Course Recap for January 19

Defining Children's Literature and "Historicizing Childhood"
Today at the beginning of class, I asked you to spend some time writing about your readings: Hintz and Tribunella's "Historicizing Childhood" and the Early History of Children's Lit presentation. Next, I asked you to spend some time sharing your notes with a partner. After you spent a few minutes discussing your thoughts, I handed out the first reading quiz. You spent 15 minutes writing your short response. The historical models of childhood are extremely important to our study of children's literature; we will come back to them again and again throughout the semester. If you were present and participated in class today, you received full credit on your first reading quiz. I created a sample answer key for the first quiz that you can access HERE. Keep in mind that each response will be a bit different, so your responses do not need to match the key exactly.

Group Work and Discussion
Next, I asked you to work with a small group to come up with your own personal definitions for "children's literature." You were free to pick and choose from among different scholars' ideas and your own when coming up with your definitions. See the scholars' definitions handout HERE. I asked you to identify the seven models of childhood discussed in the reading. I also asked you to identify one specific quote each from the reading and the presentation that you found especially interesting, useful, or important. I asked you to identify a historical detail from the reading or the presentation and some significant formats, subgenres, or repeated themes in children's literature noted in the presentation. Finally, I asked you to note anything that you found confusing or had questions about from any of the readings. I then asked volunteers to share your definitions of "children's literature." I asked you if there were scholars definitions that you disagreed or agreed with from the reading or yesterday's presentation. I also asked you to identify some example of children's literature you enjoyed as a young person.

The Fantastic in Children's Literature and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
During the second half of class, I gave a short presentation on Fantasy and Realism in children's literature. You can access that presentation HERE and on the left hand side of the blog under "presentations." I then asked you to spend some time writing about J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. You either chose a prompt from the Reading Guide or any short passage from the first half of the  novel to write about. I reminded you as you were writing that you should go to the novel and pull specific quotes or scenes to provide evidence for your discussion of the significance of any element or idea. We then spent some time as a large group discussing your initial impression and thoughts about the novel. We will continue our discussion next week.

Key Questions From Class
What is children's literature? What underlying tensions and complexities are present in the term? What are the historical models of childhood? How can they help us better understand children's literature? What is the role of the fantastic in literature for children?

Homework

• Finish J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Read Michael Joseph's "Liminality"
• Read Elisabeth Rose Gruner's "Teach the Children: Education and Knowledge in Recent Children's Fantasy"