ENG 401: Children's Literature

ENG 401: Childhood's Literature

Joseph T. Thomas, Jr.
email: jtthomasATmailDOTsdsuDOTedu

Good Student & Bad Student

Class Meetings: Tues & Thurs, 2:00-3:15PM; P-148
Office: AL-255
Contact: jtthomasATmailDOTsdsuDOTedu
Office Hours: Wed: 2:00-3:00PM & Thursdays: 10:00-12:00PM (and by appointment)

!!!! IMPORTANT: Online Schedule !!!!

(This schedule is tentative. Check back often for changes and updates)

Because children's literature, perhaps more than any other literary genre, operates directly in the process of interpellation, of inscribing gender roles, class consciousness, etc., I have designed this course as one which constructs children's literature as a cultural apparatus that creates for its young readers representations of race, class, and gender that are often problematic, often laudable. Thus, in addition to attending to structural and aesthetic matters, we will investigate the historical moment in which the texts on this syllabus were produced as well as the implicit and explicit ideology within them. Furthermore, we will discuss how the reception to these texts may have changed over time. I will encourage oppositional reading strategies, encouraging you to read with and against canonized texts and the institutions that canonize these texts.

As much pedagogical theory has shown, learning best takes place when students are active participants in knowledge making. So I will try to eschew long lectures. Instead, class time will consist of discussion, group-work, and in-class and out-of-class writing assignments. These activities will put the responsibility of creating knowledge largely on your shoulders.

WARNING/TEASER: Be aware that in this course we will be discussing race, class, sexuality, politics, violence, love and other touchy subjects, along with more conventional literary topics such as aesthetic value and form. If you believe that discussing these issues in a rigorous, intellectual fashion might be too much for you, then consider taking another course this semester. However, you might also consider staying in the course and confronting/interrogating these issues alongside your sensitivities and their ideological and cultural roots. Regardless, if you ever feel that our discussions are needlessly offensive and/or unsettling, please come to my office hours and voice your concerns, especially if you feel that I or your classmates are not treating the issues with the sensitivity they deserve.

Texts (required):

CARROLL -- ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (TENNIEL ILL)
CREECH -- WALK TWO MOONS (HARPER TR)
LAWSON -- THE MAN IN THE MOON-FIXER'S MASK
LESTER -- BLACK FOLKTALES (GROVE)
MOCHIZUKI -- BASEBALL SAVED US (LEE & LOW BOOKS)
PATERSON -- BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
PERRAULT -- PERRAULT'S FAIRY TALES
ROWLING -- HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE (SCHOLASTIC)
RYAN -- ESPERANZA RISING (SCHOLASTIC)
SENDAK -- WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (HARPER TR)
TAYLOR -- ROLL OF THUNDER HEAR MY CRY (PENGUIN)
TWAIN -- ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (DOVER)

Late Work:

Work will be turned in on the date due or not at all. We all have schedules, and it is imperative that we keep to them. However, I am not completely draconian. In extreme cases I may accept late work, but don't count on it.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is taking someone else's words, idea, or argument and claiming it as your own. Don't do it unless you have a interesting and rigorous intellectual or aesthetical reason. Cite all your sources unless you discuss your appropriation with me first. Instances of plagiarism designed to avoid intellectual work will earn you an F for the course, and, in egregious cases, may result in expulsion from the university. Please familiarize yourself with SDSU plagiarism policies, discussed in your handbook. Throughout the syllabus and my links page are links to many useful web sources. Do not take the words or ideas from any of these sources without providing the appropriate citations unless, again, you discuss your aims with me first. This goes for oral presentations as well as written work.

Assignments/Grade Distribution:

25%: Notebook (collected periodically)
25%: Participation & Attendance (Includes Reading Quizzes)
20%: Midterm Exam
15%: Final Exam
15%: Final Essay

Notebook: (25%)

In addition to the whatever notebook you use to take notes, I would like you to buy a small notebook to use exclusively for this assignment. In this notebook, keep track of your responses to the reading and our in-class discussions. Date your entries, keeping track of where and when you're writing.

I want at least TWO entries for each week: one written before we discuss the assigned material, and a second written after we discuss the assigned materials.

I will not collect your notebooks every week. Instead, I will divide you into groups A, B, C, D, E, & F. Each week I will collect the notebooks from a different group (see syllabus for the dates when your notebooks are due). Nevertheless, I want you to bring your Notebook to class every day, as I will often ask you to write in your notebooks during class.

Taken from one of Charles Bernstein's online syllabi, the bulleted list below will give you some ideas of the kinds of things you might include in your notebook. (More on Bernstein, a fine poet, teacher, and critic, can be found here.) I've adapted and revised the list to fit our class more closely. Of course, you probably won't address each (or even most!) of these issues every week.

•What kind of child reader is implied by the book? What kind of child would like this book, and what might this child like about it?
•What kind of child might dislike this book? What might this child dislike about it?
•What is your favorite part of the assigned text for this week? Why?
•Is there a part of the text you liked least? Why?
•How do you feel about the work as a whole?
•What is your criteria for deciding the quality of the assigned text? Can texts that you don't like or understand still be good? Discuss.
•How does the assigned text compare to other texts in its genre (that is, if the text is a novel, how does it compare to other novels you've read)? Consider differences and similarities. How did it live up to your expectations? Where did these expectations come from?

•What progressive impulses does the work have? What conservative impulses?
•Would you consider this book child-centered or adult centered? Why?

•Pick one part of the assigned text (a sentence, a poetic line, a paragraph, a chapter). Describe (or catalog) its features. What kind of vocabulary do you find in your selection? What kind of diction or syntax is used? What is the mood of your selection? What is its most unusual feature? What does your selection sound like - give some examples of sound patterns. Detail any literary "devices" used.
•Compare passages to other, similar or dissimilar passages in the text assigned (or, alternatively, in other works of a similar or dissimilar genre). Consider these oppositions in your comparison: continuity (hypotactic) / discontinuity (paratactic); fragmentated / unified; symmetrical / asymmetrical, smooth flowing / jerky or abrupt movement.
•Detail the connection between the elements of the assigned text: expository (a discursive argument), narrative (temporal sequence of beginning, middle end), associative, surreal or dream-like, disjunctive, etc. If the text is a collection of poems, consider any relationships between individual poems. If a novel, between any chapters or paragraphs.
•How does the text assigned for this week differ from the text from last week?
•What structural issues (i.e., how a text is made) are brought up by this week's assignment. What were some of the issues raised along this line in last week's class discussion?
•[Try this one sometime after mid-semester] Looking back on your previous responses, have you changed your opinions about any of the assigned readings. How?

It is not necessary, or practical, for you to comment on every section or issue or theme in a given reading.

•Try imitating the style of the assigned text, or try parodying it [then explain what works in your imitation or parody, and what exactly you're imitating (line-length, vocabulary, rhythm, etc.)]
•To become more involved with the readings, try typing out [or copying by hand] some passages from the assigned text and include your reactions to that process. Read sections aloud to friends, relatives, or whomever, and report on your and their reactions. Write a poem in response to one of the novels, or a novel in response to a poem.
•Keep a running account of your reaction to the class as whole - what's working, what's interesting, what's not. After each class, perhaps write a paragraph describing your reactions to the discussions that took place.
•Include the contexts in which you are reading or writing in your notebook. What's your mood, what's on your mind. How do the poems affect or interact with that, if at all.
•Include, if you like, "diary" material about your life or general or poetic observations, interspersed with comments about the readings. Don't be afraid to go off on tangents, associated thoughts. Include shopping lists, dreams, travel notes, etc.

In addition to the general responses discussed above, over the course of the semester, your notebook should include these three elements:
1. Write about some children's books or films not discussed in class.
2. Try to do at least two or three writing experiments during the semester. Be sure to comment on each of your experiments. Some other experiments are here (scroll down until you see "Bernadette Mayer's Writing Experiments.")
3. Pick one text from the readings and keep a running commentary on it - that is, write about this same text several times over the course of the term.

Participation & Attendance: (25%)

Because the success of the class depends upon your discussion and interpretations of the various texts we encounter, you should attend every class session. This course is designed to facilitate your learning; thus, we will spend a large amount of our time discussing and interrogating what you find interesting and compelling about the works I assign. Of course, I will lead our analysis, playing, at times, devil's advocate, providing you with various and sometimes contentious readings of the literature. You will be evaluated on how actively you participate in and extend our classroom discussions, so please come to class with something to say. I may give reading quizzes if it seems that the class is consistently unprepared.

I may give you short, in-class writing assignments before or after we begin discussing each work. These assignments count as quiz grades, and will be graded pass/fail. To earn a passing grade, you have to show a familiarity with the assigned text and some degree of critical engagement. In-class work cannot be made up.

Mid-term Exam: (20%)

Your mid-term will be composed of a short answer section and an essay section. If you read and actively engage in class discussion you should do fine. This exam is an occasion for you to discuss the knowledge you've produced--so don't expect it to dwell on minutiae. To prepare, you will want to group your notes into three areas: 1) Textual (plot, characters, important passages and scenes--stuff that happens in the books and the characters to which it happens; 2) Contextual (material concerning the time in which the book was produced and initially read; biographical information on the author; political context; literary history; 3) Theoretical (critical terms and concepts defined in class; the theories and the theorists who provide us the critical frameworks on which we build interpretations and make make meaning). This exam cannot be made up.

Final Exam & Essay: (15% each)

As with the mid-term, your final will be composed of a short answer section and an essay section. The short answer section will be worth 15% of your final grade. Additionally, there will be a take-home essay, four or five typed pages (1000 to 1250 words). I will provide a prompt for this final essay. You should strive to root your essay in the terms and concepts we have been exploring all semester. The short answer section will question you on the same three areas as the mid-term: Textual, Contexual, and Theoretical. Both sections will be cumulative. The in-class short answer section cannot be made up, and will be given on the exam date assigned by the university.