Through the eyes of a child: an introduction to children's literature

Special features

Preface

1: Child Responds To Literature:

Value of literature for children

Promoting child development through literature:

Language development

Cognitive development

Personality development

Social development

Children's responses to literature:

Factors within readers

Factors within texts

Factors within contexts

Responses

Analyzing responses

Role of motivation

Developing the literature program

2: History Of Children's Literature:

Milestones in the history of children's literature:

Oral tradition

Early printed books

Puritan influence

John Locke's influence on views of childhood

Charles Perrault's tales of Mother Goose

Adventure stories of Defoe and Swift

Newbery's books for children

Rousseau's philosophy of natural development

William Blake's poetry about children

Fairy tales of Andersen and the Brothers Grimm

Early illustrators of children's books

Victorian influence

Fantasy, adventure, and real people

Standards for evaluating adolescent literature

History of censorship

History of the library

Children and the family in children's literature:

Child and the family, 1856-1903

Child and the family, 1938-1960

Child and the family, 1969-present

3: Evaluating And Selecting Literature For Children:

Standards, literary elements, and book selection:

Standards for evaluating books and literary criticism

Standards for evaluating multicultural literature:

Value of multicultural literature

Literary criticism: evaluating multicultural literature

Literary elements:

Plot

Characterization

Setting

Theme

Style

Point of view

Right book for each child:

Accessibility

Readability

Interest and reader response

Child as critic

Teaching with literary elements:

Involving children in plot

Involving children in characterization:

Characterization techniques

Modeling inferencing

Involving children in setting:

Settings that create moods

Settings that develop antagonists

Settings that develop historical and geographical backgrounds

Settings that are symbolic

Involving children in theme

Involving children in style:

Personification

Pleasing style

Webbing the literary elements

Children's literature.

4: Artists And Their Illustrations:

Understanding artists and their illustrations:

Evaluating the illustrations in children's books

Visual elements: grammar of artists

Line

Color

Shape

Texture

Design: organizing the visual elements

Artistic media:

Lines and washes

Watercolors, acrylics, pastels, and oils

Woodcuts

Collage

Artistic style:

Representational art

Abstract art

Outstanding illustrators of children's books:

Barbara Cooney

Tomie dePaola

Leo and Diane Dillon

Ezra Jack Keats

Robert McCloskey

Alice and Martin Provensen

Maurice Sendak

Chris Van Allsburg

David Wiesner

Additional artists

Teaching with artists and their illustrations:

Using art education books

Aesthetic scanning

Studying inspirations for art

Investigating the works of great artists

Multicultural Literature: History of a culture as reflected in art: a multicultural approach

Using a viewer's response approach

Children's literature

5: Picture Books:

Book is more than words:

What a picture book is

Literary criticism: evaluating picture books

Mother Goose:

Appealing characteristics

Collections

Books that illustrate one rhyme or tale

Toy books

Alphabet books:

Animal themes

Other alphabet books

Counting books

Concept books

Wordless books

Easy-to-read and beginning readers' books

Picture storybooks:

Elements in picture storybooks

Typical characters and situations

Picture storybooks for middle school students

Teaching with picture books:

Sharing Mother Goose

Sharing wordless books:

Stimulating cognitive and language development:

Motivating writing and reading

Reading to children:

Choosing the books

Preparing to read aloud

Reading itself

Motivating writing with picture storybooks

Children's literature

6: Traditional Literature:

Of castle and cottage

Our traditional literary heritage

Types of traditional literature:

Folktales

Fables

Myths

Legends

Value of traditional literature for children:

Understanding the world

Identifying with universal human struggles

Pleasure

Authenticating the folklore

Folklore for adolescents

Folktales:

Characteristics

Motifs

Multicultural Literature: Folktales from around the world

Fables:

Characteristics

Contemporary editions

Myths:

Greek and Roman mythology

Norse mythology

Multicultural Literature: Native American myths

Multicultural Literature: Myths from other cultures

Legends

Additional traditional literature with religious themes

Teaching with traditional literature:

Telling stories:

Choosing a story

Preparing the story for telling

Sharing the story with an audience

Encouraging children to be storytellers

Multicultural Literature: Comparing folktales from different countries

Motivating writing through traditional tales

Children's literature.

7: Modern Fantasy:

Time, space, and place

Evaluating modern fantasy:

Suspending disbelief: plot

Suspending disbelief: characterization

Creating a world: setting

Universality: themes

Suspending disbelief: point of view

Bridges between traditional and modern fantasy:

Literary folktales

Religious and ethical allegory

Mythical quests and conflicts

Categories of modern fantasy:

Articulate animals

Toys

Preposterous characters and situations

Strange and curious worlds

Little people

Spirits friendly and frightening

Time warps

Science fiction

Modern fantasy and science fiction for adolescents

Voices from the field / Nancy Farmer

Teaching with modern fantasy:

Helping children recognize, understand, and enjoy elements in fantasy

Interpreting modern fantasy by identifying plot structures

Involving children with science fiction:

Interdisciplinary studies: interaction between social studies and science fiction

Unit plan for Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time:

Oral discussion

Artwork

Creative dramatization

Analytical reading of Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion

Children's literature

8: Poetry:

Rhythmic patterns of language:

Value of poetry for children

What poetry is

Characteristics of poems that children prefer

Criteria for selecting poetry for children

Elements of poetry:

Rhythm

Rhyme and other sound patterns

Repetition

Imagery

Shape

Forms of poetry:

Lyric poetry

Narrative poetry

Ballads

Limericks

Concrete poems

Haiku

Sijo

Poems and poets:

Nonsense and humor: poems for starting out right

Nature poems

Animals

Science

Characters, situations, and locations

Moods and feelings

Multicultural Literature: Many voices

Voices from the field / Naomi Shihad Nye

Poetry for adolescents

Novels in verse

Teaching with poetry:

Listening to poetry

Dramatizing poetry

Developing choral speaking:

Refrain arrangement

Antiphonal, or dialogue, arrangement

Cumulative arrangement

Choosing poetry to accompany content:

Writing poetry:

Motivations

Oral exchanges of ideas

Transcriptions

Sharing

Poetry writing exercises

Children's literature

9: Contemporary Realistic Fiction:

Window on the world

What contemporary realistic fiction is

Value of realistic fiction

Literary elements-evaluating realistic fiction:

Plot

Characterization

Theme

Style

How realistic fiction has changed

Literary Criticism: New realism and the problem novel

Controversial issues:

Sexism

Sexuality

Violence

Profanity

Family problems and other controversial issues

Literary Criticism: Guidelines for selecting controversial fiction

Subjects in realistic fiction:

Family life

Growing up

Survival

Death

People as individuals, not stereotypes

Multicultural Literature: Multicultural topics in realistic fiction

Animal stories, mysteries, sports stories, and humor:

Animals

Mysteries

Sports

Humor

Contemporary realistic fiction for adolescents:

Voices from the field / Joan Bauer

Teaching with realistic fiction:

Using role playing

Using survival stories to motivate reading and interaction with literature:

Interdisciplinary unit: island survival

Developing questioning strategies:

Literal recognition

Inference

Evaluation

Appreciation

Children's literature.

10: Historical Fiction:

People and the past come alive:

Value of historical fiction for children

Literary Criticism: Using literary elements to evaluate historical fiction:

Plot

Characterization

Setting

Theme

Style

Historical authenticity

Chronology of historical fiction:

Ancient times through the Middle Ages

Multicultural Literature: Changes in the old world and encounters with the new world

Salem witch hunts

American revolution

Early expansion of the Untied States and Canada

Multicultural Literature: Slavery, the Civil War, and overcoming segregation:

Western frontier

Multicultural Literature: Pioneers and Native Americans:

Early 20th Century

World War II

Multicultural Literature: Internment of Japanese Americans and the Pacific conflict

Voices from the field / Joseph Bruchac

Teaching with historical fiction:

Providing background through illustrations

Interdisciplinary unit: looking at pioneer America:

Values from the past

Pioneer environment

Trails in westward expansion

Research skills

Additional activities

Culminating activity

Multicultural Literature: Recognizing similarities

Children's literature

11: Biographies:

People who change lives:

Changing ideas about biographies for children

Literary Criticism: Evaluating biographies:

Characterization

Factual accuracy

Worthiness of subject

Balance between fact and story line

Biographies in picture-book format

Biographical subjects:

Explorers of earth and space

Political leaders and social activists

Multicultural Literature: Civil Rights leaders:

Artists and authors

People who have persevered

Biographies written for adolescents

Voices from the field / Jack Gantos

Teaching with biographies:

Unit plan: Using biographies in creative dramatizations

Reader response: Developing hypothetical interviews with authors:

Imaginary conversations between people of two time periods

Developing comprehension through time lines of biographical characters

Analyzing values and beliefs

Motivating discussions and research using Lincoln biographies:

Picture storybooks

Illustrated biographies

Research topics (research and debate)

Motivating additional reading and discussion

Developing appreciation for the lives and the music of biographical characters

Children's literature

12: Informational Books:

From history to how things work:

Value of informational books

Evaluating informational books:

Accuracy

Stereotypes

Illustrations

Analytical thinking

Organization

Style

History and culture:

Ancient world

Modern world

Multicultural Literature: History of Civil Rights for African Americans:

Nature:

Human body

Animals

Plants

Geology and geography

Discoveries and how things work:

Discoveries

How things work

Hobbies, crafts, and how-to books:

Creative arts

Teaching with informational books:

Using informational books to evaluate fiction

Incorporating literature into the science curriculum:

Using the parts of a book

Locating sources of information

Using science vocabulary

Evaluating science materials

Searching for, identifying, and evaluating sources of scientific information

Children's literature

References

Author, illustrator, and title index

Subject index.

The child responds to literature

The history of children's literature

Evaluating and selecting literature for children

Artists and their illustrations

Picture books

Traditional literature

Modern fantasy

Poetry

Contemporary realistic fiction

Historical fiction

Biographies

Informational books.