Sample Syllabus Six for teaching with Crosscurrents of Children's Literature, Oxford University
Press
An introductory
level class, this course
focuses on recognizing, identifying and understanding the issues in
the primary
genres of children’s literature.
Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. San Francisco: Seastar Books, 2000.
Beckett, Sandra L. Reflections of Change: Children's Literature Since 1945. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Doonan, Jane. Looking at Pictures in Picture Books. Stroud: Thimble Press, 1993.
Hunt, Peter and Millicent Lenz. Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction. London: Continuum, 2001.
Livingston, Myra Cohn. Climb into the Bell Tower: Essays on Poetry. New York: Harper & Row, 1990.
Moebius, William. “Introduction to Picturebook Codes.” Children’s Literature: The Development of Criticism. Ed. Peter Hunt. London: Routledge, 1990. 137-147.
Nikolajeva, Maria and Carole Scott. How Picturebooks Work. New York: Garland, 2001.
Book to Movie. For this paper, the students will read one book and watch one movie based on that book. For the first part of the project, the students will compare changes: what is different between the two? For the second part, they will look at the cultural implications of these adaptations: what does it mean that these things have been changed? Film theory could be helpful here, as well as cultural theory.
Annotated Bibliography. Each student will find 10 picture books on one topic or by one author or illustrator. They will then compile an Annotated Bibliography, with annotations that not only summarize the text, but discuss the visual aspects of the books, as well.
Fairy Tale Project: Students will choose one fairy tale, and find three to five versions of it. They will then write a paper with three parts: first, they will introduce the time and place in which each version was produced. Then they will write about changes that have occurred across time and culture. Finally, the students will spend time analyzing the cultural implications of the variations. The students don’t need sources other than the variants of the fairy tales, but if they want to use them, that is fine. Be sure to spend time in class discussing dangers of hasty generalizations about the cultural significance of fairy tale images.
Historical Novel: Have each student read a different historical novel that presents a non-European culture. The students may give a presentation of that novel, first giving an outline that lasts no more than one minute, followed by an evaluation of the novel in light of the article “Is that Book Politically Correct? Truth and Trends in Historical Literature for Young People” by Hazel Rochman, Masha Kabakow, and Diane Stanley. You may, on the other hand, allow the students to write this as a two-to-three-page paper.
“Preface”
Introduction to Part one
Introduction to Part two
From The World of Storytelling Anne Pellowski
“How Spider Obtained the Sky-God’s Stories” Ashanti Tale
“How Tortoise Cracked his Shell” Chinua Achebe
From Spiderman Anancy James Berry
Aesop’s Fables Translated by George Fyler Townsend
“The Oral Tradition: Alive, Alive-oh” John Langstaff
“Oral Narration in Contemporary North America” Kay F. Stone
From A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale” Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross
“Dancing Drum: A Cherokee Legend” Terri Cohlene
“Munsmeg” Richard Chase
“Mutsmag” R. Rex Stephenson
“Reading Fairy Tales” Maria Tatar
“Reflections: The Uses of Enchantment” Bruno Bettelheim
“The Frog King, or Iron Henry,” “Hansel and Gretel,” Mother Holle,” Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves,” “Rapunzel,” “The Water of Life” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
“Beauty and the Beast” Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
“Jack and the Beanstalk” Joseph Jacobs
“Snow White in New York” Fiona French
“Brothers Grimm and Sister Jane” Jane Yolen
“Cinderella: Saturday Afternoon at the Movies” Louise Bernikow
“Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper” Charles Perrault
“Ashputtle” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
“The Indian Cinderella” Cyrus MacMillan
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” Hans Christian Andersen
“The Little Mermaid” Hans Christian Andersen
“John Henry” African American Ballad
“Kemp Owyne” Ballad
“The Tree in the Wood” Folk Song
“A Frog Went A-Courtin’” Folk Song
From Navajo Visions and Voices Across the Mesa Shonto Begay
From Divine Songs for Children Isaac Watts
From A Child’s Garden of Verses Robert Louis Stevenson
“The Old Man’s Comforts and How He Gained Them” Robert Southey
“The Spider and the Fly” Mary Botham Howitt
“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” Jane Taylor
From the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes Iona and Peter Opie
From An Appalachian Mother Goose James Still
From Struwwelpeter OR Happy Tales and Funny Pictures, Freely Translated Heinrich Hoffman
“The Owl and the Pussy Cat”…”There was a Young Lady Whose Nose” Edward Lear
A Apple Pie Kate Greenaway
From Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic Shel Silverstein
“Aunt Sue’s Stories,” “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes
“knoxville, tennessee” Nikki Giovanni
“I Love the Look of Words” Maya Angelou
From The Dragons are Singing Tonight Jack Prelutsky
From A Wreath for Emmett Till Marilyn Nelson
“Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” Roald Dahl
Part six: “Words and Pictures”
“Fantasy” C. W. Sullivan
“Liking and Not Liking Fantasy” Perry Nodelman
From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll
From The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi
From Father Goose, His Book L. Frank Baum
From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
From The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
“The Last of the Dragons” E. Nesbit
From Tom’s Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce
“Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?” Ursula K. LeGuin
From A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle
“‘Realism and Children’s Literature: Notes from a Historical Perspective” Elizabeth Segel
“Didacticism in Modern Dress” John Rowe Townsend
“The Purple Jar,” “The Birthday Present” Maria Edgeworth
From Ramona the Pest Beverly Cleary
From Tom Brown’s School Days Thomas Hughes
From Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson
From The Great Gilly Hopkins Katherine Paterson
From Forever… A Novel Judy Blume
“Insiders, Outsiders, and the Question of Authenticity: Who Shall Write for African American Children?” Nina Mikkelsen
From The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963 Christopher Paul Curtis
New Boy in School May Justus
The Slave Dancer Paula Fox
From Nobody’s Family is Going to Change Louise Fitzhugh
“’As the Twig is Bent…’ Gender and Childhood Reading” Elizabeth Segel
“Boys Will be Boys: The Making of the Male” Marina Warner
“Review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” William Dean Howells
“Huck, Continued” E. L. Doctorow and David Bradley
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 12, “Tom Shows His Generosity” Mark Twain
From Little Women “Jo Meets Apollyon” Louisa May Alcott
From Anne of Green Gables Chapter 10 “Anne’s Apology” Lucy Maude Montgomery
“A Little Ghostly History” Leslie McFarlane
“Keeping Nancy Drew Alive” Sara Paretsky
From The Tower Treasure Franklin W. Dixon
From The Secret of the Old Clock Carolyn Keene
From Be Careful What You Wish For… R. L. Stine
From the Colloquy Aelfric
From Orbis Sensualim Pictus Johan Amos Comenius
“Of the Danger of Pleasure” John Huddlestone Wynne
Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes Floyd Cooper
“Toy-Based Videos for Girls: My Little Pony” Ellen Seiter
“The Little Mermaid” Hans Christian Andersen
“Moral Simplification in The Little Mermaid” A. Walter Hastings
“American Film Adaptations of The Secret Garden: Reflections of Historical and Social Change” Juliane Gillispie
From The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
Return to list of sample syllabi
Sample syllabus prepared by Melody Green
Contact Tina L. Hanlon with questions or comments on this site.
Updated: August 16, 2010 | Return to Home Page: Crosscurrents of Children's Literature