English Literature A '07

Assignment
Meity Karlina Wulansari
0707829
Children’s Literature

 Book Report

Valuing Literature for Children

This book think that literature as the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of language. The province of literature is the human condition. Literature illuminates by shaping our insights. Judgments about the quality of literature must always be tempered by an awareness of its audience.
Obviously, the line between children’s and adult’s literature is blurred. Children today appear more sophisticated and knowledgeable about certain life experiences than those of any previous generation. This generation is exposed to more violence in the name of entertainment than any other generation in the past.
The content of children’s literature is limited by the experience and understanding of children. Certain emotional and psychological responses seem outside the realm of childhood. Children’s literature rests on childlike imagination and joyful exuberance. Cynicism and despair are not childlike emotions and should not figure prominently in a child’s book. Children are still expecting good things to happen in life. They may have endured pain, sorrow, or horror; they may be in what we would consider hopeless situations, but they are not without hope. Children also see beauty where there is ugliness. They think and feel, they also wonder and they dream.

Personal Values
Literature should be valued in our homes and school for the enrichment it gives to the personal lives of children. There are some affective values of literature
 Provides enjoyments
Literature provides delight and enjoyment because literature can educate also entertains.
 Reinforces narrative as a way of thinking
The book narrative has provided a reassuring ending for the inner story that they have told themselves.
 Develops the imaginative
Literature develops children’s imagination and helps them consider nature, people, experiences or ideas in a new ways because some books invite children to use their imaginations to solve they problem
 Offers vicarious experiences.
The experiences children with literature give them new perspective on the world. Good writing can transport the reader to other places and other times and expand his life space.
 Develops insight into human behavior
Literature is concerned with feelings, the quality of life. It can educate the heart as well as the mind. Literature can show children how others have lived and “become” no matter what the time or place, it can help them to develop better understanding of themselves and those around them.
 Presents the universality of experiences
Literature continues to ask universal questions about the meaning of life and our relationships with nature and other people.

Educational Values
Research has proven an essential value of literature in helping children learn to read and write.

Evaluating Children’s books
Children show what they think of books through their responses, but they are not born critics in the conventional sense.
1. Plot
The plot is the plan of action; it tells what the characters do and what happen to them. A well constructed plot is organic and interrelated. Most plots in children’s literature are presented in a linear fashion.
2. Setting
Both the time and place of the story should affect an action, the characters and the theme. The setting that the authors construct includes geography, weather, and the news of the day and the details of everyday life. The imaginary setting of fantasy must be carefully detailed in order to create a believable story. The setting of a story, then, is important in creating mood, authenticity, and credibility.
3. Theme
The theme is the larger meanings that lie beneath the story’s surface. The theme of a book reveals something of the author’s purpose in writing the story.
4. Characterization
The people portrayed in children’s books should be as convincingly real and lifelike as our next-door neighbors. The credibility of characters depends on the author’s ability to show their true natures, their strength, and their weakness. In addition to depth in characterization, there should be consistency in character portrayal. Everything characters do, think, and say should seem natural and inevitable.
5. Style
An author’s style in writing is simply selection and arrangement of words in presenting the story. Good writing style is appropriate to the plot, theme, and characters, both creating and reflecting the mood of the story. Most children do not enjoy a story that is too descriptive, but they can appreciate figurative language, especially when the comparisons are within their background of understanding. They also dislike a story that is too sentimental; and they see through the disguise of the too moralistic tales of the past.
6. Point of View
The term point of view is often used to indicate the author’s choice of narrator(s) and the way the narrator reveals the story. Such stories have an omniscient or all-knowing narrator. Many children’s books take a point of view that also uses the third person but gives the author less freedom. This limited-omniscient, or concealed narrator view does, however, provide closer identification with a single character.
7. Illustration
Just as there are elements of writing like, plot, theme, and characterization, so too are there elements of design like line, space, and color that help describe an artist’s work.
8. Format
The format of a book includes its size, shape, the design of pages, illustrations, typography, quality of paper and binding.
9. Comparison to Others
A book should not be considered in isolation but as a part of the larger body of literature. Individual books need to be compared with others on the same subject or theme.

Principles of selection the materials
Evaluation of a single book involves knowledge of literary criticism. Evaluation of many works for many children who will use them for a variety of purposes involves many considerations and requires the establishment of criteria for selection.
 Who select the materials?
Teachers, students, and parents may recommend particular titles, but the final selection of materials for the school library should be determined by professionally trained personnel.
 Quality of material
Criteria for evaluation and selection of all types of instructional materials should be established. Such criteria should be available in written form.
 Appropriate content
The content of the materials to be selected should be evaluated in terms of the quality of the writing or presentation. Which one is appropriate or not is decided by people who select the material.
 Needs and interest of children
 School curriculum needs
 Balance in the collection
 Selection vs. censorship
 Dealing with censorship

 COMMENT
In this book, we can see the differences between children and adult literature more clearly. I conclude that the purposes of the readers when they reading a book is one of some differences that this book mention for children and adults literature. For example, children tented to take the book for enjoyment, so the book that children will read will fills with enjoyment and simplicity. Different with adolescent, they purposes when reading a book is more complicated than children, so the content that makes adult interest in a book is also more complex, and variation.

 The differences between children’s literature and adult’s literature
Children’s literature is a works for example books that’s written for children and appropriate for children. But many classic books that were originally intended for adults now commonly thought as work of children.
Based on the book, the line between children’s literature and adult literature is blurred. The differences between them can be seen in the content of the works, what is exist in children’s literature is based on the experience and understanding of children. Different with adult’s literature, we know that experience and understanding of adult is more far and wide than children, so the content of the works will be different. Also we can see from the feeling and emotions that draw in the works, there will be different.
Some elements of a book such as plot, theme, setting, point of view, characterization, and style of children’s and adult’s literature is also has a differences. Adult’s book will be more complex than children’s book because of the understanding of both readers are different. The characters of both works will appropriately with the readers, so the character of children books is usually children to make the readers interested to the book. The length of children’s literature is usually shorter than adult’s literature.
In children’s literature for genres, we can find traditional literature such as myths, fable, fairy tales and many more; we also can find children fiction and fantasy. In adults we can find horror, romantic and et cetera.
For example, in children’s book the character is usually children with a fun story and colorful cover. Different in adult’s book, we sometimes find a darker cover, and the story is sometimes confusing, complex, and full of adult’s emotions and feelings.

 Example
Children’s literature
1. Peter Pan - JM Barrie
2. Chronicles of C.S. Lewis
3. Wind in the Willows- Kenneth Grahame
4. The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll
6. Little House in the Big Woods- Laura Ingles Wilder
7. The Princess and the Goblin- George MacDonald
8. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
9. Stuart Little by E.B. White
10. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Adult’s literature
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Hamlet by Bill Shakespeare
3. Duma Key – Stephen King
4. Just After Sunset – Stephen King
5. Harry Potter -J.K. Rowling
6. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
7. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
9. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

name:amaliyah ertanti
SID: 0704497
class: non edu A english literature


REPORT

I have read the book titled Children's literature in the elementary school written by Charlotte S. Huck, Susan Hepler, and Janet Hickman. The chapter one in this book titled knowing children's literature.

On my understanding about what I have read in chapter one, Children's literature is literary work that dedicated to children and the content is limited by the experience and understanding of children. they see the literary work positively, they love figurative language, and they feel enjoy to read it because most of them taught school is not enjoyable. Children literature is able to develope children's imagination and helps them to consider nature, people, experiences, or ideas in new ways. Children are curious in literary works because they love to discover secrets hidden in certain illustration. Children literature is able to give experiences and new perspective for them on the world. Literature can show children how others have lived and what they become. literature also helps children learn to read, write and increasing vocabulary. one of benefits of using literature in the elementary school is that it encourage critical and creative thinking in a more natural way that worksheet exercises in logic.

Talking about read, read aloud is powerful motivation for the child to begin learn to read. it makes children grasp the meaning of the story and when we become good reader often seemed to be the best writers. their reading text. plot, theme, characterization, style, point of view, and format are general elements that curcial in children literature.

child perspective on the world is limited by lack of experience. so, by reading literary works, they can improve their knowledge. but there is also an important thing, we have to select a good book for children because a good book can help to improve their knowledge well. and this chapter informs us about the guidelines for selection of materials for children.


THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AND ADULT's LITERATURE.

children literature seldom present look back on their childhood, but always forward. while adult literature there is feeling of nostalgia. children literature also present the positive thinking about literary work while adult literature seldom negative thinking about literary work or what the content of literary work is seldom negatively. and children literature also less romantic while adult literature more romantic.


EXAMPLES

Children literature:

• Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1486)
• the tales of Robin Hood (c. 1450)
• The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford (aged 9)
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Sleeping Beauty
• Puss in Boots
• Cinderella.

Adult literature:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontee
• Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The da vinci code by Dan Brown
• The Voyage Out (1915) by Virginia Woolf

Name: Hani Fatmawati
SID: 0707800
Class: Non-Edu A 2007
Chapter: Valuing Children’s Literature

Based on Children's Literature in the Elementary School fifth edition by Charlotte S. Huck, Susan Helper and Janet Hickman, and several internet sources.


Valuing Children's Literature




Children’s and adolescents literature constitutes a vibrant, mature and many-faceted literary genre. A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic novel or picture book. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups. Literature illuminates life by shaping our insight. There is many ways to describe literature. The experience of literature always involves both the books and the readers.

A child’s book is a book a child is reading. Children learn to recognize the world from the imagination that they get. Literature helps them to create their own imagination. Literature develops children’s imagination and helps them to consider nature, people, experiences, or ideas in new ways. Children think and feel they wonder and they dream. Children also curious about life and adults activities, good children literature’s book can bring these experiences imagination and insight, give them literary shape and structure and communicate with them. Children’s books are books that have the child’s eye at the center.

The presence of a child protagonist doesn’t assure that the book is for children. Obviously, the line between children’s literature and adult literature is blurred. Children today appear more sophisticated and knowledgeable about certain life experiences than those of any previous generation.

Before the nineteenth century only a few books were written for the specific readership of children. Children read books written for adults, taking from them what they could understand. Today, children continue to read some books intended for adults. Books about children may not necessarily be for them. Also in adolescent literary works the readers are made to think and guess the plot or perhaps the ending of its story. For instants, a sentimental book like Love you Forever by Robert Munsch, despite its popularity with teachers, is really not for children. Its themes of the passing of childhood and the assumption of responsibility for an aging parent both reflect adult experiences.

The differences between children’s literature and adolescents’ literature are;
• Children’s literature is less frank than adult books.
• Children’s literature reflects the problems of today.
• Adolescent’s literature use wider language while children’s literature use daily language.
• Children’s literature usually have a picture and full color to helps the child get the message of its story. While the adolescents literature do not have any illustrations to explore their reading skills.
• Children’s literature usually uses the big font.
• Adolescents literature is unlimited by the experiences and also the understanding.
• Almost all the children’s literature has a happy ending story. While the adolescents literature sometimes is not happy ending.
• Adolescent’s literatures also use to include feeling of nostalgia.
• Young children love to repeat such refrains.
• Adult are more responsive than children to the clever, the slyly written and the sarcastic.

The examples of children’s literary works:
1. The Velveteen Rabbit, by: Margery William’s
2. Winnie The Pooh, by: A. A. Milne
3. The hobbit, by: J. R. R. Tolkien
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by: Mark Twain
5. David Copperfield, by: Charles Dickens
6. The Lost World, by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7. Peter Pan, by: J. M. Barrie
8. The Secret Garden, by: Frances Hodgson Burrett
9. The Three Musketeers, by: Aleixandre Dumas
10. The Magic Pudding, by: Norman Lindsay

The examples of adolescents’ literary works:
1. All Creatures Great and Small, by: James Herriot
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by: Harper Lee
3. Speak, by: Laurie Halse Anderson
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. Chronicles of Narnia, by: C. S. Lewis
6. Harry Potter, by: J. K. Rowling
7. Cracker Jackson, by: Betsy Byars
8. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by: Robert O’Brien
9. A Boy in the Doghouse, by: Betsy Duffey
10. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by: C. S. Lewis


The traditional criteria a work of fiction look at such elements as plot, setting, theme, characterization, style, point of view, and format. Special criteria need to be applied to different types of literature. Additional criteria are also needed to evaluate certain forms of fiction. The most important task of critics of any age is to identify the kind of book they are reading in order to apply the appropriate criteria for evaluation.

Name :FRAHMILLIA MULYANI
SID :0707784
Class :Non Edu A

Reading Result of Chapter 1 “Valuing Literature for Children” of Children Literature in the Elementary School Book by Charlotte S. Huck, Susan Hepler, Janet Hickman

Literature is introduced to human since in the crib, such as babies listen to Mother Goose rhyme and nursery songs. Children’s literature is a part of the mainstream of all literature, whose source is life itself. Literature as the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of language. Literature illuminates life by shaping our insights.

There are two aspects to valuing literature for children. First personal values, that literature develops children’s imagination and helps them to consider nature, people, experience, or ideas in new ways. Literature also develops insight into human behavior and be present the universality of experience. Second is educational value, such as language development, reading, writing, critical thinking, literature across the curriculum and introducing our literary heritage.

Reading is the effective way to introduce literature for children. It’s positive influence on child language development. Vocabulary seems to grow children spend time with literature.

A good children’s book consist of traditional criteria (such element as plot, setting, theme, characterization, style, point of view, and format), special criteria (such as picture story books, biographies and informational books), and additional criteria. But in general, the crucial elements which develops a book for children, such as plot, setting, theme, characterization, style, point of view, illustration, format, and comparison to others.

There are some differences between literature for children and adolescent in this chapter.
Children’s Literature:
1. a child’s book is a book a child is reading
2. Children’s book are generally less frank
3. Children’s literature is limited by the experience and understanding of children
4. Seldom looking back on childhood but always forward
5. Cynicism and despair are not childlike emotions and should not figure prominently in child’s book.
6. Books that have the child's eye at the center

Adult’s Literature:
1. a book is the attention of an adult
2. much frank
3. Adolescent experience
4. there is the feeling of nostalgia
5. close the door on hope
6. Books that have the adolescent eye at the center

I found some example of children and Adolescent’s literature in this chapter.
Children’s Literature:
1. The Velveteen Rabbit, by: Margery William’s
2. Winnie The Pooh, by: A. A. Milne
3. The hobbit, by: J. R. R. Tolkien
4. David Copperfield, by: Charles Dickens
5. The Lost World, by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
6. Peter Pan, by: J. M. Barrie
7. The Three Musketeers, by: Aleixandre Dumas
8. The Magic Pudding, by: Norman Lindsay

Adult’s Literature:
1. All Creatures Great and Small, by: James Herriot
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by: Harper Lee
3. Speak, by: Laurie Halse Anderson
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. Chronicles of Narnia, by: C. S. Lewis
6. Harry Potter, by: J. K. Rowling
7. Cracker Jackson, by: Betsy Byars
8. A Boy in the Doghouse, by: Betsy Duffey
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by: C. S. Lewis

(Based on Children's Literature in the Elementary School fifth edition by Charlotte S. Huck, Susan Helper and Janet Hickman, and internet sources; Young Adult Literature by Kay F. Vandergrift and Adolesent Literature)

Name : Ni Luh Ayu S
Class : Non Edu A 2007
SID : 0704517

CHILDREN’S AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE

There are many ways of describing literature. The area of literature is the human condition. We think of literature as the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of language, in other words, it illuminates life by shaping our insight. The experience of literature always involves both the book and the reader.

As a child dwells in and wonders the lives lived in the story, a child begins to know the world. Through the stories from the books, the child begins to explore the world, which helps her/him to confirm, to illuminate, and to extend her/his life experiences. Literature develops children’s imagination and helps them to consider nature, people, experiences, or ideas in new ways. Children’s literature is one of the ways to understand and appreciate children world and one way to define literature for children is to describe the books that children continue to read and enjoy.

While adolescent literature or young adult literature deals with the possibilities and the problems as experienced by a young group who spanning the ages of 10 to 21. Social changes and mass media have forced young people to an earlier maturity. Young reader needs a time to understand the maturity because Nicole St. John wrote that teenagers as “inexperienced adults”, so that literature provides a safe haven to accrue experience of the real world, helps them discover their unique places in the world and find out who they are, they face problems everyday and through literature they can solve their own problem.

It might say that child’s book is the book a child is reading and an adult book is a book consists of the attention of an adult. Before the nineteenth century there were only a few books written for children so that children read books written for adult and take what they could understand. Today, children still read books intended for adults, for instance All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, the work of Stephen King and they also read some books written for children, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne and The Hobbit by J. R. R Tolkiens. Books about children may not necessarily be for them. Obviously, the line between children’s literature and adult literature is blurred. Holly Hobbie books that portray children as “sweet” which romanticize childhood, add with cards and gift products have more appeal for adults than for children. Dr. Seuss (Theodor S. Geisel) took an adult perspective in books, like Oh, the Places You’ll Go. His enduring place in children’s literature rests on earlier titles such as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and The Cat in the Hat, books are filled with childlike imagination and joyful exuberance. Children need to discover delight in books before they are asked to maser the skills of reading. Children books are books that have child’s eye at the center. Cynicism and despair are not childlike emotions and should not figure prominently in a child’s book. Judi Barrett’s funny book, Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, The Three Billy Goats Gruff by P. C. Asbjørnsen and Jorsen Moe, and the distinctive rhythm of the poem “Dream Mouse” by Marilyn Singer or the sound of David McCord’s “The Pickety Fence”. They laugh of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad books. There also great books such as The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown by Betsy Byars, Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Stone Fox by John Gardiner, Joanna Galdone’s The Tailypo, Something Upstairs by Avi or Balyet by Patricia Wrightson. While books written for young adults are Ironman by Chris Crutcher, I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This and The House You Pass on The Way by Jacqueline Woodson, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantol, Shabanu by Suzanne Fisher Staples, M. T. Anderson’s Feed, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Hachet by Gary Paulsen, Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep, Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan and many more.

Children’s literature deals with the limitation of experiences and understanding of children. Literature helps children to entertain ideas they never considered before. Children seldom look back on their childhood, but always forward. As children experienced with books, they are also learning about literature. Mostly children books or storybook always added by illustrations and pictures by artist because the illustration play important role for communicating the mood and the message of the story. The font type for children should be large enough for easy reading, space between the lines (leading) should be sufficient to make text clear. Most children do not enjoy a story that is too descriptive, but they can appreciate figurative language, especially when the comparisons are within their background of understanding. Young adult books are focus on developing their skills of reading and deepen understanding of the element of the stories. So that, most books or novels for older reader have no illustrations. The using of language in children books is usually using everyday language to make it easy to read but this sort of writing does not stretch the reader’s vocabulary or imagination, while older books is usually using wider language. Most plots in children’s literature are presented in a linear fashion. Frequently children find it confusing to follow several plot lines or to deal with flashbacks in time and place and the ending of the story for children is usually happy ending but there are richer and more developing plots for older reader, and the ending of the story is not always happy ending. There are animal characters that have human personalities in children’s books, while in young adult books there are only a few books which have animal characters.

Through story a reader can confirm one's own life experiences, illuminate and gain insight into those experiences, and vicariously expand and extend them. Learning literature can improve a critical vocabulary of children’s and adolescent literature, knowing the utility, limitations or deepen understanding in children’s and adolescent literature. However, literature is an important thing to be learnt and enjoyed for both children and adolescent.