Children's Lit Task 1

Children’s Literature is a wide range. It is collection of culture, concepts and future values. After reading the introduction” Trade And Plumb-Cake Forever, The Riverside Anthology of Children’s Literature), I considered most insightful in reading this section , Children’s literature differs from adult literature, Children’s literature plays a key role in raising children's imaginations, and it plays an important role in the development and creative thinking in children.

As a child daydreaming and imagining was essential to survive the extensive abominable days of summer, or the weekends. Likewise, in the texts “Red Cranes” by Jacey Choy and “The Firefly Hunt” by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki two children who still express their imagination and creativity, have to realize the harsh realities that everyone must incorporate. In the texts “Red Cranes” and “The Firefly Hunt” they express the ambition and creativity of a child’s mind. However, the development of the two characters dealing with the realities in their adolescent years, varies tremendously between the two stories.

Anyone can write a book. But capturing the attention of young kids from 0-8 can prove challenging. However, some authors have written some books that are worthy of a Caldecott or Newbery Medal. Whether the book receives an award or medal the importance is a child opening up the book to discover laughter, fantasy, and truths.

On July 14, during a family vacation on Martinique, a small Caribbean island, Jean’s nephew Pierre is bitten by an exotic tropical insect and suffers a severe allergic reaction. From his knowledge as a former pharmacist Jean is aware that Pierre is at

English teachers are tasked with exposing students to some of the world’s greatest literary works, but with this we also expose our students to the pain of some of the world’s greatest atrocities. In our classrooms students will read the fictional narratives of The Diary of a Young Girl (Frank), and A Long Way Gone (Beah), as well as experience injustice in non-fictional works such as The Giver (Lowry) and The Hunger Games (Collins). In Amber Simmons article Class on Fire: Using the Hunger Games Trilogy to Encourage Social Action Simmons details why she believes it is important that, along with exposing students to these events, we help them grasp and cope with events are at times unfathomable. To help students cope with this knowledge without becoming hopeless Simmons uses the Hunger Games Trilogy with students.

Some books have even been banned simply for being too sad. Most people feel it’s their duty to keep books that portray harsh components of society away from the population that needs to understand them. While these books have heavier topics than most, they have important lessons to many of the obstacles that children are trying to manage on their own. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a novel depicting the struggle of a man wrongly accused of rape. The book touches on racism, social issues, rape, and other tough topics.

In today’s world kindness and hope should be prevalent. Not violence. Books that students reads should be like the non human forms of role models for students. Books have the power to teach us things we never knew and they have the ability to expand our horizons in many ways. Consequently, books such as In Cold Blood should not hold a place in school shelves because of its intense imagery that for children can be quite terrifying. As a first hand account of this, author Steve Earle of BBC News writes in his article “The Book That Changed Me” about his personal experience of the gut wrenching book. Earle describes that “my ghoulish nine-year-old-self had been awakened by a chilling revelation” (Earle). Earle reads In Cold Blood as an innocent child and it turned his mind to a whole new perspective that nine year olds should not have to go through. Not only are these books exposing students to inappropriate subject matters, but subject matters that children of young ages don’t understand and their minds have not matured enough to understand. In the book George by Alex Gino, Gino comments that “Sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels” (Hauser), to highlight that students read material at school that may contradict the beliefs they are taught at home. Most children don’t understand the capacity of the topic at which they are reading, which essentially makes the meaning of the book

Children’s literature is an effective teaching tool for children but also a way for children to escape their daily lives through fantasy. Didactic material can be used to teach life lessons, manners and morals where subversive and fantasy genres can allow children to release from daily expectations and allows an outlet for their large imaginations.

Fantasy and science fiction are two wonderful genres of literature that can be enjoyed by all ages. They allow us to escape into other worlds filled with magic, mythical creatures, and futuristic societies. While all ages enjoy these stories, they are particularly important for children as they can help them to grow and understand the real world around them. Although these books have fictional settings and characters, they contain experiences, emotions, and messages that children experience in the real world. Two of the works of fantasy/science fiction that I read this week are Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming and Leo a Ghost Story by Mac Barnett. Both of these stories create worlds of fantasy that children can relate to and learn from.

Nonfiction Children's Books: 3- 4th grade: Not only do these four children nonfiction books show resilience, but they also convey social injustice in the world.

Well-written and inspirational literature not only has the ability to carry a reader into another world but they are able to accomplish this feat while simultaneously delivering deep messages that surpass the written text. Children’s literature is sometimes overlooked in terms of reaching these standards and being considered worthy of critical analysis; this genre is often perceived as having juvenile storylines and concepts portrayed through simplistic language. However, the common writing styles in children’s literature, often being either illustrated books or picture-books, offer the genre with a unique opportunity to achieve deep themes and messages through the dynamic

She had barely lain down beside her baby when she heard the howl of the wind, followed by several claps of thunder and the lashing of the rain on the roof. She closed her eyes but would not sleep. It was amazing how every attention of her husband’s people had quickly shifted from the long-awaited grandchild to her missing husband. Despite the mosquitoe net hanging over their heads, mosquitoes in their fives kept humming steadily into her ears. A few slaps at the bestial things drove them away for a while, until they returned, singing in her ears

They coexist not only out there, externally situated in the environment but in our interiority, inside us. We feed them, they let us. To say, “toxicity becomes us, we become the toxin” (Chen, 2012, p. 203), is to say that we already are toxins. Especially in light of the history of homosexuality, one that has been linked with HIV/AIDS and morbidity, the bugchaser’s performance sheds light upon new forms with which to appreciate and respond to the HIV virus. Consequently, to propose the becoming-toxic figuration is to suggest what is already here, and the bugchaser is only an embodiment of this already

Literary heroes that are also ordinary children are engaging to readers, particularly child readers. James Pope and Julia Round write that “Roald Dahl is a fascinating author in that his books for children feature child heroes who are very often neither hero nor villain, but a wild, subversive combination of both” (258). These characteristics are also true of Coraline and Harry Potter, as they are presented as imperfect, but ultimately find the power within themselves to save what is important to them. Children readers are empowered by Coraline and Harry because they identify with these ordinary children and feel as if they can also make a difference in their lives, as the characters defeat the evil in theirs.

Criteria used for judging children’s books The two longest running literary prizes for children's books, the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Newberry Medal use very similar criteria. For ease we will concentrate on the British, Carnegie Medal which states the following, 'the book that wins the Carnegie Medal should be a book of outstanding literary quality. The whole work should provide pleasure, not merely from the surface enjoyment of a good read, but also the deeper subconscious satisfaction of having gone through a vicarious, but at the time of reading, a real experience that is retained afterwards' (Children's literature:Study Guide P.181).