This semester, we will take an historical approach to our study of children’s literature as we consider literary content, illustration, social values, cultural contexts, staging, and publishing.  We will read fairy tales (and a few modern appropriations), instructional and moral texts from the eighteenth century, fanciful novels from the nineteenth century, realistic novels that emerged in the mid-twentieth century, and the 2008 winner of the Newberry Medal.  We will also travel together to see The Barter Players perform Catherine Bush's adaptation of the much loved children’s classic Rapunzel.  Our discussions will also include poems for children as well as traditional and post-modern picture books.

 Required Texts:

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Penguin, 2003. 0141439769

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy (1911). Penguin, 2004. 014243793X

E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (1952). Harper Collins, 2001.  0064410935

Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War (1974). Knopf, 2004.  0375829873

Christopher Paul Curtis’, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, 1963 (1996). Yearling, 1997.  0440414121

Maria Tatar’s The Classic Fairy Tales.  Norton, 1999.   0393972771

Shannon Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge, Bloomsbury, 2008.  ISBN: 1599902885

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, HarperCollins, 2008.  ISBN: 0061712825

Nodelman & Reimer’s The Pleasures of Children’s Literature, 3^rd.  Allyn & Bacon, 2002.  0801332486

Children's Literature Course Syllabus

Children's Literature Course Schedule

Dr. Thompson's Classes Page

Dr. Thompson's Faculty Web Page