Children’s Literature in Great Britain
2nd Year
Seminar 2
Evaluating Books for Children
The unique character of literature for children, its functions.
Evaluating the plot, the setting and the theme of a child’s book.
Differences in characterization, style and point of view in children’s literature..
The role of illustrations and the format of a child’s book.
Tasks:
Be ready to provide examples of children’s books or their characters while speaking about any element of a book.
Comment upon topics and elements of content that have wide appeal for children.
3. Render in English the short summary of the article “How many clothes has a book got?” (by B. Galov)
Literature:
Cальникова, Е.Г. Children’s Literature of the world / Е.Г. Сальникова, М.А. Сыч. – Брест, 2008.
Jacobs, J.S. Children’s literature, briefly / J.S. Jacobs, M.O. Tunnell. – Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996.
Галанов Б. Платье для Алисы. – М. : Книга, 1990.
Seminar 2
Functions of children's literature
The skilled author does not write differently or less carefully for children just because he thinks they will not be aware of style or language. E. B. White? The author of Charlotte’s Web asserts: “Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. . . . Some writers for children deliberately avoid using words they think a child doesn't know. This emasculates the prose and . . . bores the reader. . . . Children love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention”.
The uniqueness of children's literature, then, lies in the audience that it addresses. Authors of children's books are limited only by the experiences of childhood, but these are vast and complex. Children think and feel; they wonder and they dream. Much is known, but little is explained. Children are curious about life and adult activities. They live in the midst of tensions, of balances of love and hate within the family and the neighborhood. The author who can bring these experiences imagination and insight, give them literary shape and structure, and communicate them to children is writing children's literature.
a) Provides Enjoyment
First and foremost, literature provides delight and enjoyment. Much of what is taught in school is not particularly enjoyable. Yet literature can educate at the same time it entertains. Children need to discover delight in books before they are asked to master the skills of reading. Then learning to read makes as much sense as learning to ride a bike; they know that eventually it will be fun.
The list of books that children enjoy can go on and on. There are so many fine ones and so many that children won't find unless teachers, librarians, and parents share them with children. A love of reading and a taste for literature are the finest gifts we can give to our children, for we will have started them on the path of a lifetime of pleasure with books.
b) Reinforces Narrative as a Way of Thinking
Storytelling is as old as human history and as new as today's gossip. Ask any of your friends about their weekends or last vacations and they will organize their remarks in narratives about when their car stalled in the middle of a freeway or their child broke his leg or the marvellous place they stayed at the seaside. Barbara Hardy of the University of London suggests that all our constructs of reality are in fact stories that we tell ourselves about how the world works. She maintains that the narrative is the most common and effective form of ordering our world today.
We dream in narrative, day-dream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate, love by narrative. In order really to live, we make up stories about ourselves and others, about the personal as well as the social past and future. Reading books children learn the habits of telling stories.
c) Develops the Imagination
Literature develops children's imagination and helps them to consider nature, people, experiences, or ideas in new ways. Good writing may stimulate the child's curiosity. Literature helps children to entertain ideas they never considered before – "to dwell in possibility". Some books invite children to use their imaginations to solve real problems, including the need to envision a better future for the world.
d) Offers Vicarious Experiences
The experiences children have with literature give them new perspectives on the world. Good writing can transport the reader to other places and other times and expand his life space. The reader feels connected to the lives of others as he enters an imagined situation with his emotions tuned to those of the story. Literature provides vicarious experiences of adventure, excitement, and sometimes of struggle!
Whether reading takes them to another place, another time, or an imaginary world, young readers will return home enriched. Reading gets us out of our own time and place, out of ourselves, but in the end it will return us to ourselves, a little different, a little changed by this experience.
e) Develops Insight into Human Behaviour
Literature reflects life, yet no book can contain all of living. By its very organizing properties literature has the power to shape and give coherence to human experience. It may focus on one aspect of life, one period of time in an individual's life, and so enable a reader to see and understand relationships that he had never considered.
Literature can show children how others have lived and "become", no matter what the time or place. As children gain increased awareness of the lives of others, as they vicariously try out other roles, they may develop a better understanding of themselves and those around them. Through wide reading as well as living, the child acquires his perceptions of literature and life.
f) Presents the Universality of Experience
Literature continues to ask universal questions about the meaning of life and our relationships with nature and other people. Every story provides a point of comparison for our own lives. Are we as courageous as this character? As troubled as that one? Do we grieve for opportunity lost as a character in a certain book?
We also learn to understand the common bonds of humanity by comparing one story with another. Literature illumines all of life; it casts its light on all that is good, but it may also spotlight what is dark and debasing in the human experience. Literature enables us to live many lives, good and bad, and to begin to see the universality of human experience.
g) Develops the Language
Characteristic of the development of all children is the phenomenal growth of language during the preschool years. K. Chukovsky, the Russian poet, refers to the tremendous "speech-giftedness of the pre-school child" and maintains that "beginning with the age of two, every child becomes for a short period of time a linguistic genius".
While there are different points of view concerning how children acquire language, most language theorists would subscribe to the importance of providing a rich language environment for the young child, the role literature plays in developing the language power of children. These and other studies confirm that reading aloud to children, discussing literature with children, and children's independent reading are all positive influences on child language development.
h) Introduces Literary Heritage
In general, the educational values of literature described here centre on learning through literature. We must never forget, however, that as children have experiences with books, they are also learning about literature. As they enjoy nursery rhymes, traditional literature, and well-loved classics, they build a background for understanding genre, story structure, and many literary allusions.
Through in-depth discussions of books children become aware of what constitutes fine writing. While children will usually focus on plot or story, teachers can help them see the changes in heroes’ characters under the influence of some circumstances, or ask them why they think the writer began his book in this way. Children's appreciation for literature and knowledge of their literary heritage should be developed gradually.