At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Analyze a wide variety of literature for children and about children.
- Recognize the development of children's literature, including social and cultural influences.
- Identify and articulate currents of thought in the texts that the student encounters.
- Recognize variations in style, subject matter, and audience.
- Compare and contrast texts in a systematic way.
Strengthen understanding of the specific qualities of children’s literature: the socialization and education of children through literature (including the value of children’s literature); the historical and ongoing development of the genre (including some of the social and cultural influences upon it); common literary devices, techniques, and elements of the genre (including visual elements and variations in style, subject matter, and audience); a variety of the several major genres and forms within children’s literature (fairy tales, fantasy, adventure stories, animal stories, domestic family fiction, realism, illustration, book series, etc.)
Strengthen analytical skills & the ability to think critically: determine literary meaning, form, and value (including literary criticism, formal analysis, thematic analysis, reader-level analysis, comparisons and contrasts, etc.)
Strengthen communication skills: formal and informal writing; collaboration with peers