Childhood’s Books | ENGLIT 0562 | Summer 2014 | MW 1-4:15 | Posvar 5200 |
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ENGLIT 0562: Childhood’s Books
Jessica Isaac
[email protected]
Office hours M 4:15-5:15 and by appt.
CL 617V
Childhood’s Books: Children Apart
The history of modern childhood is one in which children are increasingly
cordoned off into their own physical, social, and cultural spaces. Children’s
literature, defined as literature published especially for children’s edification and
enjoyment, emerged alongside modern childhood in the late eighteenth century.
Children, the thinking goes, require different reading from adults, reading that
teaches them as it entertains them, that protects them from the world as it
gradually introduces them to it. Even though we ought to question whether
children’s literature does these things or should do these things, it is undeniable
that as time has passed, our culture’s emphasis on the difference between adults
and children has only increased. Anglo-American children now typically
experience more protection and more restriction than any generation that
preceded them. As consumers of texts and other media, they are their own
separate but powerful market segment.
In this course we will take this separation between children and adults as
our central theme. What does it mean to create a separate literature for
children? What kind of reading does that assume? What kind of children does
that assume? What kind of experience does the separation between children and
adults make available for narrative? We will consider the history of children’s
literature and childhood, starting always with the assumption that childhood is
socially constructed and thus historically and culturally variable. We will read
narratives that draw their tension from various kinds of childhood separation:
imaginative, physical, racial, cultural. We will read criticism that offers us
theoretical lenses and historical and cultural contexts for understanding our
primary texts. Using that work, we will ask how childhood changes across
categories of identity: gender, sexuality, race, class, culture, nation. We will also
consider the kinds of reception that circulate around children’s literature and
that articulate its value for different audiences. Children’s literature does not
receive the same kind of critical attention as other kinds of literature. We will
consider why that is and your course projects will give you the opportunity to
intervene in that discussion.
Course Objectives:
Content:
In this course you will:
• learn the outlines of the history of children’s literature from the
eighteenth century to the present
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develop a deep understanding of our primary texts
learn the cultural contexts surrounding our primary texts and the ways in
which they impact the meaning of those texts
learn basic analytic vocabulary from the fields of children’s literature
studies and childhood studies
learn to access the main outlets for critical writing about children’s
literature
understand children’s literature’s unique position as an object of critical
analysis
Skills:
In this course you will:
• learn to think critically about childhood as a category of social and cultural
analysis
• learn how to understand the relationship between childhood and other
forms of identity (race, class, gender, etc.)
• improve your critical reading and analysis skills
• improve your ability to write critical essays about literature that intervene
meaningfully in an existing discussion
Course Texts:
The following are available at the bookstore:
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
[also available for free online]
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island
[also available for free online]
Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy
Rushdie, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
All other readings will be available through Courseweb
Grading
Criticism Project 20%
Reception Project 20%
Blog Posts 21%
Exams 20%
Participation 19%
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Participation: 19%
Your participation is strongly desired and encouraged, both in class and online. A
large portion of this class revolves around student collaboration and
participation. If you do not participate, you are missing a central feature of the
course. This means that everyone needs to make an effort to express their ideas
and questions aloud, but just as importantly it means that you are expected to
listen attentively to your classmates and respond respectfully.
I understand that talking in class may be especially difficult for some, and I will
consider individual dispositions and comfort levels in assessing this grade. That
said, even if you do not find yourself participating verbally, you should be visibly
engaged in course activities during class—this means following the discussion
and attending to others’ comments, taking notes, etc., and not simply reading
your computer or a book for the duration of class.
In class, you will be expected to participate verbally, to respond to instructors’
questions as well as to your classmates’, and to come prepared with your own
comments and questions about that week’s course materials. Note that online
comments on other students’ blog posts will count positively toward your
participation grade. Note also that repeated absences or missed/late assignments
will be reflected in your participation grade.
Participation is an important element of this course, particularly because it is a
summer course. You may ask me to calculate your participation grade if you are
concerned about it, but I will not be giving a formal evaluation of it during the
term.
Attendance
Since your writing and responses to the reading are central to class discussion,
attendance is mandatory. Come to class on time, prepared to take part in
conversation about the materials under study. Excessive tardiness at the start
of class or after mid-class breaks will result in partial absences, which are
penalized as follows:
Because this is a summer course, each class meeting counts for a little
more than one week of class in a regular semester. For that reason, you
may not miss more than one absence without severe penalty, though it is
strongly recommended that you strive for perfect attendance. On occasion
you may need to miss sections with a valid excuse, such as a religious
observation, a serious illness, or a family emergency. To have an absence
excused for non-religious reasons, you must have a letter from either a
doctor or your academic advisor. To be excused for foreseeable absences
(such as religious observances) please inform me in advance, by email. If
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an excused absence could be scheduled ahead, coursework normally due
on that day will still be due; you can submit materials electronically if
necessary. Each absence after the first without a documented excuse
will result in a full one-grade penalty to your final grade.
If you do miss a class, you must arrange for your assignment that day
to be submitted on time, preferably electronically through email or
Courseweb.
Reading
You should expect to read one novel and one academic article per week. Most
weeks there will also be “bonus” readings, about which I may include a bonus
question on the weekly quiz. Keeping up with the readings is an important part of
your participation in the course. Parts of the readings that are not covered in
lecture may still be addressed in the weekly exams. You will also be expected to
come to class having completed the readings and prepared to discuss them in
detail. Not being so prepared will significantly affect your participation grade.
Weekly exams: 20%
Due dates: Every week, noon Thursday to noon Friday
Objective: To evaluate comprehension and recall of key terms and concepts,
evaluate student progress, and provide incentives for regular reading and
attendance.
Description: Each week except the first week you will complete a short exam on
Courseweb. Exams will last for 15 minutes and consist of 3–6 multiple choice, fillin-the-blank, short answer, matching, and similar questions. You may complete
the exams by logging into Courseweb at your convenience any time between 12
p.m. noon Thursday and 12 p.m. noon Friday. Questions will focus on
comprehension of key terms and concepts from course readings, mini-lectures,
and discussion as well as a reasonable recall of the key elements of primary
texts.
Exams will be cumulative from week to week. That is, questions for a particular
exam may include content covered in materials from previous weeks.
Grading: The lowest exam score will be dropped. The number of questions may
vary from week to week, but each exam will count equally toward your semester
grade. Partial credit for individual questions may be given at the graders’
discretion.
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Exams must be submitted on time and can only be made up if you have a
documented excuse for an absence from class that week. Exams must still be
completed in the time allotted even if you are using your free absence for class
that week.
Weekly blog posts: 21% (5 posts total; 3 graded posts × 7% each)
Due dates: Every Sunday by midnight, except June 22.
Objective: This assignment is designed to get you in the habit of writing and
thinking in dialogue with the course materials, to give you an opportunity to
work on your close textual analysis, and to integrate writing into your everyday
thinking and research.
Description: Every week, by midnight on Sunday night, you should submit a post
to our course blog. I will choose three weeks during the session and grade the
posts for that week. You will not be informed in advance which weeks your posts
will be graded.
On weeks when posts will be graded, I will inform by email on Monday morning
and ask you to bring a hard copy printout to class Monday afternoon.
Your posts should identify a key passage in the week’s novel and discuss it in
terms of the critical reading from that week. Your aim will be to identify part of
the novel to write about that the author of the critical reading did not focus on
and, by analyzing the text closely, offer an argument of your own that elaborates,
challenges, or otherwise extends the ideas of the critical article. As the basis for
your analysis, you should include quotations from the novel or succinct
summaries/paraphrase, as well as quotations from the critical article. That said,
blog posts should not simply be summaries of the course readings or composed
only of quotations—they are an opportunity for you to engage with the readings,
and I want to hear your thoughts and your voice.
Posts should be a minimum of 400 words and a maximum of 1000 words. Please
include a word count at the bottom of each post.
Grading: You will be graded on the thoughtfulness, creativity, and clarity of your
posts, and especially on your ability to analyze an example closely and consider
its ramifications for the arguments raised by the critical readings. You may use
informal language, but your posts should be carefully proofread. You are also
welcome, when relevant, to use the digital formatting tools available to you, such
as hyperlinks and embedded images and video.
Only three of the posts will be graded for their content, but you do need to post at
least once a week, so your grade for this assignment will be reduced at the end of
the session if you do not submit a post each week.
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Online comments (part of participation grade)
In addition to posting to the blog each week, you are expected read other
students’ posts and comment on them at least once a week. Fewer comments
than that will negatively affect your participation grade. More will affect it
positively.
Reception Project 20%
See attached handout
Criticism Project 20%
See attached handout
Extensions
Assignments are due on the dates and times stated on the syllabus. Exams must
be completed in the allotted time while they are available on Courseweb, and can
only be made up if you have a documented excuse for an absence from class that
day. Written assignments turned in late will be reduced by one full letter
grade for each calendar day they are late (e.g., from A to B, A- to B-, etc.), up
to a maximum penalty of three full letter grades. If you submit work late, I
may not be able to give written commentary.
Absences are not an acceptable excuse for not having done the required work.
Extra credit
You may propose extra credit activities that you would like to complete and that
would be meaningful for you personally or professionally. That might include
reading a novel that isn’t on our syllabus, attending a cultural event or museum,
attending a lecture, screening a film. All activities must relate to our course in a
meaningful way. A small amount of extra credit will be given for each, up to three
extra credits for any one student.
To receive credit you must complete the activity and use them as the topic for an
additional blog post. Please clearly mark extra credit posts as “extra credit
assignment.” In addition to posting to the shared blog, you should submit a hard
copy of this post to me. All extra credit posts must be submitted online within a
week of the completion of the activity, and all hard copies must be submitted no
later than our last class meeting.
Classroom recording
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To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record
classroom lectures, discussion, and/or activities without the advance written
permission of the instructor, and any such recording properly approved in
advance can be used solely for the student’s own private use.
Academic integrity
All students are expected to adhere to the standards of academic honesty. This
course follows the policies on plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic
dishonesty outlined in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences policy on
academic integrity: http://www.as.pitt.edu/fac/policies/academic-integrity
Please note especially the detailed list of examples of violations in Section I of
this policy. You are responsible for informing yourself about what actions are
considered violations.
Instances of academic dishonesty will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis
depending on the severity of the violation. In general if a written assignment is
suspected of academic dishonesty, you will be asked to redo the assignment, and
the violation will be reported to the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies,
according to the procedure described in Section II.1 of the A&S policy.
Course Website
Resources for this course can be found online at the University’s Blackboard
website, http://courseweb.pitt.edu, where you can log in using your university
computer account username and password; then click on the link to this course.
If you have trouble with this or any other aspect of the course website, call the
help desk at (412) 624-HELP.
Blackboard automatically uses your Pitt email account. If you use another
account as well (e.g., Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, etc.), be sure to check your Pitt
account at least once a day, since I’ll send email announcements to the class via
your Pitt email address.
SERVICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS
You should be aware of the following services and resources:
Disability Resources and Services
http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/drswelcome
140 William Pitt Union 412-648-7890 / 412-383-7355 (TTY)
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an
accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and
Disability Resources and Services as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify
your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
I do aim to lead an inclusive and accommodating class, so if you have a disability
please feel free to contact me however you prefer (by email or phone, at my office
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hours, or before or after class) if you would like to let me know about any
accommodations you may require.
Writing Center
http://www.composition.pitt.edu/writingcenter/
appointments: https://pitt.mywconline.com/
317B O’Hara Student Center 412-624-6556
I strongly encourage everyone, no matter your writing ability, to make use of the
Writing Center throughout the semester and for all of your courses.
University Counseling Center
http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/cchome
2nd floor, Nordenberg Hall 412-648-7930
Please be aware of services available for yourself or your peers including Crisis
and Emergency Services (http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/cc_crisis),
Individual and Group Counseling
(http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/ccindividual), Drug and Alcohol Services
(http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/ccdrugalcohol), and a Stress-Free Zone
(http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/ccsfz).
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Course Schedule
Week 1
May 12: Children’s Literature and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
READ: Hunt, Peter: “The Fundamentals of Children’s Literature Criticism: Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass,” The Oxford
Handbook of Children’s Literature, Eds. Julia L. Mickenberg and Lynne Vallone.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 35-52.
In class picturebook: Where the Wild Things Are
May 14: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
READ: Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking
Glass
Extra bonus reading: Young Turkish readers’ responses to Alice
http://warlight.tripod.com/CARROLL.html#PRESENTS FOR
EXAM: Online, noon May 15-noon May 16
BLOG: Due Sunday, May 18, by midnight
Week 2
May 19: Native American Childhoods
READ: Adrienne Kertzer. "Not Exactly: Intertextual Identities and Risky
Laughter in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time
Indian." Children's Literature 40.1 (2012): 49-77.
Inclass picturebook: Jingle Dancer
Extra bonus readings:
Alexie, “Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood”
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-arewritten-in-blood/
Alexie’s Book Banned, Kids Read it Anyway
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/219767/parents-call-cops-on-teen-forgiving-away-banned-book-it-backfires-predictably/
May 21: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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READ: Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
EXAM: Online, noon May 22-noon May 23
BLOG: Due Sunday, May 25, by midnight
Week 3
May 26: Class Cancelled, Memorial Day
May 28: Queer Childhoods, Harriet the Spy and Reception Projects
READ: Bernstein, Robin. “The Queerness of Harriet the Spy.” In Over the
Rainbow: Queer Children’s Literature, 111-120. Ann Arbor, MI: University of
Michigan Press, 2011.
READ: Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet the Spy
Inclass Picturebook: And Tango Makes Three
Extra bonus readings:
Hornbook 50th Anniversary Forum on Harriet
http://www.hbook.com/2014/05/choosing-books/horn-bookmagazine/horn-book-magazine-mayjune-2014/
“Classic” hornbook essay on Harriet
http://www.hbook.com/2013/03/choosing-books/horn-book-magazine/onspies-and-purple-socks-and-such/
DUE: Reception Projects, written portion to turn in, visual portion to present
EXAM: Online, noon May 29-noon May 30
BLOG: Due Sunday, June 1, by midnight
Week 4
June 2: Circulating Piracy
READ: Cohen, Monica F: “Imitation Fiction: Pirate Citings in Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Treasure Island,” Victorian Literature and Culture 41:1 (Mar 2013):
153-173.
Inclass Reading: Ninteenth-century amateur newspaper fiction
Extra bonus reading:
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“Are You Ready or Not,” Pirates of the Caribbean FanFiction
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10308295/1/Are-You-Ready-Or-Not
June 4: Treasure Island
READ: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
EXAM: Online, noon June 5-noon June 6
BLOG: Due Sunday, June 8, by midnight
Week 5
June 9: Print and Oral Traditions
READ: Sen, Suchismita. “Memory, Language, and Society in Salman Rushdie's
Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Contemporary Literature, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Winter,
1995): 654-675.
Inclass comic: Tinkle
Extra bonus reading:
June 11: Haroun and the Sea of Stories
READ: Rushdie, Salman, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
EXAM: Online, noon June 12-noon June 13
BLOG: Due Sunday, June 15, by midnight
Week 6
June 16: African American Childhoods and Conclusion
READ: Capshaw Smith, Katharine, “The Brownies’ Book and the Roots of African
American Children’s Literature,” The Tar Baby and the Tomahawk,
http://childlit.unl.edu/topics/edi.harlem.html
Inclass Picturebooks:
Nappy Hair
The Snowy Day
Extra bonus reading: Jamaican children’s retellings of Anancy tales from the
1920s (on Courseweb)
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June 18: The Brownies’ Book
READ: DuBois, W.E.B., ed., The Brownies Book
EXAM: Online, noon June 19-noon June 20
FINAL ESSAY: Due in class in hard copy, June 18
BLOG: No blog this week
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Due Wednesday, May 28
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Critical Reception Project
Purpose: Develop an understanding of the way one of our course texts has been
received by a range of readers with varying investments: literary critics,
professional reviewers, and everyday readers. Practice reading criticism and
reviews; learn the places where children’s literature gets written about. Prepare
for final essay by seeing how your perspective compares to those of others and by
gathering materials to write about. Improve your ability to synthesize many
perspectives on a single topic.
Instructions:
Choose a primary text from our course (either a picture book or a novel)
Confer with classmates to see if anyone else is working on your text. If so, plan
your reading strategically so that you don’t overlap too much and can combine
resources later.
Survey your book’s reception by:
Reading at least two scholarly articles
Write a one paragraph summary (200-500 words) of each article
that includes quotations of key ideas.1
Reading at least four professional reviews
Questions to guide your reading:
What do reviewers usually mark as the most important elements of
the book?
How do they “sell” the book?
Reading at least ten reviews written by readers
What do readers usually find valuable, offensive, pleasurable, or
unappealing about the text?
Represent your findings:
Visually
use digital tools with which you’re familiar (we will cover Excel) or
create it by hand and scan it
be prepared to present your visual in class on May 28
Through writing
Write 2-3 double-spaced pages
How have dominant ideas about identity (race, gender, nation, age)
affected the reception of your primary text?
Have one set of readers found something problematic? Why?
Have another set found something praiseworthy? Why?
1
This will be very useful for your final essay.
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How does this reflect common (or uncommon) ways of
thinking about that kind of identity?
Turn In:
•
•
•
A copy of your visual
A document including your annotations (with citations), the
citations of your reviews, and your reader reviews copied and pasted
with source identified
Your reflection through writing
Resources:
Clare Withers, Pitt’s intrepid children’s literature librarian, will assemble a page
of resources for locating materials. It is here:
http://pitt.libguides.com/childhoodsbooksisaacs . The sources are organized
according to genre (journal, database) rather than type of reception writing. So
be sure to distinguish for yourself between:
Literary Criticism:
Children’s Literature in Education
Children’s Literature
Children’s Literature Association Quarterly
The Lion and the Unicorn
Professional Reviews:
Hornbook
Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (through Pitt library databases)
Readers’ Reviews:
Goodreads.com (must create a free account to use)
Amazon.com
blogs
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Criticism Project
Due Wednesday, June 18
Bring a hard copy to class, and upload a Word document to Courseweb
Purpose: Offer a critical perspective on a text from our class of your choice.
Contribute to the critical understanding of the public of an important work of
children’s literature. Practice close reading; practice constructing a historicallyand theoretically-informed argument about a literary text. Practice synthesizing
the views of others and positioning yourself in relation to them.
Instructions:
In your Critical Reception Project, you surveyed the way three different
audiences have received an important work of children’s literature. This essay
project asks you to construct an argument that moves the conversation as you
understand it forward by presenting your own understanding in relation to that
of others. This requires, first and foremost, that you create a strong argument,
based on close reading of textual evidence, about the work you’ve chosen. You
should choose an argument that offers insights into the text that speak to
concerns others have but that highlights questions, problems, or concerns that
are lacking in the current conversation, or that have been neglected, or that have
been formulated in a way that you find wanting.
Illustrate the close connection that this argument has to the perspectives
and writing of others by citing them. Show that you understand, and even
respect or admire the contributions of others, while still believing strongly that
you have something important to add. It’s easy to go too far in the direction of
critiquing or dismissing previous writers, but it’s equally easy to go too far in the
direction of reverencing their work. You have important ideas and a valuable
critical voice. You are joining a conversation as an equal, as someone who has
read the text, read the work of others, and thought carefully about all of it.
As you may have noticed when working on your Critical Reception Project,
children’s literature does not always get the critical attention it deserves in the
venues our culture usually circulates such writing. Though scholars write
important critical work about children’s literature, periodicals like The London
Review or The New York Review of Books rarely cover children’s literature or
consider its relationship to the current concerns of our culture. Imagine that you
have been asked to write a critical essay about the book you chose for a periodical
like that, that you have the opportunity to write to a segment of the population
that is interested in learning and thinking critically, but that might not
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immediately know much about important thinking about children’s literature.
This is not to say that you should spend your essay summarizing key ideas, but
rather that you should imagine your argument as one that is important and
accessible to a wide range of intelligent readers. Convince them that children’s
literature is worth considering critically, that it reveals important problems in
our culture and gives us unique avenues for thinking through them. I will publish
your essays online on a website devoted to the work of this class so that it will be
possible for your essay to have the kind of readership described here.
Specifications:
Length: 9-11 pages, double spaced, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins
Citations: Please use MLA format. Please ask if you need resources for using
MLA.
Using other works: Cite your primary text, the two scholarly works you
annotated for your Reception Project, and at least one of the reviews you
read by a professional source or from a reader.
Images: You may include images. Please cite them as you would any other source,
provide a caption, and adjust your final page length accordingly.
Re-using previous writing: You are more than welcome to re-use writing from
your blog posts or your Critical Reception Project as part of this essay.