This module considers children’s literature in its many and varied forms from picture book to poetry and from fairy tale to teen fiction. Literature for children is enormously significant culturally, historically and ideologically: it is a formative element of childhood and in many ways shapes the future adult. The module explores how and why this literature may be studied; the definition of children’s literature; cultural constructions of childhood; the critical methods appropriate to its study and the literary, cultural, educational applications and implications of such literature. The module will focus on the form and function of a wide range of children’s literature from the nineteenth century to the present.

Demonstrate an understanding of the types of texts that constitute children’s literature and of the appropriate critical theories and methods employed in their interpretation. Students will also be able to place children’s literature in its literary, critical and cultural contexts and to understand the social and cultural forces at work in the genre. The knowledge students acquire will enable them to understand and critically assess major elements of the genre as it developed, such as ideological impact, educational function, narrative stance, identity politics, and to recognise and analyse the different forms of children’s literature.

Timetabled sessions include lectures and discussion sessions where students may have the opportunity to make presentations and/or lead discussion. Lectures are usually supported by comprehensive briefing notes summarising content at a reasonable level of detail. These are usually made available to students on Learning Central, usually within 24 hours. There may be some use of OHP slides; copies will be made available on request.

There will be one lecture each week, supported by a two hour weekly seminar. The lectures aim to provide key knowledge and critical perspectives on the form and function of children’s literature; the seminars provide the opportunity for close analysis of texts and small group discussion.

The particular skills of this module bear upon reading children’s literature in the context of particular cultural moments and literary modes and understanding how such literature represents the child and simultaneously constructs that child in response to the cultural moment. The study of the varied forms of children’s literature will give students flexibility in critically analysing a range of textual formats including pictures and illustration. The practice of close reading is essential to the exercise, as is the ability to interpret texts in terms of their contexts. Employability skills will include the ability to work independently and in a team, through group discussions; to synthesise information; to formulate coherent arguments in an informed and professional manner and to articulate and communicate these arguments in written and in verbal form. Knowledge and understanding of children’s literature and of the cultural construction and perception of the child will be invaluable to those students wishing to embark on a career in teaching.

The module is assessed by one exam of 1.5 hours and by one essay of 1600 words. The exam will allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the forms of children’s literature; the essay will allow them to practise their critical and analytic skills in discussion of the functions of children’s literature.

Essay (1600 words) = 50%

Exam (1.5 hours) = 50%
 

The module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the English Literature Student Handbook. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

The main readings for this module are texts and journal articles. Students should contact the module leader as early as possible if they will require readings in an alternative format. Set texts are listed below.

Spring Semester

What is Children’s Literature?

What is a ‘child’? Peter Pan?

Discipline or Delight? Reading Fairy Tales

Constructions of Childhood: The Secret Garden and Matilda

Seeing the World: Reading Pictures

‘Real’ Children: Ballet Shoes; The Illustrated Mum

Educating Children: First Term at Malory Towers; Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 

Ann Alston, The Family in English Children’s Literature 1800-2003 (Routledge, 2008)

Beauvais, Clémentine, The Mighty Child: Time and Power in Children’s Literature (John Benjamins, 2015).

Catherine Butler and Kimberley Reynolds, Modern Children’s Literature: An Introduction (2^nd Ed.) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

Peter Hunt, An Introduction to Children’s Literature (OUP, 1994)

Peter Hunt, Criticism, Theory and Children’s Literature (Blackwell, 1991)

David Lewis, Reading Contemporary Picture Books (Routledge 2001)

C. N. Manlove, From Alice to Harry Potter: Children’s Fantasy in England (Cybereditions, 2003)

Jill P. May, Children’s Literature and Critical Theory (OUP, 1995)

Maria Nikolejeva and Carole Scott, How Picturebooks Work (Garland, 2001)

Perry Nodelman, The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature (Johns Hopkins, 2008)

Perry Nodelman and Mavis Reimer, The Pleasures of Children’s Literature (3^rd edn) (Alleyn and Bacon, 2003)

Lissa Paul, Reading Otherways (Thimble, 1998)

Jacqueline Rose, The Case of Peter Pan, or, The Impossibility of Children’s Literature (Macmillan 1984)

David Rudd, Reading the Child in Children's Literature: An Heretical Approach (Palgrave, 2013)

John Stephens, Language and Ideology in Children’s Literature (Longman, 1992)

Morag Styles, From the Garden to the Street: an Introduction to 300 Years of Poetry for Children (Cassell, 1997)

Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde (Chatto and Windus, 1994)

Jack Zipes, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (Routledge, 1993)