last post

So here I am writing the last post for this class! HOORAY! I have learned alot in this class. It has been a challenge but I think that I've fought my way through. I learned a great deal in this class. Many books that I thought I knew well had a new fact or issue revealed to me and I loved that! The most recent thing that hit me upside the head and made me go "Oh, YEA!" was in Where The Wild Things Are. I NEVER before noticed the progression of the pictures. I never saw the corrolation in the pictures and how far Max was going into another world. (his imaginary one) I loved comparing the fairy tales and the beginning and was slightly appaled at the adult undertones of some of them. (blushing)I would just like to say. . . "Those french people!!" LOL. I loved the journey we took in The Hobbit. I loved to peek into Dr. Seuss and the reasoning behind his unique style of writing. I think it's funny that I've read and Dr. Seuess my whole life and never read the little story on the back of The Cat In The Hat. :-D basically I loved this class. I wish that my grades had been better but I can only do my best with my crazy life, right? I hope you have enjoyed my blog. I will keep writing (not as much though) so I will see y'all later.
LOVES!!!

why?

well, I just don't know. LOL (Don't ask I have no idea!) This blog is going to be hard because it isn't my book list and I still have one more post after it so I'm at a loss for what to do here. I think that I will talk about what I am glad has happend to Children's lit.
1) I am glad that there was the didactic movement of the 19th century. There are lots of great stories that came from that ear. All the "Lamplighter" books that I cherish are from that time period. Many great lessons are contained in those pages of beautiful stories.
2) I am really glad that we moved past the didactic 19th century. I do love those stories but what would our childhoods be like without Charlotte and her web, Winnie the Pooh, or the Sneeches? I think they would be significantly more dull and colorless.
3) I am really glad that fantasy came to be. I am not the biggest reader of this genre but it is my opinion that it is very stimulating to the imaginations of kids. I rememer my brother being lost in the Shire with the infamous Baggins clan. It is a great thing that it does to help kids think about things outside of their own world.

Well, there are my 3 things I love that have happened to children's Lit. What is your favorite thing that has happend to children's lit?

my outside reading summaries

Ok so I forgot that I was supposed to be talking about the books I've read outside of the assigned books so I will take this opportunity to catch you up.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry: My mom read this book to us when I was younger, I remembered liking it because it was about WWII but I couldn't remember the exact story. Reading it this time was great I had a different take on the story of two young girls that are friends during WWII. I can't imagine the fear of Annemarie and Ellen as they ran from the Nazis. The scene at the end where Annemarie has to take the package to her uncle had me worried for her. :-D I love the way Lois Lowry paints pictures with words.

Noah's Ark: Wow! Where to start with this book! It is AMAZING I love that it is one of those picture books that is completly sans words and yet says so much. The way the expressions are played out on the faces of the people and the animals speaks volumes. I would DEFINITLY reccomend this book. (And I have to lots of people) The only part people have had a problem with is that there is a picture where there are animals standing outside the ark as the water gets deeper and deeper and that could cause kids to aske questions that parents don't want to answer yet.

Beatrix Potter's Nursery Rhyme Book: Ill. by Beatrix Potter: This is a great book! It's full of Nursery Rhymes that I'm not familiar with, accompanied with illistrations by Miss Potter. Who wouldn't love this book?? My favorite part was the riddles. Riddle me, Riddle me, rot-tot-tote was my particular favorite.

The Princess and The Pea; designed by Lauren Child, Photographed by Polly Borland: This is a classic fairy tale told with a twist. There are little interjections in the way it is written and the pictures are adorable. The illistrators made little people and cloted them with real cloth. Then the made whole little sets. They took pictures of this and made adorable images to cover a good story.

Half a World Away; by Libby Gleeson, Ill. by Freya Blackwood; This book deals with people you love moving away. It is about two kids (Amy and Louie)that are best friends that are together all the time. Then Amy has to move away to the city "Half a World Away." It shows the greif that comes and it shows how people deal with that grief. I liked this book alot.

The Royal Diaries of Elizabeth I; By Ketheryn Lasky: This is one of the books in the "Royal Diaries" series. I loved these books growing up because it was a fun and entertaining way to learn about history. Also, I found that everything I learned from reading these books stayed with my longer. I think this is because the characters aren't just some name in a book. They become a real person with a real life and stories to tell. This story was about (obviously) Elizabeth I. Daughter of King Henry VII and Anne Boleyn. After re-reading this book I kind of wanted to see "the other Boleyn girl" But then I decided that I didn't really want to see it.

The Theif Lord; by Cornelia Funke: This is one of my favorits that I read this semester. The story takes place in Venice among the homeless kids that have banded together and made their own way of living. The main charecters are two brothers, Prosper and Bo. The mysterious charcter is the Theif Lord. He always provides for the kids in mysterious ways. It is discovered at the end of the book that the Theif Lord isn't like the other kids at all. He isn't homeless he is actually from one of the priviledged families and he is stealing things from his own house to pay for the needs of his scraggly gang. :-D it's a great read and I HIGHLY reccomend it!

My Many Colored Days; By Dr. Seuss: I LOVE this book! It is such a great way to give kids a voabulary to expess their emotions. This could be a good tool that would help relieve some stress and frustration on the kids part. I love the pictures and vibrant colors. :-D

Stress

So the fun of this will be linking this post to Children's lit. I think I can accomplish it though. . . let's see!

My stress level is through the roof today. I can't possibly forsee everything falling into place like it's supposed to. In the next week and a half I need to get 1) Through finals alive 2) My apartment subleased 3) My apartment packed 4) All of my earthly possesions into a storage building 5) A storage building 6) Money for rent, storage unit, gas and food 7) other things to come when I think of them

I realized that it's just hard for me to switch from big picture view to focus on today view. I have to be able to flip back and forth at the blink of an eye and it takes me more liiiiiiike oh, a month. Better yet, I should be able to focus on both at the same time. I find myself stressing about all this right now and try to remind myself (about every minute) that God is in control. Also, that I am here, at this place, in this moment for a reason, but it's just SO hard! I am in the depths tonight as I am overwhelmed about everything. well that is about all.

(However, reading kids books does put a smile on my face in the midst of it all. there you go. Tied to children's lit. WHOOP!)

Enchanted

So this movie isn't tied directly to ONE book but it ties to the whole "fairy tale" theme. This is one of my new favorites. It appeals to a wide audience. Obviously from my previous posts it is apparent that I like kids movies so I didn't have an issue with it to start with. However, some frieds of mine are vehimently opposed to children's movies of all types. When this friend said that she loved this movie I knew it was a winner. This same girl has been walking around work singing songs from the movie for WEEKS! The songs (I admit they are catchy) are now permanently ingrained upon my brain. LOL I still love the songs. I think it is impossible to hear them and not smile. :-D I hope you enjoyed the movie too!!

Flower

I was walking in the park with my sister today and was smelling the glorious flowers and got to thinking about Bambi. It made me think about all my favorite charectors from Disney movies and here is a short list. (I think it's pretty predictible)
Little Mermaid- Flounder
Cinderella- Gus Gus
Sleeping Beauty- The Blue Fairy (I think it's Flora)
Peter Pan- The littlest brother (can't remember his name but he's a cutie)
Bambi- I always loved Flower
Tarzan- Jane
Pinnochio- Nobody. I never liked this movie.


And now I am tired of thinking about this. I will write more as they pop into my head.

Little Women

So I am in am finishing up the prepwork for my second essay in this class and so I'm reading Little Women again. I LOVE this book I think it should be riquired that all girls read and enjoy this book as much as I did/do. :-D It just has such great dynamics. The interactions of the sisters with each other and with other people that come into their world is sublime. It is such a lovely picture of innocence and good in the world. I think that while I've been reading this book I was able to see the good in the world that had become overshadowed by the drudgery of school and everyday life. :-D I just wish that everyone could love "sweet" books. They have alot to offer!

picture books

So today I went to the library! It was so much fun looking at kids books. I got WAAAAY to many and have really enjoyed pouring over them. I think it's funny how some books just POP out at you and you are pretty much powerless to their call. There were some amazing books out there! I got one about Noah's Ark. I left it in my car bu I will add it to my list of outside books later. It is a wordless picture book and I loved it! it won the Caldecott medal, which is the Newberry award for illustrations. Some of the pictures evoke such emotion. I highly reccomend it. (once I get the Title and author/illustrator I will put that here) there are some others that I reccomend so watch for them on my outside book list. :-D

follow up

To follow up on my previous blog. . . I was watching kids today and found that there are ways to get more of the response I am looking for as a teacher when I read. I think that kids should know in advance what is going on. If you tell the kids that in 5 minutes "we will put away the toys and read a short book, then we will go outside" they are alot easier to control. You can remind the ones that are anxious to be moving that if they sit there and are still that they will get to go outside sooner, they usually calm down. Rarely you have the child who couldn't care less and just wants to do what they want to do. That is a little aggrivating. I haven't yet come up with a way to get her (or him) to sit down for 5 minutes and obey. I also think it's funny that the 18-24 month class listens SO much better than the 2 year olds. The little ones are just so cute and basically as long as you are sitting on the floor they want to be there with you. and they LOVE the books. You are on the floor with them and they get to look at pictures, could life be better? Oh how I miss those days. LOL Well, if anyone has suggestions on how to get the trouble child to sit while we read, feel free to share.

kids reaction to books/reading

So yesterday I was thinking how aggrivating this blog is because it's so hard to find things to put in here. I was quite impressed with the deinition I found on wikipedia. I thought it was a great definition! So today I was stumped about what to write. I decided to write on the reactions kids have to books. I work at a preschool and think it is funny to watch the way kids react as they are read to. I love it when kids get really excited about the book and sit there and listen. Lots of times they will insert their own observations as you read, "Look at that purple dog! That's silly, dogs aren't purple!" I love this becaue it shows that they are paying attention not only to the words but also to the pictures. Then there are the kids who get excited because other kids are and they dit down really well, for 5 minutes. Then their attention span is up and they are onto better things. The kids that make me laugh are the ones who are completly honest about their lack of interest. "I don't want to read that book, leave me alone." LOL. I was the kid that was always excited to be read to, but I had to be doing something. That something was usullay coloring. I am an active listener to this day. Well this is just something I saw funny when I was reading to my kids earlier.

???

This is a political cartoon by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss)

Children's literature definition

So i looked Children's Literature up on Wikipedia and the definition was pretty interesting. . .

Basic characteristics
Understanding genres is critical to the study of literature because genres define the characteristics of the various categories of books. While not every book will fit neatly into only one genre, Nancy Anderson [1] has delineated six major categories, some with significant subgenres:
1. Early childhood picture books:Concept books (alphabet, counting, general)Pattern booksWordless books2. Traditional literature:MythsFablesBallads and folk songsLegendsTall talesFairy talesTraditional rhymes3. Fiction:FantasyContemporary realistic fictionHistorical realistic fiction4. Biography and autobiography5. Informational books6. Poetry and verse
There is some debate on what constitutes children's literature. Most broadly, the term applies to books that are actually selected and read by children. Conversely, the term is often restricted to books various authories determine are "appropriate" for children, such as teachers, professional reviewers, literary scholars, parents, publishers, librarians, bookstore personnel, and the various book-award committees. Anderson [1] defines children's literature as all books written for children, "excluding works such as comic books, joke books, cartoon books, and nonfiction works that are not intended to be read from front to back, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference material" (p.2).
In addition to genres, books can also be categorized by their various formats, such as picture books, easy-to-read books, illustrated books, chapter books, hardcover books, paperback books, grocery store books, and series books (Anderson[1], pp. 11-16). There is considerable controversy on whether grocery store (particularly merchandise) books are considered literature. Included in this debate are comic books and graphic novels.
While most children's literature is specifically written for children, many classic books that were originally intended for adults are now commonly thought of as works for children, including Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Conversely, some works of fiction originally written or marketed for children are also read and enjoyed by adults, such as Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass, and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, both of which received the Whitbread Awards, which are typically awarded to adult novels. Also included are the works of J. K. Rowling and Shel Silverstein. Additionally, the Nobel prize for literature has also been given to authors who made great contributions to children's literature, such as Selma Lagerlöf and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Often no consensus is reached whether a given work is best categorized as adult or children's literature, and many books are marketed in adult, children's, and young adult editions.
There are a number of problems inherent in defining a class of books as "children’s literature": For example, much of what is commonly regarded as "classic" children's literature speaks on multiple levels, and as such is able to be enjoyed by both adults and children. For example, many people will reread Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Wind in the Willows as adults and appreciate aspects of each that they failed to notice when they read the books as children. Many critics regard such multiplicity as having drawbacks, however; an adult may see the darker themes of a book and deem it unsuitable for children, despite the fact that such themes will likely be lost on younger readers.
One example of this is Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, throughout which the word "nigger" is used liberally. Many people feel that the word's racist and discriminatory connotations make it unacceptable to use anywhere, and particularly in a book aimed at children. Others, however, claim that to call the book racist because of this usage is to miss its point; Huckleberry Finn shows an admirable black character who becomes the voice of reason for a cast-off urchin and a middle- class white boy. Peter Hollindale, the educator and literary critic, applauded the book as "one of the greatest anti-racist texts of all time"[2] and T. S. Eliot called it a "masterpiece".[3]
Parents wishing to protect their children from the unhappier aspects of life often find the traditional fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other voyages of discovery problematical, because often the first thing a story does is remove the adult influence, leaving the central character to learn to cope on his or her own: prominent examples of this include Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Bambi and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Many regard this as necessary to the story; after all, in most cases the whole point of the story is the characters' transition into adulthood.
Many authors specialize in books for children. Other authors are more known for their writing for adults, but have also written books for children, such as Alexey Tolstoy's The Adventures of Burratino, and Carl Sandburg's "Rootabaga Stories". In some cases, books intended for adults, such as Swift's Gulliver's Travels have been edited (or bowdlerized) somewhat, to make them more appropriate for children.
Another type of children's literature is work written by children, such as The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford (aged 9) or the juvenilia of Jane Austen or Lewis Carroll, written to amuse brothers and sisters.
An attempt to identify the characteristics shared by works called "children's literature" leads to some good general guidelines that are generally accepted by experts in the field. No one rule is perfect, however, and for every identifying feature there are many exceptions, as well as many adult books that share the characteristic. (For further discussion, see Hunt 1991: 42-64, Lesnik-Oberstein 1996, Huck 2001: 4-5.)
Publishers have attempted to further break down children's literature into subdivisions appropriate for different ages. In the United States, current practice within the field of children's books publishing is to break children's literature into pre-readers, early readers, chapter books, and young adults. This is roughly equivalent to the age groups 0-5, 5-7, 7-11 (sometimes broken down further into 7-9 and pre-teens), and books for teenagers. However, the criteria for these divisions are just as vague and problematic as the criteria for defining children's books as a whole. One obvious distinction is that books for younger children tend to contain illustrations, but picture books which feature art as an integral part of the overall work also cross all genres and age levels (as can be seen with the Caldecott Honor Book Tibet: Through the Red Box, by Peter Sis, which has an adult implied reader). As a general rule the implied reader of a children's or young adult book is 1-3 years younger than the protagonist. (Counter example: Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, not necessarily written for children, but co-opted by a child and young-adult audience.)
Anderson suggests that literary elements should be found throughout all of children's literature. These important elements include characters, point of view, setting, plot, theme, style, and tone. (Anderson[1], pp.30-39)
Anderson also suggests that every teacher should have at least 300 books in their classroom library.(Anderson[1], pg.42)
Anderson states that there are "several common themes in traditional literature" they follow along the lines of "Triumph of good over evil, trickery, hero's quest, reversal of fortune, and small outwitting the big," "Because one of the purposesof folklore was to transmit cultural values and beliefs, the theme is uaually quite apparent." (Anderson[1], pp. 87-88)

[edit] Authors and artists

Jane Frank: illustration from Thomas Yoseloff's The Further Adventures of Till Eulenspiegel (1957). Fanciful illustrations are a prominent feature of children's books, especially those for younger children.
Children's books are often illustrated, sometimes lavishly, in a way that is rarely used for adult literature. As a rule of thumb, the younger the intended reader (or commonly pre-literate children), the more attention is paid to the artwork. Many authors work with a preferred artist who illustrates their words; others create books together, achieving "a marriage of words and pictures."
Many authors and illustrators belong to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
According to Anderson[1], "Even after children learn to read, illustrations continue to aid to their comprehension. Among the many components of a child's visual world, book illustrations are a beautiful medium through which to learn about their world" (p 47). Children's picture books can be a cognitively accessible source of high quality Art for young children. You can help children appreciate the artwork in children's literature by calling attention to the techniques that artists use, such as space, line, shape, color, texture, scale and dimension, and composition.
Watercolor is the most popular medium for picture book illustrations (Anderson[1], p. 54).
Disneyfication, real children's literature or hype to take money from fans of the revised fairytales?

[edit] Popular contributions to children's literature
(In chronological order):
John Amos Comenius (1592–1670): Czech author of Orbis Pictus, considered to be the first picture book specifically for children.
Charles Perrault (1628–1703): a French author who laid the foundations of the fairy tale. His stories include Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, and Cinderella.
The Brothers Grimm (Jacob Grimm, 1785–1863, and Wilhelm Grimm, 1786–1859): German academics, best known for collections of folk tales and fairy tales. They retold such stories as Snow White, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875): a Danish author and poet, best known for his fairy tales, such as The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling.
Johanna Spyri (1827–1901): a Swiss children's author, best known for Heidi.
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson: English clergyman and children's author, world-famous for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. He also wrote other books, such as the long poem The Hunting of the Snark.
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): an Irish author, whose work for children includes The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888).
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919): American author, best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels.
E. Nesbit (Edith Nesbit, 1858–1924): an English author and poet whose children's books appeared under the androgynous name of E. Nesbit. They include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1898), Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Railway Children (1906).
Beatrix Potter (1866–1943): British author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit who used her love of nature and the English Lake District countryside to give life to her anthropomorphic animals in her series of 23 little Tales.
Arthur Ransome (1884–1967): a British author whose Swallows and Amazons series of children's books tell of adventures in the Lake District, the Norfolk Broads and at sea, sailing, fishing and camping. The books still fuel a tourist industry in the English Lake District. Swallows and Amazons was followed by Swallowdale, Peter Duck, Winter Holiday, Coot Club, Pigeon Post, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, Secret Water, The Big Six, Missee Lee, The Picts And The Martyrs, and Great Northern?.
Hugh Lofting (1886–1947): a British author, trained as a civil engineer, who created Doctor Dolittle.
Dodie Smith (1896–1990): a British author and creator of The Hundred and One Dalmatians
Enid Blyton (1897–1968): British author of such children's books as The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and The Magic Faraway Tree. She is claimed to be the best-selling author in the history of children's literature. Her books have been translated into ninety different languages and have sold over 400 million copies.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963): 95 million copies of his Chronicles of Narnia series have been published worldwide since The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe debuted in 1950.
Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937) and Cecile de Brunhoff (1903–2003): Jean de Brunhoff was a French writer and illustrator best known for Babar the Elephant, who first appeared in 1931. The stories were originally told to their son by his wife Cecile. Jean died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-seven, but his widow lived to be ninety-nine.
Erich Kästner (1899–1974): German author and satirist. His books for children include Emil and the Detectives, The Flying Classroom and The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas.
E. B. White (1899–1985): American author whose three children's stories, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, have been considered some of the most influential of the twentieth century.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900–1944): a French writer and aviator whose books include The Little Prince. He disappeared during the Second World War while flying over German lines.
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991): American author who revolutionised beginning reading primers with The Cat in the Hat, a rhymed nonsense story. Seuss also wrote Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.
Robert L. May (1905–1976): American author of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer.
Hergé (1907–1983): was Georges Prosper Remi, a Belgian children's author and illustrator who created the picture-book series The Adventures of Tintin. The best-known titles include King Ottokar's Sceptre, The Secret of the Unicorn, Prisoners of the Sun, and The Calculus Affair.
Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002): Swedish children's book author, whose many titles, including the Pippi Longstocking books, were translated into 85 languages and published in more than 100 countries.
Roald Dahl (1916–1990): British author (of Norwegian origins) of The BFG, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox. His books have won notable awards such as the Children's Book Award for Matilda and The BFG. His books have sold over 90 million copies to date, including 1 million books sold annually in the UK. [4]
Beverly Cleary (born 1916): American author, has over thirty books published in fourteen languages. Her best known characters include Henry Huggins, Ribsy, Beatrice (Beezus) and her sister Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S Mouse.
Lois Lowry (born 1937): American author who has published over 30 books since 1977. Lowry has earned numerous literary honors, and has been awarded the Newbery Medal twice; in 1990 for Number the Stars, and in 1994 for The Giver. Additional books by Lowry include Gathering Blue and The Messenger-the second and third books of the trilogy that begins with The Giver- Rabble Starky, Gossamer, and A Summer to Die. Lowry also writes the Anastasia Krupnik and Sam Krupnik series, as well as the Gooney Bird Greene books.
Judy Blume (born 1938): American author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and the Superfudge series.
Jane Yolen (born 1939): A respected and well-known American author, Jane Yolen is one of the most prolific children's writers today. Her books are frequently translated and have won many awards.
Sharon Creech (born 1945): Award-winning American author of Walk Two Moons and The Wanderer.
Jacqueline Wilson (born 1945): author of the much-loved Tracy Beaker series, Jacqueline Wilson is one of the best-known children's authors in the UK. In 2004 she replaced Catherine Cookson as the most borrowed author in Britain's libraries, a position she retained the following year. Her books have won a range of prestigious awards and nearly 20 million copies have been sold.
Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) (born 1946): American poet and children's author of more than 5,000 poems and 30 award-winning books. His poems appear in hundreds of magazines for children and adults ranging from Highlights for Children and Cricket to Harper's and The New Yorker.
Christopher Paul Curtis (born 1954): An award winning African-American author. He has received the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Medal for his books. His popular titles include "Bud, Not Buddy" and "The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963."
Rene Villanueva (born 1954): award-winning Filipino writer, who has written books and plays for children. He is the only Philippine nominee to the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Kate_DiCamillo (born 1964): winner of the Newberry Honor for Because of Winn Dixie and the Newberry Medal for The Tale of Despereaux.
J. K. Rowling (born 1965): British author, J.K. Rowling is probably the best-known children's author today and also the most successful. Being the author of the extremely successful Harry Potter series, her books have been sold in more than 300 million copies worldwide and are translated into more than 63 languages. She is also the first billionaire-author (in terms of US-dollars).
Eoin Colfer (born 1965): Irish author renowned worldwide for the New York Times Best Selling series Artemis Fowl. Also famous for the books The Wish List, The Supernaturalist and the Legend of...series.
Lemony Snicket (born 1970): American author whose real name is Daniel Handler, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, a popular children's series.

[edit] History
Because of the difficulty in defining children's literature, it is also difficult to trace its history to a precise starting point. In 1658 Jan Ámos Komenský published the illustrated informational book Orbis Pictus; it's considered to be the first picture book published specifically for children. John Newbery's 1744 publication of A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, sold with a ball for boys or a pincushion for girls, is considered a landmark for the beginning of pleasure reading marketed specifically to children. As far as folktales are concerned the Brothers Grimm; Jakob and Wilhem of the early nineteenth century were responsible for the writing down and preserving of the oral tradition. Previous to Newbery, literature marketed for children was intended to instruct the young, though there was a rich oral tradition of storytelling for children and adults; and many tales later considered to be inappropriate for children, such as the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, may have been considered family fare. Additionally, some literature not written with children in mind was given to children by adults. Among the earliest examples found in English of this co-opted adult fiction are Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur and the Robin Hood tales.

[edit] Series and genres
There are many different genres that make up the literature canon. One of these genres is called traditional literature. There are ten characteristics of traditional literature. The characteristics are unknown authorship, conventional introductions and conclusions, vague settings, stereotyped characters, anthropomorphism, cause and effect, happy ending for the hero, magic accepted as normal, brief stories with simple and direct plots, and repetition of action and verbal patterns (Anderson[1], pp. 84-85)
The bulk of traditional Literature consists of folktales, which conveys the legends, customs, superstitions, and beliefs of people in the past times. This large genre can be further broken down into subgenres. The subgenres of folktales are myths, fables, ballads and songs, legends, tall tales, and fairy tales. (Anderson[1], p. 89)
The success of a book for children often prompts the author to continue the story in a sequel, or even to launch into an entire series of books. Some works are originally conceived as series: J. K. Rowling has always stated in interviews that her original plan was to write no fewer than seven books about Harry Potter, and some authors, such as the prolific Enid Blyton and R. L. Stine, have specialized in open-ended series. In several cases, series have outlived their authors, whether publishers openly hired new authors to continue after the death of the original creator of the series (such was the case when Reilly and Lee hired Ruth Plumly Thompson to continue The Oz series after L. Frank Baum's death), or whether the pen name of the original author was retained as a brand-nom-de-plume for the series (as with Franklin W. Dixon and the Hardy Boys series, Harry G. Allard's Miss Nelson series, Carolyn Keene and the Nancy Drew series, and V. C. Andrews and the Flowers in the Attic series). Sequels and series are of course also popular in adult writing, where they are most common in genre novels such as crime fiction, thrillers, and so on. Genres in children's literature include pony stories (including the works of the Pullein-Thompson sisters and Pat Smythe) and school stories (e.g. Rudyard Kipling's Stalky and Co. and Angela Brazil's oeuvre). More genres would include modern fantasy, contemporary realistic fiction, historical fiction, picture books, picture story books and traditional literature. However, each genre has many sub-genres as well. For example tradtional literature includes folktales, fables, myths and legends. Genres can also be classified by two organizational methods which are length and complexity as well as content.

[edit] Scholarship
In recent years, scholarship in children's literature has gained in respectability. There are an increasing number of literary criticism analyses in the field of children's literature criticism. Additionally, there are a number of scholarly associations in the field, including the Children's Literature Association, the International Research Society for Children's Literature, the Library Association Youth Libraries Group, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators the Irish Society for the Study of Children's Literature, and Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media (CIRCL), and National Centre for Research in Children's Literature.
Multidisciplinary scholarship has examined gender and culture within children's literatures.
Courses on children's literature are often required in initial and advanced (early childhood/elementary) teacher training in the United States.

[edit] Quotes about children and children's books
"One person cannot dictate to another what he or she ought to perceive as high quality": (Anderson[1], p. 2-3)
“Poems for children help them celebrate the joy and wonder of their world. Humorous poems tickle the funny bone of their imaginations.”: Charles Ghigna (Father Goose)
"You can read a child's story when you're old, eating frazzles at a bar, but it's our imaginations that make us who we are": Steven D. Roberts, The Story of Sion Sederz
"Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.”: Anonymous
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read.”: Mitch Hedberg from the album Mitch All Together.
"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.": G.K. Chesterton
"The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won, than by the stories it loves and believes in.": Harold Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare
"There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.”: Mary Ellen Chase
"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.": Ursula K. LeGuin
"The tale is often wiser than the teller.": Susan Fletcher, Shadow Spinner
"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”: Emilie Buchwald
"In our time, when the literature for adults is deteriorating, good books for children are the only hope, the only refuge.": Isaac Bashevis Singer
"In every generation, children's books mirror the society from which they arise; children always get the books their parents deserve.": Leonard S. Marcus
"The humble little school library...was a ramp to everything in the world and beyond, everything that could be dreamed and imagined, everything that could be known, everything that could be hoped.”: Lee Sherman, editor of “Northwest Education”
"Adults are only obsolete children.": Dr. Seuss
"When you write for children, don't write FOR children. Write FROM the child in you.": Charles Ghigna (Father Goose)
"When it comes to telling children stories, they don’t need simple language. They need beautiful language.": Philip Pullman
"We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. 'Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten, but 'Once upon a time' lasts forever.”: Philip Pullman
"Children also hate being talked-down to but, alas, they are very used to being patronised.”: Dianna Wynne-Jones
"We must meet children as equals in that area of our nature where we are their equals...The child as reader is neither to be patronized nor idolized: we talk to him as man to man.”: C.S. Lewis
"We need metaphors of magic and monsters in order to understand the human condition.”: Stephen Donaldson
"I doubt the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, that child would grow up to be an eggplant.”: Ursula K. LeGuin
"Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams--daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing--are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization.”: L. Frank Baum
"Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can't. We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine.”: David Almond
"The worst attitude of all would be the professional attitude which regards children in the lump as a sort of raw material which we have to handle.”: C.S. Lewis
"A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.”: Ursula K. LeGuin
"I write in a very laborious kind of a way. I write and rewrite. And rewrite. And rewrite. Well, the thing of course is if you're doing it well, when you finish your 30th rewrite, or something, it should sound like you've just written it completely, freshly once. Because sometimes what happens when you write and rewrite and rewrite, is you suck the life out of something. It's difficult. But I find that I do that because it's amazing -- the rhythm of the book, or what I call the music of the book -- how you read it. How you're carried along by the words and the subject -- is as important as the meaning. In fact, you can't have one without the other.”: Norton Juster
"It's never perfect when I write it down the first time, or the second time, or the fifth time. But it always gets better as I go over it and over it.”: Jane Yolen
"I love revision. Where else can spilled milk be turned into ice cream?”: Katherine Paterson
"You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better.": Maxim Gorky
"I believe that good questions are more important than answers, and the best children's books ask questions, and make the readers ask questions. And every new question is going to disturb someone's universe.": Madeleine L'Engle
"You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children.”: Madeleine L'Engle
"Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”: Roald Dahl
"A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.": E.B. White
"Words must be weighed, not counted.”: Polish/Yiddish proverb
"Never mistake motion for action.”: Ernest Hemingway
"Writing is long periods of thinking and short periods of writing.”: Ernest Hemingway
"It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations-something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”: Katherine Paterson
"Happy is he who has laid up in his youth and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading.”: Rufus Choate
"The greatest reward for a children's author is in knowing that our efforts might stir the minds and hearts of young readers with a vision and wonder of the world and themselves that may be new to them or reveal something already familiar in new and enlightening ways.": Charles Ghigna (Father Goose)

Little Women

This is one of my all time favorite books ever, EVER. Yesterday I watched the movie (the one with Winona Ryder) because the movie is so good too. I decided to re-read the book again as one of my outside books. Currently I am enthralled with a Sherlock Holmes book but it is up next. I love how well Miss. Alcott portrays the relationships between sisters. This is such a wonderful picture. I always thought it was odd in the movie when Amy says "tell me as a sister which is a bond stronger than marriage." I used to think there wasn't a bond stronger than marriage. However as I've grown up and my relationship with my sister has evolved I kind of see the truth in this. My sister has known me since I was wee but a lass and knows all my shortcomings, but she loves me anyway. Relationships between sisters are amazing things. Well, now I'm all the more excited about re-reading one of my favorites. I will see all of you later!

Spring break is over (tear)

So spring break is over and that makes my heart sad. However, there are only 6 more weeks left of this semester! WHOOP! What did I do for spring break you ask? well, the first half of the week I camped on my couch and fought Strep. It was amazing! then I went to work on Wednesday and my suburban almost died. (scary!) So I took it to my most amazing cousin and he fixed it for me (new radiator) and $250 later I don't have to worry about my means of transportation exploding. :-D Happy day! God is SO good for allowing me to have the money when I needed it, for allowing Brandon to be here and working at O'Reileys. Then Friday I got to have some fun. Jen and I went to see the much anticipated Horton Hears a Who! It was a blast. I love that it is rated G and you can take kids to see it and not worry about content. The movie stuck very close to the story and that was exciting. They had to add some fluff to turn the short kids book into a full length movie but they did it well. they added a new moral (along side "a persons a person no matter how small.") and it worked splendidly. The whole thing of Jojo kind of being an odd duck and then being the main cause of salvation. I think they did a great job with this movie and I was pleased with the result. Well, I am a happy girl because I got to see my Horton and now I feel like my spring break is complete. I hope y'all had a great week as well!

So in my mind it is officially spring break so I wish I wasn't having to write this right now, but I think that I should! I don't know what week our grader will choose to look at so I am attempting to get at least a little bit done every week. (although I'm not reaching the needed 4 blogs per week) Maggie and I wrote a great poem but I can't share that yet. (Sad!) So I decided to talk about Alice. (I just decided that while I was writing that sentence.)

Here are some interesting pages about the inspiring Alice. :-)

http://mural.uv.es/anma/bioalice.htm

This is an interesting site. It has all kinds of Alice info! I particularly enjoyed all the pictures from Alice in Wonderland.

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice2a.html

Just Some Quick Thoughts from a Tired Mind. (Deadly Combination!)

So. . . This next week Horton hears a who comes out and I can't WAIT to go see it! I always loved that book growing up. I'm pretty sure that my mom read it to us hundreds of times. :-P Dr. Seuss was always a favorite of mine. Lucky for me I have some kids to go see it with. My triplets that I baby-sit so now I don't have to be that weird college girl going to kids movies alone. Happy day!
Life has been officially INSANE lately and I can't wait for spring break! I have a very busy week and the thought of just working is such a pleasant one! I was thinking about fairy tales last night while I was watching Shrek. One of the reasons this movie works SO well is because it plays with all the fairy tales that are so well known to all of us. It was such fun to see how they included so many characters and made it work. I enjoyed identifying all of the stories and I think that the knowledge I have gained from this class has made the movie more funny. Well, that is how Children's Lit. has played into my life lately. Hope you enjoyed the read. (Yes, I know it's boring!) LOL

I am wrapping up another 16 hour work/school day (my minimum day was 13 hours of work/school). It is really starting to get to me but I have to blog so I will try to throw together a few cohesive sentences.

Children's lit is a very interesting class to me because I've always enjoyed reading and here I get to revisit the old classics. I have enjoyed also learning new things about stories that I thought that I knew so well. I enjoyed our Little Red Riding Hood section but apparently it didn't stick with me because I couldn't remember anything about ti during the test today. I am really mad about how I didd on the test because I wasn't able to study because of stoopid working so much. I love kids more than anything but I am so tired that I just want to crawl into my bed and not get out for at least 24 hours. wow, that was a random side trail. Sorry about that. Children's lit. I am volunteering at a school in Bryan and loving it! part of what we do in the HOSTS program is listen to the kids rea.d I love to see the joy as they read their books! some of the kids really get into it. They read so well and I can tell that they feel about reading like I do! It is very exciting to see the joy in ther faces when they are reading a good book. I am glad that children's lit came to be. I was thinking today about what a sad place our world would be without kids books. And let me tell you. It would be SAD!

Calvin and Hobbs

I SOOOO agree with this. (LOL)

However, I don't hate math as much as I used to.

:-D

I find this to be hilarious! Calvin and Hobbs is pretty much one of my most favorite things! I think it's funnier if you know kids like this. LOL

picture books

The Seven Little Postmen is a wonderful piece of literature. Most people have never heard of it. It was one of my sister and my favorite books when we were growing up. This made me realize how many people have favorite books that other people don't know about. So I decided to see what the most popular kids books are. So now I am on a quest to find the most popular books. I will search online and also ask people I know. :-D This should be a very intersting project!!

So I was watching tailers on apple.com the other day and found this. I am really excited about it! I hope it is a good adaption of the book. It has been a LOOOONG tims since I read the book, but the first one was pretty well done so this has good potential. I remembered the first book really well but I think that I am going to have to read this one again before seeing the movie. I loved the actors in the first one. I am glad that they are the same this time around. I've always found it depressing when there is a new cast. The feeling is lost, and it doesn't seem cohesive.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/thechroniclesofnarniaprincecaspian/

Also, I grew up on the American Girl series. Molly was always my favorite. However, Kit came along right as I was exiting the AG stage and I think that she would have given Molly a run for her money. I love her look and her time period. (Although I am a die hard WWII fan so Molly would have most likely kept her place.) I think this looks like it will also be a good adaption of the book. I have always like Abigail Breslen and am glad that she is playing Kit. She has a wonderful talent that will translate well here I believe.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/picturehouse/kitkittredgeanamericangirl/

I don't title posts well.

I don't really know what to write about today. I am fighting a headache so as much as I want to I won't be reading any Ella Enchanted this evening. I think it will be ok though because I have read that book many, many times. It's such a light romp and it's very enjoyable. I am excited that we get to watch the movie in class. It makes me sad that as hard as they try it is almost impossible to make a movie that is equal to it's book. My brother and I were talking about why that is. We came to the conclusion that it's because to us, we imagine everything just as it should be. But, how I think things should look isn't the way someone else thinks they should look.
So my computer went all crazy and I wasn't able to push the "publish post" button until now. No, I can't figure out why I'm awake at this hour.

So many books, so little time!!

I have been in a quandry trying to figure out what books to read for this class. So I busted out my collection of childrens books (it is quite extensive, as I have a book fettish) and just started having fun. I found a book that I love and had forgotten about The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. This is such a wonderful book. I began reading it to a child that I babysit and found that I quite caught up in it! I loved the story of this ADORABLE, white, china rabbit and his adventures. We see his heart transfom from a state where it shows love because of what is done fore him, to a point where he is cold and unfeeling, then finally to the point where he truely loves. He comes alive through his loss and hardships. It made me think about how this fact is true in lots of people's lives. We are brought to life through our sorrows. It is only after suffering sorrow that we can more completly understand our joys. This is a concept that Kate DiCamillo captures and imparts to children in a wonderful way. I love Because of Winn-Dixie, that is why I picked up this book. Well, that and because the artwork is astonishing. It's an awesome book to read to children. I would suggest it for a slightly older age group because it does deal with death. I am loving that I get to read these books and call it school! I just have to keep myself from letting this class take over my life. Hehe. Anyway, I would highly reccomend this book!

My Louisiana Sky

OK, So I wrote a post about My Louisiana Sky but it is floating around in here somewhere. So I will write about it again.
I read this book a few years ago after meeting the author. I thought the way she described her writing process was interesting. She said that she was old fashioned because she always wrote her rough drafts by hand. I was impressed by this but I'm not really sure why.
This is a classic "coming of age" book about a young girl named Tiger Ann. There are a few sources of conflict in this great story. The most prominent is that both of Tiger Ann's parents are mentally handicapped. Tiger Ann is a fun tomboyish character that it is easy to like. A few times during the book you see her dealing with issues that come from difficulties surrounding her parent's situation. Her grandmother takes care of her and when she passes away it is a major turning point for Tiger. She is given the opportunity to move with her Aunt Dory K to Baton Rouge. Tiger realizes that while Aunt Dory can give her lots of "stuff" that her parents can't, she prefers her life in small town Saitter, LA.
This is a fun story with a great lesson for all ages. Life is unpredictable, so enjoy it!

I have really been enjoying the fairy tales that we have been reading in class. (Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel.) My librarian in Amarillo once gave me a Brothers Grimm collection to read and I was shocked, actually, when I saw all the gruesome ways that people were killed off. To be honest I never thought about comparing the different stories. I wasn't aware of how many versions there were of each tale. Because of my limited scope I didn't ever see the sexual aspect of these stories. Then I saw how some people played up certain things and toned down others and a different author would do the opposite. I guess the biggest thing is that I never saw how these stories were open for interpretation. I think that for most people the most memorable version will be the ones depicted by Walt Disney. It's the one we first heard and saw, and we know them so well.

Here goes!

Hey! So I just finished reading The Giver last night. I don't HAVE to read it for awhile but I was interested so decided to jump right in. It was very interesting if not a little confusing at first. Up until the last few chapters I found it to be more strange than anything. I couldn't figure out where the author was going with this whole odd world that she had created. I thought that maybe if I understood her as a person a little better I might better grasp her meaning. So I googled her. I found her biography here http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html It was very interesting to me. After she said said what the common theme was in all her books I was able to see it clearly. This interesting book is all about the interdependancy of people. Their interdependancy on each other and their surroundings. Ms. Lowry showed me how important things are that I often take for granted. Color and emotions that are involved in memories. It was intriguing to me how she was able to show me the importance of object in my life by creating an alterante life. It probably didn't help my reasoning ability that i read this book so late at night but now i feel like I completly understand. I loved this book! I also enjoyed getting to know about the author.