Social Issues In Children's Literature

Simply typing in "social issues in children's literature" in a google.com search blank, I was curious to find what would be the most common occuring issue. Ironically enough, gender issues was most frequent in the titles of search findings. I chose a few to read through and found that a lot of them talked about gender issues the way we have already in class. For example, one website spoke of gender issues in children's literature claiming that the is passive, and acted upon, rather than active and doing the action towards people. What this website also stated, which was a new way of hearing it for me. is that children identify with characters in the book. Because of this, s find it hard to identify with themselves in literature because there are limited female characters that are strong and independent. Another website pointed out that gender bias exists in illustrations, language, and content. Which, after reading several works, is not hard to believe.

http://www.kidsource.com/education/gender.issues.L.A.html
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d135.html

Sally Mae and the Flooding River

Installment #4:

When the sun began to rise on the third morning, full and radiant, she grew weary and tired. She had been walking straight for three days and three nights and the company of the birds hadn’t been enough to keep her going. She placed her bag under a tree and laid down on the bank of low river. She was so tired and exhausted she slept through the day and night.
When Sally Mae woke up the next morning, all she could hear was what sounded like rushing water. She looked around terrified and she screamed at the top of her lungs. There had been a thunderstorm at night and the river had risen all around her. She was isolated on an island that was in the middle of the river. With regret at her loss, she undid her bow and cautiously threw it into the water. The current was so strong that it was carried away and disappeared in an instant. Never having learned to swim, she was frightened and panicky. “How will I ever get off this island?” Sally Mae wondered.
One of her bird friends, Nick, flew over to land on her shoulder. “What’s wrong Sally Mae? Can’t you swim across to the bank?” he asked.
“I can’t swim,” she sobbed, “I can only cook and clean. Please help me Nick. I don’t know what I will do!”

Previously on Sally Mae:

Once upon a time there lived a named Sally Mae. She grew up in a house made out of gemstones all folded together. Her favorite stone was sapphire because of its deep color and the way it sometimes formed a star. She also loved it because her daddy always told her it matched the color of her eyes.
Sally Mae was a very beautiful . She had flowing hair, which she always wore in braided plaits as was the fashion. She wore a dress every day, all different colors of the rainbow: pink, purple, light blue, and pale green, always with a white ribbon tied around her waist in an overflowing bow. Sally Mae enjoyed spending time outdoors, talking with the birds and chipmunks about where they had traveled to and what they had seen. She also loved smelling the flowers, especially orchids- those were her favorite.
Around the house Sally Mae was a help to her father. She knew how to tend to a garden and fix supper for her father. She commonly took charge of her mother’s duties; her mother was a business woman who traveled around the world selling jewelry and gems much like the ones her house was formed out of. Sally Mae hardly ever saw her mother and relished the few days she had with her.
One fine July morning Sally Mae leaped out of the door with joy at the sight of her mother’s deep purple Rolls Royce. When the chauffeur opened the door, her smile faded and her enchantment disappeared. Her mother’s aide, Victoria, stepped out. Victoria had never liked Sally Mae and only put up with her for her jobs sake. She strode right past Sally Mae and didn’t even recognize her existence.
“I’m here to take Sally Mae into the real world and teach her real skills,” she hollered at Daddy. “She needs to learn how to hold her own in real life, not just twiddle her around her own house, picking daisies and stirring soup.”
“She’s my only ray of sunshine,” protested father, “you can’t take her.” But there was no hope; Daddy had no power over Victoria, as hard as he may fight. She was powerful and threatening.
“We will leave in the morning, tell her to pack her bags,” Victoria scowled.
“I don’t want to go. NO! I will not leave!” Sally Mae screamed. Yelling with all her might, she realized it was useless. Sally Mae was going to have to fix this problem on her own.
Pack her bags she did, but not for Victoria. She was going to leave that night and escape out her doomed future. She wanted to be with nature and the birds, not in the world of merchants and business. When the moon was high she crawled out of her window. Chirping to the birds, she explained she needed a new home, one without Victoria. She was going to miss her house made out of beautiful stones, and pulled some off of the window sill to take with her.

Review of National Children's Literacy Website

After typing into the search blank on Google.com "children learning to read," I stumbled upon this webpage provided by Soho Center's National Children's Literacy Information. One thing I found interesting is several of the tips the page gave in order to help children learn to read. For example, I said to practice language sounds, which is something I had never thought about. It gave suggestions such as asking children to make several rhymes in discover connections in sounds. It also suggested taking words apart by there sounds and putting them back together.

While I realize that for most people this isn't going to be relevant until they have children themselves one day, if they do at all, I personally will have use for this type of information as an education major. Of course I know the typical guidelines such as reading to children every day, having them read to you, teaching the alphabet, etc. but I didn't realize there was a connection between children's ability to read and they're ability to create connections between sounds. This will help me in my future career.

I felt like overall this webpage was informative and relevant. The information was also reliable and of good qualaity, as far as I can tell. I felt like it was a well established society and that they had accurate information. Finally, the layout of the website was easy to read and use, which makes it a lot easier to do reasearch.

Alice in Wonderland Discussion

One of the things I find really interesting as I read through Alice in Wonderland is how it's nothing like what I remember as a child. As a matter of fact, I never read the book when I was young and the only thing I can remember from the movie is a disappearing cat and the queen of hearts being particularly cruel. I didn't like her and was actually afraid of the movie and did not enjoy it at all. As I go through and read the book, I can see why I would have been afraid of it as a young child. Alice is constantly encountering dangerous situations (such as growing too much or shrking too small) and I think that this probably scared me as a little because I was afraid that it would happen to me too. Reflecting on my different lenses of intake between now and then, I'm struggling to understand why any child these days would enjoy that book or movie. Which leads me even further to question what the difference is between children today and two hundred years ago that makes the difference in our creative intake. I think the perception of what's fun and entertaining has just changed so drastically (especially with the invention of new technologies) that children have different likes.

General Study Guide for Children's Literature

1. Who are the main characters (protagonist/antagonist)?
2. What are the characteristics/personality traits of the main protagonist(s)? How does this relate to other works of children's literature? i.e. helpless - occurs in other stories such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, etc.
3. What are the characteristics/personality traits of the main antagonist(s)? How does this relate to other works of children's literature?
4. How does the author use other characters the develop the story and/or personalities of the main characters?
5. Where is the story set? Is the setting important to the plot? Do other setting descriptions, such as weather, contribute to the story?
6. Does the author use diction and vocabulary that applies to children 2-5, 6-10, or 11-15 years of age? What are some examples of words that hints at the audience age?
7. Does the author have a moral/value that they are trying to spread? What value is this? Is this value/moral relative to the time period the author was living in? Is it still relavent today?
8. Are there pictures in this book? How do the pictures contribute to the story?

Sally Mae and the Flooding River

Installment #3:

“I’m here to take Sally Mae into the real world and teach her real skills,” she hollered at Daddy. “She needs to learn how to hold her own in real life, not just twiddle her around her own house, picking daisies and stirring soup.”
“She’s my only ray of sunshine,” protested father, “you can’t take her.” But there was no hope; Daddy had no power over Victoria, as hard as he may fight. She was powerful and threatening.
“We will leave in the morning, tell her to pack her bags,” Victoria scowled.
“I don’t want to go. NO! I will not leave!” Sally Mae screamed. Yelling with all her might, she realized it was useless. Sally Mae was going to have to fix this problem on her own.
Pack her bags she did, but not for Victoria. She was going to leave that night and escape out her doomed future. She wanted to be with nature and the birds, not in the world of merchants and business. When the moon was high she crawled out of her window. Chirping to the birds, she explained she needed a new home, one without Victoria. She was going to miss her house made out of beautiful stones, and pulled some off of the window sill to take with her.

Previously from Sally Mae:

Once upon a time there lived a named Sally Mae. She grew up in a house made out of gemstones all folded together. Her favorite stone was sapphire because of its deep color and the way it sometimes formed a star. She also loved it because her daddy always told her it matched the color of her eyes.
Sally Mae was a very beautiful . She had flowing hair, which she always wore in braided plaits as was the fashion. She wore a dress every day, all different colors of the rainbow: pink, purple, light blue, and pale green, always with a white ribbon tied around her waist in an overflowing bow. Sally Mae enjoyed spending time outdoors, talking with the birds and chipmunks about where they had traveled to and what they had seen. She also loved smelling the flowers, especially orchids- those were her favorite.
Around the house Sally Mae was a help to her father. She knew how to tend to a garden and fix supper for her father. She commonly took charge of her mother’s duties; her mother was a business woman who traveled around the world selling jewelry and gems much like the ones her house was formed out of. Sally Mae hardly ever saw her mother and relished the few days she had with her.
One fine July morning Sally Mae leaped out of the door with joy at the sight of her mother’s deep purple Rolls Royce. When the chauffeur opened the door, her smile faded and her enchantment disappeared. Her mother’s aide, Victoria, stepped out. Victoria had never liked Sally Mae and only put up with her for her jobs sake. She strode right past Sally Mae and didn’t even recognize her existence.

Meet Samantha: An American Girl

What I found most interesting in this book was the way that Samantha, a young girl of nine years, was treated and expected to behave. What hit me most when reading this was how much her ideal behavior could impact young readers. As a young lady of position, she wasn't ever expected to work or make her own living, compared to Nellie, a girl of the same age who has a cough from working long hours in the factories. The author created a nice parrallel between the characters of the two girls- they come from completely different backgrounds but at heart, they are both little girls who are up to mischief and enjoy the company of dolls. Finally, one thing found in this book characteristic of tales such as Hansel and Gretel was the rebellion that was portrayed in child. Samantha snuck out of the house and disrespectfully spoke to her Grandmary, but she went unpunished for her defiance. On the contrary, she was rewarded and given a hug.

Popular Children's Cartoon Characters

For my next journal, I've created a word tile of popular children's cartoon characters. What's interesting to me is that when I was growing up ten to twelve years ago, most of these characters were still in book form, such as the Berenstein Bears, Franklin the Turtle (I also had a stuffed animal that was him), Angelina Ballerina, and Barney and Friends. Now, there are websites and TV shows centered around these characters and many more.

The following is a word bank for the puzzle:
Berenstain Bears
Dora the Explorer
Rolie Polie Olie
Franklin the Turtle
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Blue's Clues
Big Comfy Couch
Care Bears
Bob the Builder
Barney and Friends
Angelina Ballerina

The following is a link to the puzzle I created:
http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/code/BuildCrissCross.asp

The following is an image of the cross word:

GrimmFairyTales.com Review

After looking around on their website, I thought that the Brothers Grimm website was peculiar. The opening page portrays the brothers as "grimm"-ugly and monstrous looking. Clicking on the "Featured Story" link, it was possible to flip through an interactive book that contained a children's story. There were many ads and lots of excess writing and I didn't feel like that page was very child friendly. However, I did feel like the "The Brothers Grimm" link contained useful information about the history of the Grimm brothers. I don't think the "Grimms Tales" link was accurate because it only contained two links to stories I had never heard of. If a child was researching the Brothers Grimm, this would be very misleading about what stories they had collected. Lastly, I appreciated that there was a link to fun activities, however, they weren't offered by the GrimmFairyTales website, it was instead a link to another server. Overall, I didn't feel like this website was a very helpful page and wouldn't hold it very reliable.

Sally Mae and the Flooding River

Installment #2


Around the house Sally Mae was a help to her father. She knew how to tend to a garden and fix supper for her father. She commonly took charge of her mother’s duties; her mother was a business woman who traveled around the world selling jewelry and gems much like the ones her house was formed out of. Sally Mae hardly ever saw her mother and relished the few days she had with her.
One fine July morning Sally Mae leaped out of the door with joy at the sight of her mother’s deep purple Rolls Royce. When the chauffeur opened the door, her smile faded and her enchantment disappeared. Her mother’s aide, Victoria, stepped out. Victoria had never liked Sally Mae and only put up with her for her jobs sake. She strode right past Sally Mae and didn’t even recognize her existence.



Previously from Sally Mae:

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Sally Mae. She grew up in a house made out of gemstones all folded together. Her favorite stone was sapphire because of its deep color and the way it sometimes formed a star. She also loved it because her daddy always told her it matched the color of her eyes.
Sally Mae was a very beautiful girl. She had flowing blonde hair, which she always wore in braided plaits as was the fashion. She wore a dress every day, all different colors of the rainbow: pink, purple, light blue, and pale green, always with a white ribbon tied around her waist in an overflowing bow. Sally Mae enjoyed spending time outdoors, talking with the birds and chipmunks about where they had traveled to and what they had seen. She also loved smelling the flowers, especially orchids- those were her favorite.

Tales From The Homeplace

For one of my outside readings, I chose "Tales From the Homeplace" by Harriet Burandt and Shelley Dale.  Burandt is a storyteller and Dale collected her stories and wrote them down.  All of the stories in the book did occur at some point, not necessarily with the same characters but they did happen.  

What I thought was interesting was the historical context of it.  In this book, set on a Texas farm, it is during the Great Depression, so business is hard.  President Roosevelt is referred to several times as well as prohibition.  What was also interesting was other objects that were described that set time plot, such as getting a new and unfamiliar Ford, getting an indoor toilet instead of an outhouse, and a girl's position in life.  That was one of the heavily stressed themes-a girl's place in life.  She was to cook, clean, feed the chickens, and tend to the garden.  Irene, the defiant main character, fought against this status quo and was eventually allowed to drive the wagon all by herself.  Several times in the book she was the heroine, such as killing the rattlesnake, chasing off a panther, and escaping a fugitive.

The Poisonous Mushroom

On Friday I visited The Houston Holocaust Museum.  While there, the docent explained to us about literature in Germany during the Holocaust era.  For example, many of the Jewish books were burned and destroyed.  New books published by the "master" race were produced and distributed.  Specifically, one book that I learned about was "The Poisonous Mushroom."  This book was written for and distributed to German children.  

Here is a clip from the book: "The following tales tell the truth about the Jewish poison-mushroom.  They show the many shapes the Jew assumes  They show the depravity and baseness of the Jewish race.  They show the Jew for what he really is:

The Devil in human form"

What was interesting to me was the use of children's literature as propaganda.  I don't think we realize how much of an influence the books children read have on their lives and future stereotypes.

The following is a link to the image of the cover pages:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/images/giftpilz/scan1.jpg

Sally Mae and the Flooding River

Installment No. 1:

Once upon a time there lived a named Sally Mae. She grew up in a house made out of gemstones all folded together. Her favorite stone was sapphire because of its deep color and the way it sometimes formed a star. She also loved it because her daddy always told her it matched the color of her eyes.
Sally Mae was a very beautiful . She had flowing hair, which she always wore in braided plaits as was the fashion. She wore a dress every day, all different colors of the rainbow: pink, purple, light blue, and pale green, always with a white ribbon tied around her waist in an overflowing bow. Sally Mae enjoyed spending time outdoors, talking with the birds and chipmunks about where they had traveled to and what they had seen. She also loved smelling the flowers, especially orchids- those were her favorite.

Big Fish & How I Go

The book, Big Fish, by Daniel Wallace has the tagline, "An adventure as big as life itself." The story is in fact about a man's life, and how he is not actually a man, just born that way. He was intended to be a fish, as he ends up becoming. I didn't read this for one of my outside readings, but I was listening to a song the other day titled "How I Go" sung by Yellowcard. I realized that the lyrics almost seem to be written about this book. They are as follows:
~
I could tell you the wildest of tales
My friend the giant and traveling sales
Tell you all the times that I failed
The years all behind me the stories exhaled.

And I'm drying out
Crying out
This isn't how I go

I could tell you of a man not so tall
Who said life's a circus and so we are small
Tell you of a that I saw
I froze in the moment and she changed it all

Hurry now
Lay me down
And let these waters Flow, flow

Son I am not everything
You thought that I would be
But every story I have told
Is part of me

Son I leave you now but you have so much more to do
And every story I have told is part of you
~
His entire life the main character is trying to make it back to the water. In his final days, according to the description in the text, he is drying out like a fish, and as the lyrics of this song suggest. What's also relevant is that the character in the book attempts traveling sales, participates in a circus, meets a that changes his life, and has a giant for a friend.

This song has given me inspiration that there is another outlet of children's literature in music. Being musically inclined, it's neat to realize that I can turn literature for children into a differnet medium but still capture the meaning.

Roald Dahl- Bibliography

After reading about Roald Dahl for half an hour, I've learned that he is a very interesting person. Born and raised most of his life in England, he first began writing at the age of twenty six and published his first book in 1943. It was, surprisingly, written for s, but has been transformed into a common tale for children, James and the Giant Peach. The same year he did publish a picture book The Gremlins. His writing for children didn't really take off until the sixties, when he wrote favorites such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and other tales that are not as common but just as good.

Dahl's personal life is interesting as well. He married an actress, Patricia Neal, and they had five children together, the first dying at the age of seven. His first wife suffered from three strokes that occured one after another while she was pregnant. Fortunatly, he spent time devoted to her recovery and the child was born without complications. Still, one of his stepdaughters died due to a brain tumor. His children had a huge impact in his life and allowed him to tap into the creative side of writing that made him successful.

One last thing that I thought was rather intriguing was his passions. He loved orchids for thier uniqueness but also for the patience and attention they must be given to grow. He also enjoyed paintings by well known artists, including Cezanne. Living in the inventive time of chocolate, he enjoyed eating Caramello's, Aero's, Kit Kat's, Rolo's, and Smarties. Most of these are still common chocolates in Britain today. Lastly, he had a passion for conkers. Apparently, conkers is a game played by children in England. The player uses nuts that are commonly known in the US as chestnuts.

Source: http://www.roalddahl.com/

My Purse

I read a book intended for ages 3 and up and it was very interesting to notice the way the book encourages feminism.  In another class I'm studying diversity found in children's toys.  For example, all girls dolls are girls or attractive, hip men and all boys dolls are G.I. Joes or another fighting, stereotypical masculine male.  I found those same stereotypes in these children's book.  One of my favorite children's books when I was growing up, "My Purse" takes the reader through a day out shopping, buying girlie earrings, a birthday card with a unicorn and rainbow, and walking her through everything she has in her purse, including a mirror, comb, sunglasses, and tissues.

I feel like the main point of this book is to show girls what they're supposed to be like  It encourages a pink and purple loving, make-up wearing purse carrying girl to grow up and play the historical role of a girl.  It's a plain and simple child's book, with no hidden lessons or metaphorical messages.

Sydney White

I watched the modern version of the Snow White fairy tale, a movie called Sydney White with actress Amanda Bynes. The story was about a girl going to college trying to join the same sorority that her mother had been a part of, however the president of the chapter played the role of the evil stepmother, refusing to let her in. Sydney takes shelter in "The Vortex," a house on Greek row that's known for "sucking in losers." The seven "dorks" that live there take on the roles of Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, and Bashful. Sydney eventually runs for president of the school, against Rachel Witchburn, the sorority president who has conquered everything else. Various other illusions, such as Tyler Prince (the boy they're fighting over), a poisoned apple (except it was a virus on an apply computer), and the evil stepsisters, occur in the movie.

I thought this was a very intersting take on the classic Snow White story. It was unique and different in that it was aimed at a teenage audience, not so much a child's audience and the parents reading the stories to them. What I thought was interesting was the choice of Amanda Bynes as the Snow White character- her sense of humor put a twist on the story and created humor throughout the most dreadful parts.