B) Reinforces Narrative as a Way of Thinking
Children’s Literature in Great Britain
2nd Year
Seminar 2
Evaluating Books for Children
1. The unique character of literature for children, its functions.
2. Evaluating the plot, the setting and the theme of a child’s book.
3. Differences in characterization, style and point of view in children’s literature..
4. The role of illustrations and the format of a child’s book.
Tasks:
1. Be ready to provide examples of children’s books or their characters while speaking about any element of a book.
2. 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:
1. Cальникова, Е.Г. Children’s Literature of the world / Е.Г. Сальникова, М.А. Сыч. – Брест, 2008.
2. Jacobs, J.S. Children’s literature, briefly / J.S. Jacobs, M.O. Tunnell. – Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996.
3. 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.