Children’s Literature in Great Britain
2nd Year
Seminar 1
The Subject of Children’s Literature
Literature for children, its specific character.
The main genres of children’s literature.
The rise of the picture book.
The main stages of children’s literature history.
John Newbery, his role in the development of children’s literature in Britain.
Questions for discussion:
Comment on the following statement: “The power of literature makes us more human and more humane”.
Do you think it is necessary for a teacher of English to know children’s literature? Why?
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.
Carpenter, H. The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature / H. Carpenter, M. Prichard. – Oxford University Press, 1999.
Seminar 1
What Is Children's Literature?
Children’s literature is a part of the mainstream of all literature whose source is life itself.
Children's literature is the body of prose and poetry written specifically for young people. Although designed primarily for children, this body of literature appeals to readers beyond the childhood years. Children's literature also includes works that, although not originally written specifically for children, have proved to be popular with younger readers. For example, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was written as a critique of humanity addressed to the mature imagination, but it became a glamorous children's adventure story. Books about children may not necessarily be for them. Obviously, the line between children's literature and adult literature is blurred.
While children's books are generally less frank than adult books, contemporary children's literature does reflect the problems of today, the ones children read about in the newspapers, see on television and in the movies, and experience at home.
However, the content of children's literature is limited by the experience and understanding of children. Certain emotional and psychological responses seem outside the realm of childhood. For example, the feeling of nostalgia is an adult emotion that is foreign to most boys and girls. Children seldom look back on their childhood, but always forward.
Cynicism and despair are not childlike emotions and should not figure prominently in a child's book. While children are quick to pick up a veneer of sophistication, of disillusionment with adults and authority, they still expect good things to happen in life. And although many children do live in desperate circumstances, few react with real despair. They may have endured pain, sorrow, or horror; they may be in what we would consider hopeless situations, but they are not without hope. This is not to suggest that all stories for children must have happy endings; many today do not. It is only to say that when you close the door on hope, you have left the realm of childhood. Children's books are books that have the child's eye at the center.
Literature for children has values that extend well beyond those related to developing literacy competency. Literature is part of children's cultural heritage, the human attempt to record, communicate, and control experience from ancient to present times.
Literature is a rich source for feeding and enriching children's language, adding to their store of vocabulary and sharpening their sense of style. It stimulates their intellectual and emotional lives, generating both cognitive and affective responses to ideas. It nurtures children's imaginations by providing them with vicarious experiences from exploring the depths of the ocean in times long gone to reaching the remote regions of outer space in times yet to come. Books afford unlimited opportunities to foster children's personal growth, while providing a window through which children can examine their own emotions and experiences. Literature offers children a chance to weigh their own lives against a wide human spectrum and provides for the development of ethical values and insights. Charlotte Huck talks about the power of literature to make us "more human (and) more humane." She also identifies literature's power to educate children's hearts as well as their, heads, to develop their imaginations, and to provide a lifetime of reading pleasure.
In short, literature for children offers what Maurice Saxby calls "Journey to Joy", hours of entertainment, satisfaction, and renewal that are found through the pages of books. Literature is as essential to children's education as it is to their lives.
Seminar 1