Children's Literature

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• what characterises a literary work written for children;
• key theories relevant to the genre;
• forms and writing techniques demonstrated in the work selected;
• the issues relating to children’s literature, such as representations of childhood, gender identity and theories of reading.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• contextualise the selected work and consider critical responses to it;
• discuss, orally and in writing, issues relating to the form and content of the writing you have studied;
• draw upon secondary sources to inform you argument.
• relate the work on this module regarding identity and representations of childhood, for example, to themes addressed in the core at levels 1 and 2;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• participate, responsively and constructively, in small and large group discussions with your peers on specific topics;
• use appropriately a range of secondary material.
• write critically, reflectively and accurately about a specific area of study;

In this module you will consider significant issues, such as representations of child - and adulthood, gender and subjectivity, the role of realism and fantasy, from the First Golden Age of Children's Literature (1860-1914), including works by Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame and F. Hodgson Burnett. Thereafter we will focus on the Second Golden Age (1945 - 1960) by analysing how, for example, Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce both draws on and develops themes from the First Golden Age before considering more contemporary authors, e.g. Philip Pullman. You will also have the opportunity to compare the themes raised in British texts to three American novels - Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry - to gain an overview of the range and complexities of the genre.

You will be encouraged to use your knowledge gained from the core strands to support and develop your analysis of literary/ theoretical issues and your historical/ contextual research.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

• mini-lectures to introduce selected writers and key themes;
• seminars to enable you to examine specific texts and topics in discussion with your peers;
• individual meetings with the tutor to discuss assessment planning and essay feedback.

Learning activities include

• close reading and careful analysis of selected texts and themes;
• engagement in seminar discussions as participator and listener;
• preparation for and completion of two coursework essays.

This module includes a Learning Support Hour. This is a flexible contact hour, 5 in total, designed to support and respond to the particular cohort taking the module from year to year. This hour will include (but not be limited to) activities such as language, theory and research skills classes; group work supervisions; assignment preparation and essay writing guidance; assignment consultations; feedback and feed-forward sessions.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Butt, D., (ed.) (1992). Stories and Society: Children’s Literature in its Context. Macmillan.

Stephens, J (1992). Language and Ideology in Children’s Literature. London.

Hunt, P., (ed.) (1990). Children’s Literature: The Development of Criticism. Routledge.

Foster, S., and Simons, J. (1995). What Katy Read: Feminist Re-Readings of ‘Classic’ Stories for Girls. Macmillian.

Hunt, P (1999). An Introduction to Children’s Literature. Penguin.

Assessment strategy

Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback

• group guidance on the two coursework assignments;
• opportunities for individual consultation by appointment with the tutor to discuss preparation for assessment and to review essay feedback.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External