Children Literature Overview

I enjoyed this class very much. I read quite a bit as a child but I do not think I ever thought about many of the books that I re-read in this class the way that I do now. After learning about many of the aspect of children's literature, I have a new found respect for those authors. They are extrodinaty writers to be able to have the creativity adn imagination to write a story that will enertain a young child. There are many people that attempt to write for children and I think I have read quite a few of them as well, but the authors that we read in class have definitely have gone above and beyond in making childrens literature what it is today.



I also have to give Dr. Robinson alot of the creit for my enjoyment in this class. She has a very unique personality that made this class really fun. There was never a dull moment with her lectures. I really enjoyed her voices as well!!

Frances Hodgson Burnett

We are about to begin the book The Secret Garden. I read this book for the first time in preperation for this class. I absolutly love it. It is one of new favorites! I thought it would be a nice way to introduce the section of teh class with a little history of the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. I found this on Wikipedia and thought it was a good bio of her life so I thought I would chare it.



Born Frances Eliza Hodgson in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, her father died in 1854, and the family had to endure poverty and squalor in the Victorian slums of Manchester.



She emigrated to Knoxville, Tennessee in the United States in 1865. The move, which they made at the request of an uncle, made no difference to the family's poverty, but at least they were now living in a better environment. Following the death of her mother in 1867, an 18-year-old Frances was now the head of a family of four younger siblings. She turned to writing to support them all, with a first story published in Godey's Lady's Book in 1868. Soon after she was being published regularly in Godey's, Scribner's Monthly, Peterson's Ladies' Magazine and Harper's Bazaar. Her main writing talent was combining realistic detail of working-class life with a romantic plot.


She married Dr. Swan Burnett of Washington, D.C. in 1873.
Her first novel was published in 1877; That Lass o' Lowrie's was a story of Lancashire life. After moving with her husband to Washington, D.C., Burnett wrote the novels Haworth's (1879), Louisiana (1880), A Fair Barbarian (1881), and Through One Administration (1883), as well as a play, Esmeralda (1881), written with William Gillette. In 1886 she published Little Lord Fauntleroy. It was originally intended as a children's book, but had a great appeal to mothers. It created a fashion of long curls (based on her son Vivian's) and velvet suits with lace collars (based on Oscar Wilde's attire). The book sold more than half a million copies. In 1888 she won a lawsuit in England over the dramatic rights to Little Lord Fauntleroy, establishing a precedent that was incorporated into British copyright law in 1911.


In 1898 she divorced Dr. Burnett. She later re-married, this time to Stephen Townsend (1900), her business manager. Her second marriage would last less than two years, ending in 1902.


Her later works include Sara Crewe (1888) - later rewritten as A Little Princess (1905); The Lady of Quality (1896) - considered one of the best of her plays; and The Secret Garden (1909), the children's novel for which she is probably best known today. The Lost Prince was published in 1915, and The Head of the House of Coombe was published in Canada in 1922. In 1893 she published a memoir of her youth, The One I Knew Best of All. From the mid-1890s she lived mainly in England, and in particular at Great Maytham Hall (from 1897 to 1907) where she really did discover a secret garden, but in 1909 she moved back to the United States, after having become a U.S. citizen in 1905.


After her first son Lionel's death of consumption in 1890, Burnett delved into Spiritualism and apparently found this a great comfort in dealing with her grief (she had previously dabbled in Theosophy, and some of its concepts are worked into The Secret Garden, where a crippled boy thinks he can heal himself through positive thinking and affirmations). During World War I, Burnett put her beliefs about what happens after death into writing with her novella The White People.
Frances Hodgson Burnett lived for the last 17 years of her life in Plandome, New York.[1] She is buried in Roslyn Cemetery nearby, next to her son Vivian. A life-size effigy of Lionel stands at their feet.

Borders on PIctures

I have to admit that I would have never thought to change the border size of a picture like in the book Where the Wild Things Are. I think that is a very cleaver way to show the transformations from one civilized society into the not so civilized one. I see it as if the borders are a more proper way to display a picture. I think of it as if they were framed and put into a gallery. Then as the story progresses we slowly are taken out of the gallery image and into a much different society. The wild thigs would have destoryed a fancy, high class place. It is very intresting how the borders on the pictures change. It is wonderful that we as readers are exposed to visual cue to help us through out the book.

Dr Seuss

I loved reading the Dr Suess series when I was younger. Today I look back and think that they are pretty silly but they kept me enertained as a child and helped to teach me a few things along the way. These books allowed children to be enertained while learing things such as their ABC's and their colors. I can't imagine what this world would be like if children were not able to experience the books that Dr. Seuss wrote. They are a timeless tradition that I am sure will be enjoyed for many generations to come. I found a really cute website called Suessville that has lots of really cool activities for children to enjoy. It even has a section about the book that was recently made into a movie.."Horton Hears a Who!".

Check it out...

http://www.seussville.com/

Peter Rabbit

I found Wednesday's class so intresting. Origionally when I looked at the book, Peter Rabbit, I just saw an extra small children's book about a rabbit. I though that it was really neat that Beatrice Potter made the book the size that she did for a reason. I love the fact that she thought about how little kids would hold it. I don't think I ever really thought about how the pictures made the book what it was. I know that I looked at them as a kid but it really never occured to me why the story flowed so well. Now I know that it is all because of the pictures. I am really glad that I now realize the importance of pictutres and hope that it will make me more aware of them in the furture.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web
By E.B. Lewis

I have always loved this book. I grew up in the country setting so books about animals wee always my favorites. This book show how extradorinary a friend ship can be. I know that many times children look at people that are different from them and refuse the befriend them. I think that this book sshows children that you can have all types of friend no matter what they may look like on the outside. Charlotte and Wilbur's friendship lasted beyond Charlotte's death. I think it is a wonderful lesson for children to learn and practice in thier own daily lives.

I have have to confess that I was Wilbur for Halloween one year as a child too! It seems really sad looking back... but I really loved this book!

Africian American Children Literature

During our peotry unit, we look at a few Africian American authors. I thought it would be intresting to find a list of a few more books that are famous and that are written by black authors.

African-American Voices in Children's Fiction
Compiled by Arrowhead Library System
PICTURE BOOKS
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman. Grace proves she can be the best Peter Pan in spite of classmates telling her she can't because she's female and black.

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard. Susan and Sarah visit their great-great Aunt Flossie to try on her wonderful hats, eat crab cakes for dinner and hear stories of her life. Clarion. 1991.

Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold. A fantasy about a girl who meets Harriet Tubman and a mysterious train in the sky. Crown, 1992.Baby Says by John Steptoe. An ingenious story uses only baby words to describe the playful relationship between an endearing toddler and his long suffering older brother. Lothrop. 1988.

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco. Winston, Stewart, and their "sister friend" want to buy a special gift for Miss Eula for Easter, but are falsely accused of throwing eggs at the local shopkeeper. A story of intergenerational, interracial friendship and creativity. Philomel, 1992.

Do Like Kyla by Angela Johnson. A young girl spends a winter day imitating her older sister; the book ends with a happy reversal, reflecting the girls' strong relationship. Orchard. 1990.

Everett Anderson's Friend by Lucille Clifton. At first, Everett is disappointed his new neighbor isn't a boy, but he later decides that a girl who can run and win at ball is nice to know after all. Holt.1976.

First Pink Light by Eloise Greenfield. Poignant story celebrates the riches of family life and a child's determination to greet the return of his father at dawn's first light. Black Butterfly. 1991.

The Magic Moonberry Jump Ropes by Dakari Hru. Uncle Zambezi arrives from East Africa with a pair of magic jump ropes for his nieces. Dial. 1995.

A Million Fish...More or Less by Patricia C. McKissack. An original folktale of the Louisiana bayou and a delightful yarn of exaggeration about "the one that got away." Knopf. 1992.

Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack. Mirandy must live up to her boastful promise that the wind will be her partner at the upcoming cakewalk. Knopf. 1988.

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe. Mufaro's two beautiful daughters go before the king who is choosing a wife. Morrow, 1987.

The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci. Blanche gains riches while her greedy sister makes fun of an old witch and is duly rewarded. Dial, 1990.