Course Orientation


Plan of the Lecture
• Course Description
• Course objectives
• Course Content

Course Description
This course is designed as a survey of literature written for children covering traditional and contemporary works. Fairy tales and other works emerging from oral tradition, picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, are all considered, both for their general literary qualities and in terms of what they have to offer to children.
The course is an occasion for students to academically approach modern intellectual trends that have tremendously shaped the literary, social, political and economic life of the prescribed period. This in turn would enhance their awareness of the world around them.
Emphasis is on the selection and analysis of books for children of different age groups from preschool age through junior school ages. The student will study the various types of literature for children, and gain familiarity with different authors, of both fiction and nonfiction, British, American and cross-cultural children's books.

Course Objectives (1)
Students enrolled in the course are expected to:
1- Understand the development of children's literature
2- Recognize the concerns and distinct literary styles of major writers of children's literature
3- Recognize patterns of thought, values, social issues, and behavior as reflected in the literature for children
4- Judge children's literature in terms of literary quality and enduring value
5- Understand the value of literature in the development of the child

Course Objectives (2)
Identify the basic concepts and theories of children's literature
· Substantiate their orientation into the contemporary domain by being provided with techniques to delve into the second and maybe the third layers of meaning.
· Recognize the major tenets of children's literature
· Be able to describe and decipher the most common theories of children's literature
· Improve and emphasize effective team work skills, research skills, and decision-making skills using experiential learning
· Explore the diversity of genres under the rubric children's literature
· Understand the various layers of meaning in the novel under study and link them to their theoretical knowledge of children’s literature

Course Content
Power Point Presentation,
available online in the course file
A critical study about children’s literature, available online in the course file
A sample novel (The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit), that will also be available online in the course file

References and Learning Resources

• A selection of the major works for modern writers like: Henry James, J. Conrad, D.H. Lawrence, J. Joyce, V. Woolf, E.M. Forster, G. Green, and Orwell.
• Graig, Hardin. English Literature of the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1950.
• O’Connor, W.V. Forms of the Modern Fiction. New York: Roland Breth Co. 1952.
• Beach, J.W. The Twentieth-Century Novel; Studies in Technique . California: California
• Univ. Press, 1963.