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