Scribd
Upload
40 views3 pages

Handouts in Child and Adolesence Lit 1

This document discusses several topics related to children's literature, including why it is important to study and read children's classics. Some key points made are: - Great children's stories are powerful, imaginative, memorable works of art that resonate with readers of all ages and have a lasting impact. Reading to children fosters cognitive development, verbal skills, and academic achievement. - Common themes in children's literature include home, school, family, friendship, holidays and magic. Stories teach children life lessons and provide models to learn from. - Children's literature has patterns like home-away-home journeys, movement between real and fantasy worlds, and maturation themes. These patterns provide order and meaning.

Uploaded by

katecabra40
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
40 views3 pages

Handouts in Child and Adolesence Lit 1

This document discusses several topics related to children's literature, including why it is important to study and read children's classics. Some key points made are: - Great children's stories are powerful, imaginative, memorable works of art that resonate with readers of all ages and have a lasting impact. Reading to children fosters cognitive development, verbal skills, and academic achievement. - Common themes in children's literature include home, school, family, friendship, holidays and magic. Stories teach children life lessons and provide models to learn from. - Children's literature has patterns like home-away-home journeys, movement between real and fantasy worlds, and maturation themes. These patterns provide order and meaning.

Uploaded by

katecabra40
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

SUBJECT: CHILD AND ADOLESENCE LIT

DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES

Why do we need to study literature?


•Literature is filled with ideas that need to be explored.
•Literature helps us to see our world in new ways. lt brings us to a deeper understanding of life.

What is a good story?


•A good story is about something the audience decides is interesting or important. A great story often does
both by using storytelling to make important news interesting.
•A good story should alter you in some way. it should change your thinking, your feeling, your psyche, or
the way you look at things. A story is an abstract experience; it's rather like venturing through a maze.
should feel slightly changed (Allen Say).
•A good story, however, does more than inform or amplify. It adds value to the topic.

Why reads children’s classic?


Some people mistakenly believe, writes children's author Jill PatonWalsh, “that something written for
children is necessarily inferior,could not be aserious work of art." As award-winning
KatherinePetersonargues, many intelligent, well-meaning people think that"while adult literature may aim
to be art, the object of children's books is to whip the little rascals into shape.“ But great children'sstories
are powerful, imaginative, and memorable;they resonatewith readers of all ages and have alasting and
profound impact.This site will examine aselection of classic children’s novels asdistinguished works of art.It
will look at what makes these novelsnotable and why they have such universal appeal.Joseph Conradwrote
that every word in agood novel should contribute to the work's overall purpose.

Why should you care about children's literature?


If you are in apposition of influence with children, be it as parent, teacher, librarian, or grandparent, you
can make adefinitive impact on their lives by fostering alove of reading.Research has shown
ademonstrated relationship between reading, cognitive development, verbal skills and academic
achievement.Children who are read to, not only more articulate, but also have higher reasoning skills,
amore effective writing style, superior reading comprehension, and more advanced critical thinking skills.
Stories teach children how to cope with life's challenges. They provide a trial run of life's possibilities. They
also transmit the accumulated wisdom and values of our culture. Children learn through models and
heroes.

Key themes and concerns in children's literature


Home
School
Parents
Siblings
Godparents
Friendship
Toys, dolls, play
Pets and animals
Birthdays
Holidays
Magic & The imagination
Patterns in Children's Literature
Children thrive on patterns that provide order and meaning to their lives.As Jon Stott points out, the best
children's authors choose details that are significant and arrange them into meaningful pattern.People's
lives are like aseries of random event;an effective author shows the connections between events,
thereby creating meaning and significance.

Examples of characteristic patterns


 Home-away-home
 Movement from a protected environment to a new, adverse, or challenging environment
 City-country-city(sometimes reverse)
 Real world-fantasy world-real world
 Life-death-rebirth
 Separation from and reunion with parents (many classic adult novels end with marriage; many
children's stories end with a reunion with parents)
 Help others less fortunate and they will help you
 Movement from innocence to experience, often patterned after the biblical fall
 Coming age, rite of passage
 Journey symbolizing development
 Seasonal cycle

Changes in children's literature


Alice in Wonderland (1865)is usually considered the first successful children's novel.Before the time of its
writing, children were viewed as adults-in-training so few works were written specifically for them
Children’s authors for the next hundred years believed that it was duty to protect the young.Few writer
exposed readers to the harsh facts of life.Since the 1970s, the trend has been towards
the depiction of agrittier realism.Children’s writers haveintroduces topics such as violence, death, divorce
and abandonment into the stories

History of Children's Literature


There have been many changes related to the publishing ofliterature for children since the beginning of the
17th centurywhen the only books published for children were school books toteach them the alphabet and
spelling, as well as morals, manners,and religion.At that time, the content of school books was influenced
by Puritan beliefs that children were inclined to evil and needed to be taught morals.

However, during this time, cheaply published books called chapbooks containing popular stories and tales
also began to be produced and sold.Since these books did not contain strictly moral stories, they were
often criticized for departing from Puritan beliefs (Gangi,2004). Puritanical thinking eventually gave way to
the Enlightenment ideals characterized by the philosophy of John Locke, which marked ashift in the view of
children to that of a"blank slate” that could be written upon.Du ring this time, moral tales and fables were
still published, but more light-hearted books featuring word play, riddles, rhymes,and games began to
appear in children's books as well.Children's books also borrowed stories originally written for adults, such
as Gulliver's Travels, Ivanhoe, and Robinson Crusoe.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy