Children Literature Module

Bachelor in BACHELOR
OF
Elementary
Education
Third Year-
Learning Module
SECONDARY
DEPARTMENT
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction 5
Chapter 1: Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature 6
Pre-test 6
Content/Preparatory Activities 6
History of children’s literature 6
Recent trends in children’s literature 10
Connecting learning standards to Arts-Based Responses to Literature 12
Closure Activities 18
Evaluation 20
Assignments 21
Chapter 2: Elements of Quality Children’s Literature 24
Pre-test 24
Definition of Literature 24
Characteristics of Children’s Literature as Genre 26
Elements of Literature 27
Evaluation 31
Assignment 32
Chapter 3: The Art Illustration, Early Childhood Books 33
Pre-Test 33
The Art of Illustration 34
Picture Books throughout Early Childhood 36
What is Picture Book? 37
Elements of Picture Book 37
Types of Picture Books 38
Evaluation 39
Assignments 40
Chapter 4: Traditional Literature, Modern Literature, Animal Fantasy,
Contemporary Realistic Fiction 41
Pre-Test 41
Traditional Literature 42
Modern Literature 44
Fantasy/Animal Fantasy 49
Contemporary Realistic Fiction 52
Evaluation 54
Assignment 55
Summative Assessment 56
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COURSE: Children and Adolescent Literature
Provides a survey of the categories and types of the world’s literature for children and
adolescents. (EK-3)
COURSE OUTLINE:
Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature

Elements of Quality Children’s Literature
The Art of Illustration, Early Childhood Books
Traditional Literature, Modern Literature, Animal Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Biography and Autobiography, Informational Books
Understanding Young Adult Literature, Evaluating and Selecting Young Adult Literature
Connecting Adolescents and Their Literature
Exploring Young Adult Literature
RATIONALE :
This course is designed to introduce the learner of the importance of studying children’s and
adolescent literature, its meaning and its concepts. Children’s literature is important because it
provides students with opportunities to respond to literature; it gives students appreciation about
their own cultural heritage as well as those of others; it helps students develop emotional intelligence
and creativity; it nurtures growth and development of the student’s personality and social skills; and it
transmits important literature and themes from one generation to the next.
INSTRUCTION TO THE USERS
This module is intended for the self-phase learning opportunity of the students inside the classroom or
even without the guidance or direct instructions from their teacher. In consist of reading materials and
other learning activities that would help the learners gain the basic knowledge they need to learn
about this course and to understand the importance of studying children and adolescent literature.
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Introduction
This chapter explores historical, social, and political influences on children’s literature, including
recent trends related to digital and technological influences, such as incorporating multiple ways
of communicating in response to multimedia messages prevalent in digital formats. Children’s
literature offers insight into the cultural, social, and political history of the place and time at which
it was written. The beliefs, norms, and values of the specific historical time and place it was
written are reflected in the content of the writing, the style, and genre of the writing, and the
audience or market for which the text was written. Placing children’s literature within these contexts
allows readers to recognize and critique the cultural messages carried within children’s books and
consider the potential effect of those messages on readers. While differences in the children’s
literature from the past may be readily apparent, contemporary books also reflect cultural,
social, and political worlds of today, making it equally important for educators to analyze the
cultural messages contained within them as well.
After developing an understanding of contemporary children’s literature, this chapter focuses on

how teachers can take full advantage of children’s books in the classroom. In particular, children’s
literature incorporating multiple forms of communication, such as audio or movement, can create
broader opportunities for students to respond. These texts lend themselves especially well to
arts-based responses, which use visual art, music, drama, or dance activities to enhance
understanding of texts. Giving students opportunities to read books that communicate in multiple
ways, and then giving students opportunities to respond to those books using multiple ways of
communicating, prepares them to communicate effectively in an ever-changing world.
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CHAPTER 1
Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this module the learners will be able to:

1. Demonstrate their understanding of the importance of studying children and adolescent
literature, its concepts and its meaning;
2. Demonstrate their understanding of the different genres through the types of literature
contributed by writers around the world.
3. Discuss the different elements related to children and young adult literature
4. Evaluate and select appropriate literature for children
5. Demonstrate understanding of how significant human experiences are best captured in
various literary forms that inspire humans to bring out the best in them.
PRE-TEST
Enumerate the items asks in each questions.

1. List down key theme and concerns of children’s
literature. a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What are the characteristics of patterns in children’s

literature?
f.
g.
h.
3. Give examples of arts-based responses to children’s
literature i.
j.
CONTENT PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES
Before we start this chapter, let’s think about the following

questions What is a good story?
Why read children’s classics?
Why do we need to study literature?
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DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Why do we need to study literature?

 Literature is filled with ideas that need to be explored.
 Literature helps us to see our world in new ways. It brings us to a deeper understanding of life
What is a good story?

 A good story is about something the audience decides is interesting or important. A
great story often does both by using storytelling to make important news interesting.
 A good story should alter you in some way; it should change your thinking, your feeling,
your psyche, or the way you look at things. A story is an abstract experience; it’s rather
like venturing through a maze. When you come out of it, you should feel slightly changed
(Allen Say)
 A good story, however, does more than inform or amplify. It adds value to the topic.
Why read children’s classics?
Some people mistakenly believe, writes children’s author Jill Paton Walsh, “that something
written for children is necessarily inferior, could not be a serious work of art.” As award-winning
Katherine Peterson argues, many intelligent, well-meaning people think that ”while adult
literature may aim to be art, the object of children’s books is to whip the little rascals into shape.
”
But great children’s stories are powerful, imaginative, and memorable; they resonate with readers of
all ages and have a lasting and profound impact. This site will examine a selection of classic
children’s novels as distinguished works of art. It will look at what makes these novels notable
and why they have such universal appeal.
Joseph Conrad wrote that every word in a good novel should contribute to the work’s overall
purpose. A great novel for either children or adults is like a symphony; it has any separate
elements but they all work together to create a unified effect.
Why should you care about children’s literature?

If you are in apposition of influence with children, be it as parent, teacher, librarian, or
grandparent, you can make a definitive impact on their lives by fostering a love of reading.
Research has shown a demonstrated relationship between reading, cognitive development,
verbal skills, and academic achievement. Children who are read to, not only are more articulate,
but also have higher order reasoning skills, a more effective writing style, superior reading
comprehension, and more advanced critical thinking skills.
Stories teach children how to cope with life’s challenges. They provide a trial run of life’s
possibilities. They also transmit the accumulated wisdom and values of our culture. Children
learn through models and heroes.
Key themes and concerns in children’s literature
 Home
 School
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 Parents
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 Siblings
 Grandparents
 Friendship
 Toys, dolls, play
 Pets and animals
 Birthdays
 Holidays
 Magic
 The imagination
Patterns in Children’s Literature
Children thrive on patterns that provide order and meaning to their lives. As Jon Stott points out,
the best children’s authors choose details that are significant and arrange them into meaningful
pattern. People’s lives are like a series of random event; an effective author shows the
connections between events, thereby creating meaning and significance.
Examples of characteristic patterns
 Home-away-home
 Movement from a protected environment to a new, adverse, or challenging environment
 City-country-city(sometimes reverse)
 Real world-fantasy world-real world
 Life-death-rebirth
 Separation from and reunion with parents (many classic adult novels end with marriage;
many children’s stories end with a reunion with parents)
 Help others less fortunate and they will help you
 Movement from innocence to experience, often patterned after the biblical fall
 Coming age, rite of passage
 Journey symbolizing development
 Seasonal cycle
Changes in children’s literature

Alice in Wonderland (1865) is usually considered the first successful children’s novel. Before the time
of its writing, children were viewed as adults-in-training so few works were written specifically for
them. children’s authors for the next hundred years believed that it was duty to protect the
young. Few writer exposed readers to the harsh facts of life. Since the 1970s, the trend has
been towards the depiction of a grittier realism. Children’s writers have introduces topics such
as violence, death, divorce, and abandonment into the stories
History of Children’s Literature
There have been many changes related to the publishing of literature for children since the beginning
of the 17th century when the only books published for children were school books to teach them
the alphabet and spelling, as well as morals, manners, and religion. At that time, the content of
school books was influenced by Puritan beliefs that children were inclined to evil and needed to
be taught morals. However, during this time, cheaply published books called chapbooks containing
popular stories and tales also began to be produced and sold. Since these books did not contain
strictly moral stories, they
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were often criticized for departing from Puritan beliefs (Gangi, 2004). Puritanical thinking
eventually gave way to the Enlightenment ideals characterized by the philosophy of John Locke,
which marked a shift in the view of children to that of a “blank slate” that could be written upon.
During this time, moral tales and fables were still published, but more light-hearted books featuring
word play, riddles, rhymes, and games began to appear in children’s books as well. Children’s books
also borrowed stories originally written for adults, such as Gulliver’s Travels, Ivanhoe, and Robinson
Crusoe.
Before the 17th century, children were seen as small adults; however, during the Enlightenment
and Romantic periods, childhood was viewed as a time of innocence that was distinct from
adolescence (young adulthood) and adulthood (Avery & Kinnell, 1995). These changes in viewpoints
created a new market for the writing and publishing of books specifically for children, who were
seen as innocent and playful beings rather than mini-adults. During the 18th century, John
Newbery, a writer of children’s books, greatly influenced children’s literature by starting the first
publishing house dedicated to children’s stories. He published his own stories, as well as the
works of other children’s book authors (Gangi, 2004). The idea of a publishing house just for
children’s stories reflected a shift in how society thought of children. During the 19th century,
greater numbers of books were written for children’s play and enjoyment, including the first
picture book, which was written by Randolph Caldecott.
This early history of children’s literature illustrates how societal changes influenced writers and
book publishers to create and produce books specifically for children. As a market for children’s
literature had become firmly established in the 18th and 19th centuries, changes in children’s
literature in the 20th century were related to the content of books. For example, the period
between World War I and World War II showed a proliferation of books depicting idealism and a
pioneering spirit, such as the showcasing of small town life in the Little House on the Prairie series
published between 1932 and 1943 by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1971). However, stories from this
time period still included some serious and realistic writing, such as the simplicity and down-to-
earth style of Margaret Wise Brown’s work for young children, or the realities and hardships of
life depicted in stories like Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (1945) that shared the struggles of a
poor, working farm girl (Hunt, 1995).2
The emergence of more realistic stories preceded the onset of a major shift toward realism that
accompanied the social and political revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Between the 1930s and
1950s, writers became more willing to address topics related to societal issues and hardships, such
as struggles associated with poverty; however, in the 1960s and 1970s, a flood of children’s
books emerged centering on realism. Authors such as Beverly Clearly, Judy Blume and Paul Zindel
wrote about growing up, death, obesity, and other issues, which marked a shift in the boundaries of
what was acceptable, and arguably, even necessary for children to understand. These earlier authors
paved the way for the writing of M. E. Kerr, Cynthia Voigt, and Robert Cormier, who wrote about
homelessness, race, and sexuality. The realism of children’s literature in the 1960s and 1970s
represented a radical shift at that time, similar to many of the other shifts throughout history
related to historical, political, and societal influences.
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Recent Trends in Children’s Literature
Recent decades have brought additional changes in the publishing of children’s literature. The
market for children’s literature has been influenced by demand from parents, children with
increased buying power, and a proliferation of serial writing to boost sales. In addition, there
have been changes in the content of children’s books related to gender, diversity, and social class
(Ching, 2005; Englehardt, 1991; Gangi, 2004; Hunt, 1995; Larrick, 1965; Taxel, 1997; Zipes,
2001). While each of these areas is a worthwhile topic of study on its own, this chapter does not
focus on them beyond recognizing their influence overall.
While the impact on children’s literature due to cultural influences has been apparent throughout
the decades, current trends center mostly on digital and technological advances in our society.
Technological advances have exerted huge effects on printing and publishing capabilities.
Beyond printing capabilities, authors and illustrators are writing to maintain the attention of
children accustomed to the fast-paced sensory input of digital resources, such as computer and
video games, smartphones, and tablet apps. Publishing companies have attempted to produce print
texts that mimic or resemble digital texts in wording, style, type of images, or format. Some print
texts even borrow concepts about page design from digital texts.
Exposure to digital and technological resources and global access to information have changed
the boundaries, topics, and perspectives represented in books for children (Dresang, 1999, 2003).
These changes in print texts include the use of non-linear plots that are organized not by a
typical beginning, middle, and end, but tell the story out of order and/or lead readers in multiple
directions through the text (e.g., The End, by David LaRochelle, 2007).
As Anstey and Bull (2006) explained, contemporary books are products of changing times that
require new understandings about text and are well suited for teaching and preparing students
to be multiliterate individuals. Multiliterate individuals are socially responsible, informed
citizens who are flexible and strategic as they engage in literacy practices with a variety of text
types in a diverse world (Anstey & Bull, 2006).
Technological resources have changed the way information is communicated, and teachers
must prepare students to understand information from all types of texts, including digital texts.
While this can be facilitated using digital technology, some schools, classrooms, or homes have
limited access to technology. Fortunately, many flexible literacy skills can be developed through
the use of print books that have the characteristics described above, such as mimicking digital
texts in style and formatting, changing organizational patterns, exploring interactive formats, and
representing messages in a variety of ways. The availability of print books that can teach students
necessary digital skills may narrow a gap that could be perpetuated by the disparity between
environments rich with technology and those that are lacking in technology.
Changes in contemporary children’s books are not only related to digital and technological
influences but also the influence of a cultural movement of the late 20th century known as
postmodernism.
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Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to
explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in
human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own
particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of
explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead
focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is
everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to
us individually.
Noting the changes in children’s literature related to digital and postmodern influences, teachers
are tasked with determining how and when texts should be used in today’s classrooms. In
recent studies, when teachers used texts with postmodern characteristics, it was discovered
that the students developed their ability to interpret visual images, their digital literacy skills, and
their ability to think critically (Pantaleo, 2004). Each of these skills is important to prepare
students for future encounters with both print and digital texts. Students may be interested in
digital texts and other varieties of text types, but they may not have a full range of abilities to
interpret all the messages contained in these texts. By including contemporary books in the
curriculum, teachers can better prepare students for a wide range of experiences in the world.
Multimodal Texts in Children’s Literature
It is easy to envision a classroom that relies on the use of a print textbook and resources that
primarily use printed words and visual images to represent meaning. However, print resources
are changing in ways that are reflective of the multiple ways, or modes, that are used to
communicate within digital contexts. The modes of communication encompass all forms of
expression, including “Visual Meanings (images, page layouts, screen formats); Audio Meanings
(music, sound effects); Gestural Meanings (body language, sensuality); Spatial Meanings (the
meanings of environmental spaces, architectural spaces); and Multimodal Meanings” (New
London Group, 1996, p. 80). Though children’s literature, especially picture books, rely mainly
on print and visual modes (i.e., words combined with pictures), there are growing numbers of
children’s books that creatively incorporate audio, gestural, and spatial modes as well. Multimodal
texts are capable of drawing on students’ strengths and preparing them for a multimodal society
where individuals communicate through audio, gestural, visual, spatial, and print resources, as
well as various combinations of these modes.
Each mode has its own capacity to communicate, or potential to make meaning, which is called
an affordance (Kress & Jewitt, 2003; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001). Basically, this means that each
mode communicates the same idea in a different way than any other mode. The idea that
modes have different affordances, or potential to make meaning, suggests that some modes of
communication are better suited for some tasks than others. When modes are integrated, their
combination also contributes to an overall meaning that could not be achieved by the use of any
one mode on its own. Even within a mode, the materials used or the format of the
communicated message can contribute differently to the understanding of the message. For
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example, a written message carries different meaning if it is written in sand versus carved in
stone (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001).
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The meaning-making potential of a mode also depends on how a society or group of individuals
values that particular mode or how that mode is used within that society in different situations
and contexts (Kress & Jewitt, 2003). As individuals understand the potential usefulness of a mode of
communication within the context of their culture, they can choose the modes that most
appropriately express their message. Thinking back to the example of the cat story, not only
does a particular mode communicate the story differently, the choice of a mode may be
appropriate in some circumstances but not in others. For example, it would be more appropriate
for a small child to act out the story while moving around the room and meowing than a college
professor teaching an English class!
Connecting Learning Standards to Arts-Based Responses to Literature
Children’s literature can be used by teachers as instructional materials to meet a variety of

educational goals and objectives. Using children’s literature that includes multiple modes of
communication offers more opportunities to invite students to respond using arts-based forms,
such as visual art, drama, music, and dance. Students may be more encouraged to respond to
literature if teachers use more familiar terms, such as music, art or drawing, acting or drama,
and dance or movement rather than discussing modes, like gestural, spatial, or audio, as terms.
Arts-based responses allow students to use all their senses as they make meaning. As an
example, an arts-based response might be one in which students act out what they think might
happen in a story, create a rhythmic pattern or tune to symbolize each character in a book, or
move the same way as they believe characters felt or acted in given situations to help analyze a
character’s emotions and motivations. Multimodal books are not required tools for arts-based
responses in that teachers can encourage or create arts-based response activities for any book, but
when a text already utilizes audio, gesture, movement, or space in creative ways, it can offer
students a model and set the stage for engaging in arts-based responses.
Table 1. Literature Response Activities Purposes and Standards
Teachers’ Purposes for Literature Response

Standards
Activities
Gauge students’ comprehension of the literature
Give students a chance to ask questions, Key Ideas and Details. Asking and
help students work out anything that is confusing, or answering questions in kindergarten
advance students’ understanding of the literature which develops into using details to
make inferences at 5th grade
See if students are able to communicate their
ideas to others
Key Ideas and Details. Retelling in

Make sure students understand bigger ideas in
the Kindergarten which leads to
determining themes and
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See if students can recognize plot details and
events that affect the progression of the story
Help students see right/wrong, successful Key Ideas and Details. Identifying,
solutions to problems, different perspectives, describing, and ultimately
consequences, or positive outcomes to actions comparing and contrasting
characters, settings and events
Help students become more empathic as they
understand different characters’ emotions
and actions
Comprehension and Collaboration.

See how different students interpret the same story, Participate and engage in
and let them see and value those differences collaborative discussions about grade
level texts and topics
Help students make connections to curriculum

topics, their own lives, the world, other texts
(NYS) Responding to Literature 11.
See if students relate ideas in the story to other Recognize and make connections
topics they have learned in class from literature to other texts, ideas,
and cultural perspectives
Help students prepare for things that they have
not experienced themselves
Self-selecting texts based on personal

See if students enjoyed the stories
preferences
Teachers’ Purposes and Links to Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts &
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS; National Governors
Association & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) and the NYS P-12 Common Core
Learning Standards (NYS Department of Education, 2011).
Table 1. Literature Response Activities Purposes and Standards
Siegel (2006) explained how translating information from one mode of communication into a
different mode, called transmediation, generates new understandings of the information. Since each
mode has a different potential to communicate, transmediation furthers students’ meaning
making because it requires them to think about content in different ways and is a clear benefit of
arts-based responses. In addition, when teachers generated their lists of the purposes for
responding to literature, there
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were a small number they listed that did not match with the standards, including promoting
creativity, allowing students to think out of the box and explore their own thinking, fostering
empathy, and giving students a chance to be actively engaged and gain ownership of learning.
These purposes for literature response were important to teachers with respect to maintaining a
positive and productive learning environment. Arts-based responses offer rich opportunities to fulfill
many purposes such as those included in Table 1, while enhancing understanding of literature and
creating lifelong learners.
The design of arts-based responses goes beyond thinking of a final product such as a cute craft
to send home, to instead, thinking about the activity as part of a process that will allow students
to engage with the content and literature. Because arts-based responses to children’s literature are
central to achieving teachers’ purposes and align with state standards, the final section of this
chapter will feature well- designed arts-based activities that can help students transmediate
between modes and think about making meaning in new ways.
Examples of Arts-Based Responses
The visual and performing arts responses to children’s literature featured in this section are
offered as suggestions and to inspire new ideas. Each book and each class offer unique
opportunities to create and innovate. As you consider the use of arts-based responses in your
own classroom, envision each suggestion taking place with students and teachers exploring and
experiencing the text and the activity together. Students are not professional actors, musicians,
artists, or dancers, and yet they are fully capable of visual and performing arts responses.
Likewise, teachers do not need to be professional artists or dancers either to effectively use
arts-based responses with students. As pointed out by Berghoff (1998), these responses are not
about teaching the disciplines of art or music in the language arts classroom but allowing
learners to use their knowledge from these disciplines to learn in the language arts classroom.
These ways of thinking and expression are familiar to young children, she explains. “From early
childhood on, children make sense of the world through dramatic play, drawing, dancing, singing
and other communicative forms” (p. 521). Teachers can foster an environment where these ways of
thinking continue to be valued as students explore the world in ways that are familiar. Each
example in the following section also includes a link to the standard(s) that the activity
addresses as a reminder that offering arts-based responses accomplishes important curricular
goals.
Music
Music responses explore how all elements of music and audio, including individual sounds, pitch
(high or low), dynamics (loud and soft), rhythm, and tempo (speed) communicate with listeners.
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Sound translation
The text of This Jazz Man by Karen Erhardt (2006) follows the familiar tune of “This Old Man,” but
the verse on each page introduces a different jazz performer. As part of the verse, there is a
string of sound words that helps readers hear the sound of the instrument performed by that
jazz player. There is also an extended sound word phrase incorporated into the illustration. For
this lesson, read through the book as a class read aloud. Then reread the book and invite students
to sing along with the reading using the tune to “This Old Man.” Finally, use materials available in
the classroom to translate the string of sound words back into sound (hands and feet, pencils,
water bottles, books, etc.). Encourage students to be creative as they find materials to make the
sound. Once a sound has been chosen for each song verse, reread and sing the song one more
time. Instead of speaking the sound words, replace them with the chosen sound to translate the
sound words to actual sounds (Robertson, 2008).
Hear your life
What Charlie Heard by Mordicai Gerstein (2002) is a picture book biography of the life of
composer Charles Ives, who is known as a composer whose music was often misunderstood or
regarded as difficult to listen to (recall that this book was discussed previously in reference to
audio modes). Charles Ives heard all the sounds in his life as music, and his compositions are
meant to portray this, however dissonant or cacophonous (i.e., disagreeable; not harmonious) his
compositions ended up being. For example, one of his more famous pieces is a representation of two
different marching bands playing two different pieces in different keys, marching from opposite
directions, crossing in front of the listener, and then moving away. In this picture book
biography, sound words are used as part of the illustrations in different colors and fonts next to
the object, person, or animal from which the sound originates. The pages are full of sounds and
colors, showing the sounds that permeated Charles Ives’ life. First, share the book with
students, guiding them as they interpret the messages communicated through multiple modes.
Then, invite students to write and illustrate a scene from their life using the same style. Figure 2
shows how a class of students represented sounds in an illustration drawn from a personal
memoir writing piece they were working on. In this classroom, when the teacher then asked
students to go back and revise their memoir, the exploration into the sound and visual
representation of their story allowed them to add much more robust sensory detail into their
revisions (Robertson, 2008).
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Figure 2. Student example of the illustration style in What Charlie Heard by Mordicai Gerstein.
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Drama
Drama responses allow students to explore how elements such as body language, posture,
gesture, voice, and inflection contribute to expressing and understanding meaning.
Color and emotions
The following activity allows students to explore the relationship between color and emotions
and involves two children’s literature books: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (1996), and The
Way I Feel by Janan Cain (2000). Both of these books relate emotions and moods to different
colors. Start the lesson by reading each of the books in a large group format. For the remainder
of the lesson, ask students to work within small groups. Provide each group with plenty of
different colored pieces of paper. To start, ask one person in the group to act out an emotion for
the other members, charade style. Other members of the group will then choose a piece of
paper in a color they think represents the acted-out emotion. The group members will then
share the emotion they believed was being acted out, as well as why they chose that particular
color to represent it, and the actor can share if the group members guessed the emotion they
were portraying. Repeat the steps in this activity so that each person in the group has an
opportunity to act out an emotion or mood. Younger children still exploring ways to name their
emotions can use this activity to further develop their understanding of emotions. Older children
working on incorporating more descriptive words and explaining and portraying emotions in their
writing can use this activity to add further dimensions to how they and others think about
emotions and moods. This activity can be especially enlightening, since students may realize that
though they think they are showing one emotion, others may perceive it differently.
Sound and action story
The following activity invites students to think about the attributes of specific characters in a text.
The idea was adapted from a suggestion by Gelineau (2012) to create “original sound stories”
by determining sounds to match well-defined characters (p. 67). The following activity extends that
idea by asking students to create a sound as well as an action for each character in a book.
While this activity could be applied to many different texts, The boy who cried ninja by Alex
Latimer (2011) is offered as a suggestion to learn how the process works. The book has a wide
variety of diverse characters, including a Mom, Dad, Grampa, ninja, astronaut, giant squid, pirate,
crocodile and monkey. First, read the book, The boy who cried ninja, aloud. Then, break the class
into small groups and have the students decide on a sound and an accompanying action for each
character. Each group will then practice reading through the book: every time a character is
mentioned (or shown in a picture) they perform the action and make the sound for that
character. After each group practices, they will perform their action and sound stories for the
class while the teacher reads the story aloud. The process of selecting a sound and action that
matches a character will deepen discussion of the characters, and performing the story for the
class will extend that discussion to the larger group. For older students, this is a good book to
introduce this activity, but then the process can be applied to books where the characters have
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more development.
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Dance and movement
Dance and movement responses explore how both dance or body movement can express messages
and communicate with others.
Walk like a/an…
Every time students need to move around the room, make the most of these transitions by
turning them into a response activity focusing on dance and movement. For example, as
students move to get in line or to shift activities in the room, connect to a character in a class
read-aloud by asking students to move as if they are feeling one or more of the emotions that
character had experienced. This will help students identify with and understand the actions of
the characters.
Find your style (dance and music response)
Often in children’s literature, common themes or storylines are repeated. Start this lesson by
creating a story map (WETA Public Broadcasting, 2015)—a graphic organizer that outlines the
elements of story, such as setting, characters, plots and events, problems and solutions—for the
following three stories:
1) The Twelve Dancing Princesses, a classic fairy tale with many adaptations (though the
illustrations in Marianna Mayer’s *1989+ and Ruth Sanderson’s *1990+ versions are particularly
beautiful), 2) The Barn Dance by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault (1986), and 3) Brothers of the
Knight by Debbie Allen (2001). Each book follows a similar story line but has its own style, tone,
and setting. Ask students to explore the illustrations, the language use, and the design of the
books as they compare and contrast the three stories. Add a further dimension to the stories by
pairing them with musical samples representing the three styles displayed in the books (a classical
piece, such as Bach’s “Minuet in G”; an American folk song, such as “Turkey in the Straw”; and a
current, popular, hip hop selection.) With music selected, let students dance to the styles in the
books. Discuss or find examples of costumes, props, or musical instruments to explore the
elements of tone, style and setting in each story. The decision making process as students choose
the music, instruments, or dance moves that connect with the different styles represented in the
books actively engages students in the process of transmediation, described earlier as a process of
translating information from one mode to another and thus creating new understandings.
Visual art
Visual arts responses explore how color, lines, shapes, drawing, painting, and all other
elements of art communicate messages to the viewer.
Make a match
Illustrators are artists, and their work is based on traditions and styles in art. Share illustrations
from a children’s picture book and compare them to a matching art style. For example, pair the
illustrations in Marianna Mayer’s (1989) Twelve Dancing Princesses with Jean-Honore’ Fragonard’s The
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Swing (students may also be very excited to recognize this particular painting from Disney’s Frozen).
Compare Picasso’s cubism artwork with the illustrations in D. B. Johnson’s (2002) Henry Builds a
Cabin or the work of children’s book author David Wiesner with surrealism works of Salvador Dali or
Vladimir Kush. Extend the activity by asking students go on an “art hunt” and make matches
between picture book illustrations and pieces of artwork. For a challenge, ask students to create
their own illustrations. Though some of the styles may seem detailed and difficult for children to
replicate, they may still choose one of the harder styles to explore the process. Or suggest they
work with an easier style, such as naïve artwork, characterized by a childlike nature and
represented in picture books such as The Bookshop Dog by Cynthia Rylant (1996) or Joseph Had a
Little Overcoat by Simms Taback (1999). Students can create illustrations to go with a story they
are writing or related to an event in their life. After matching art and illustrations or illustrating
using a certain style, have a discussion with students about why a style might be used with a
certain book. Did the style help tell the story or set the mood? When they used the style
themselves, how did it affect the overall message they were communicating?
Pinhole view
Illustrators are becoming much more innovative in the creation of wordless picture books. The
wordless picture book Flashlight by Lizi Boyd (2014) offers many opportunities for discovery. The
illustrations show the character exiting a tent in the woods at night. Most of the page is black
with grey line drawings to show the dim background. The character is holding a flashlight and
there is a bright spot of the illustration on each page in the path of the flashlight. Small holes are
cut out of each page giving a glimpse of what is to come or perhaps something missed on the
page before, further drawing visual attention to details in the book. Since exploring dark spaces
may not be conducive to a classroom or school environment, teachers can extend the reading of
this book by using the idea of the cut outs. Have students view the classroom, other areas in the
school, or outdoor areas of the school grounds through a hole cut in a piece of paper. Have
them sketch the new things to which this pinhole view of the world drew their attention. What do
they see differently with different shaped holes? Do they see things they did not notice without
the pinhole view? This artistic response helps students understand the effect and theme of the
book and also helps give them a different perspective on their environment.
CLOSURE ACTIVTIES
Summary
This chapter began by establishing the historical, social, and political influences on children’s
literature beginning in the 17th century and leading to contemporary influences, including digital
and technological advances, postmodernism, and the prevalence of multiple modes of
communicating. The discussion then turned to how teachers can utilize multimodal texts in
classrooms to teach the skills outlined in state standards and aligned with teachers’ purposes. Arts-
based responses using traditional and multimodal texts were described as a way for teachers to
support all students to fulfill purposes for responding to literature, including those that may not
have direct correlations to the standards but are still necessary for establishing a positive
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classroom learning environment. Examples of drama, music, dance and movement, and visual arts
response activities were presented to specifically show how contemporary literature, including
multimodal literature, can be used in classroom settings. Teachers
are encouraged to explore multimodal children’s literature and design meaningful arts-based response
activities that will enhance the learning of every child in their classroom.
SYNTHESIS / GENERALIZATION
We study literature because it is filled with ideas that needed to be explore and
literature helps us to see the new ways. It brings us to a deeper understanding of life.
How does children’s literature started? Before the 17th century, children were seen as
small adults; however, during the Enlightenment and Romantic periods, childhood was
viewed as a time of innocence that was distinct from adolescence (young adulthood) and
adulthood (Avery & Kinnell, 1995). These changes in viewpoints created a new market for
the writing and publishing of books specifically for children, who were seen as innocent
and playful beings rather than mini-adults. During the 18th century, John Newbery, a
writer of children’s books, greatly influenced children’s literature by starting the first
publishing house dedicated to children’s stories. He published his own stories, as well as
the works of other children’s book authors (Gangi, 2004). The idea of a publishing house
just for children’s stories reflected a shift in how society thought of children. During the
19th century, greater numbers of books were written for children’s play and enjoyment,
including the first picture book, which was written by Randolph Caldecott.
.
Recent decades have brought additional changes in the publishing of children’s literature.
The market for children’s literature has been influenced by demand from parents,
children with increased buying power, and a proliferation of serial writing to boost sales.
In addition, there have been changes in the content of children’s books related to
gender, diversity, and social class (Ching, 2005; Englehardt, 1991; Gangi, 2004; Hunt,
1995; Larrick, 1965; Taxel, 1997; Zipes, 2001). While each of these areas is a worthwhile
topic of study on its own, this chapter does not focus on them beyond recognizing their
influence overall.
While the impact on children’s literature due to cultural influences has been apparent
throughout the decades, current trends center mostly on digital and technological advances in
our society. Technological advances have exerted huge effects on printing and
publishing capabilities. Beyond printing capabilities, authors and illustrators are writing to
maintain the attention of children accustomed to the fast-paced sensory input of digital
resources, such as computer and video games, smartphones, and tablet apps.
Publishing companies have attempted to produce print texts that mimic or resemble
digital texts in wording, style, type of images, or format. Some print texts even borrow
concepts about page design from digital texts. Exposure to digital and technological
resources and global access to information have changed the boundaries, topics, and
perspectives represented in books for children (Dresang, 1999, 2003). These changes in
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print texts include the use of non-linear plots that are organized not by a typical
beginning, middle, and end, but tell the story out of order and/or lead readers in multiple
directions through the text (e.g., The End, by David LaRochelle, 2007).
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EVALUATION
Questions and Activities
1. Find a book (maybe one you read as a child) that represents the time or place in history in
which it was written. Find a contemporary book which represents the current time and
place in history. Imagine you are looking at either book as an outsider to that time and
place. What social, cultural, or political messages, either purposeful or inadvertent, are
reflected in that piece of literature?
2. Browse the children’s books at the local library or on-line library and critically analyze the
messages to find books that represent a new perspective or voice that is not usually
heard, such as a story told from the perspective of a character from a diverse population
or a unique representation of gender roles. What social, cultural, or political messages are
reflected in that piece of literature?
3. Select texts and create arts-based response activities in each area (drama, music, dance,
and visual art) designed to enhance understanding of the texts. Share your idea with two
other classmates and determine the state standards that connect to the arts-based response
activities each person designed.
Post test
Enumerate the items asks in each questions.
1. List down key theme and concerns of children’s
literature. a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What are the characteristics of patterns in children’s

literature. f.
g.
h.
3. Give examples of arts-based responses to children’s
literature i.
j.
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ASSIGNMENT / AGREEMENT
Do the following task to be written or printed on a clean sheet of paper.

1. Write a short essay on why the teaching of children’s literature is important.
2. Write about your favorite children’s literature.
REFERENCES
Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2006). Teaching and learning multiliteracies: Changing times, changing
literacies. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, Inc. and the Australian Literacy Educators’
Association.
Avery, G., & Kinnell, M. (1995). Morality and levity (1780-1820). In P. Hunt (Ed.), Children’s
literature: An illustrated history (pp. 46-76). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Berghoff, B. (1998). Inquiry about learning and learners: Multiple sign systems and reading. The
Reading Teacher, 51, 520-523.
Ching, S. H. D. (2005). Multicultural children’s literature as an instrument of power. Language

Arts, 83(2), 128-136.
Dresang, E. (1999). Radical change: Books for youth in a digital age. New York, NY: H.W. Wilson
Company.
Dresang, E. (2003). Controversial books and contemporary children. Journal of Children’s

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Literature, 29(1), 20-31.
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Eisner, E. (1991). Rethinking literacy. Educational Horizons, 69, 120-128.
Engelhardt, T. (1991, June). Reading may be harmful to your kids: In the nadirland of today’s
children’s books. Harper’s Magazine, 282, 55-62.
Gangi, J. M. (2004). Encountering children’s literature: An arts approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Gelineau, R. P. (2012). Integrating the arts across the elementary school curriculum. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Hunt, P. (Ed.). (1995). Children’s literature: An illustrated history. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Kress, G. (2000). Multimodality. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning
and the design of social futures (pp. 182-202). New York, NY: Routledge.
Kress, G., & Jewitt, C. (Eds.). (2003). Multimodal literacy. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary
curriculum. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Larrick, N. (1965, September 11). The all-white world of children’s books. Saturday Review, 63-65, 84-
85. Lemke, J. L. (1990). Talking science. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School
Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Washington, DC: Author.
Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard
Educational Review, 66, 60–92. Retrieved
from http://vassarliteracy.pbworks.com/f/Pedagogy+of+Multiliteracies_New+London+Group.pdf
New York State Department of Education (2011). New York State P-12 Common core
learning standards for English language arts and literacy. Retrieved
from http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/p12_common_core_learnin
g_standards_ela.pdf
Pantaleo, S. (2004). The long, long way: Young children explore the fabula and syuzhet
of Shortcut. Children’s Literature in Education, 35, 1-19. doi:10.1023/B:CLID.0000018897.74948.2a
Robertson, J. M. (2008) Fourth- and fifth-grade classroom case study of response to multimodal
representations in children’s picture books. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Syracuse
University, Syracuse, New York.
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Serafini, F. (2005). Voices in the park, voices in the classroom: Readers responding to
postmodern picture books. Reading Research and Instruction, 44(3), 47-64.
doi:10.1080/19388070509558431
Siegel, M. (2006). Rereading the signs: Multimodal transformations in the field of literacy
education. Language Arts, 84, 65-77.
Taxel, J. (1997). Multicultural literature and politics of reaction. Teacher’s College Record, 98, 417-448.
Wertheim, M. (n.d.). Faith and reason: Postmodernism. Retrieved

from http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html
WETA Public Broadcasting (2015). Story maps. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/
Zipes, J. (2001). Sticks and stones: The troublesome success of children’s literature from Slovenly Peter
to Harry Potter. New York, NY: Routledge.
Children’s Literature References
Allen, D. (2001). Brothers of the knight. New York, NY: Puffin.
Boyd, L. (2014). Flashlight. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, LLC.
Brown, M. W. (2006). Goodnight moon. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s
Books. Brown, M. W. (2006). Runaway bunny. New York, NY: HarperCollins
Children’s Books. Brown, M.W. (1993). The little island. New York, NY: Dragonfly
Books.
Cain, J. (2000). The way I feel. Seattle, WA: Parenting Press.
Dr. Seuss (1996). My many colored days. New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Erhardt, K. (2006). This jazzman. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc.
Gallaz, C., & Arisman, M. (2003). The wolf who loved music. Mankato, MN: Creative
Editions. Gerstein, M. (2002). What Charlie heard. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux.
Johnson, D. B. (2002). Henry builds a cabin. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Ladia, M. A. P. (2010). Rediscovering Children’s Literature,
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CHAPTER 2
Elements of Quality Children’s Literature
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

PRE-TEST
Answer the following items by selecting the correct answer to each question.
1. It is defined as writings that have excellence of form or expression, which express ideas
of a permanent or universal interest.
2. The figure who opposes the protagonist and creates the conflict.
3. The figure whose personality traits are the opposite of main characters.
4. They have more fully developed personalities.
5. Refers to the time, the geographical location, and the general environment and
circumstances that prevail in a narrative.
6. Setting is fully described in both time and place, usually found in historical fiction.
7. Setting is vague and general, which helps to convey a universal, timeless tale.
8. A series of interconnected events in which every occurrence has a specific purpose.
9. It is the main, underlying idea of a piece of literature.
10. It refers to the author’s mood and manner of expression in a work of literature.
Tone Theme Back drop

setting
Plot Round character Foil character
Setting Integral setting Antagonist
Protagonist
Definition of Literature
Literature is defined as writings that have excellence of form or expression, which express
ideas of a permanent or universal interest. Literature is not written to give the reader facts. It is
not a report but an opportunity for social practice (Jones). It enables the reader to examine
thought and action compassionately. The reader can identify with a character and his story
allowing him to see life through the eyes of the character, and share the author’s insight (Reed).
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The ultimate goal of literature is to understand others and ourselves. It provides the reader with
clues to life itself. The speaker is the author in disguise controlling what he wants the reader to
see and when and how he wants the reader to see it. It is the job of the reader to ask why. This
is part of the practice of living – seeing whether others notice what another notices and can
make the same interpretations while reaching the same conclusions. Literature offers this
practice in understanding and provides a better opportunity in living (Reed).
We generally refer to the things that make up a work of literature, its component parts, as
elements. This list contains such things as
 Plot
 Character
 Setting
 Theme
 Point of view
To be a critic of literature, that is to be one who talks about what literature does and means, we
need a common vocabulary. For this reason, we study a list of literary terms.
Literary Genre
A genre is a type. The basic types of literature are fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. But
within those there are sub-types:
Fiction: novel, short story
Nonfiction: essay, editorial, news story, feature story,
Poetry: verse, narrative poetry, epic poetry, free verse, and many more
Drama: classical, tragedy, comedy
In addition to the genre above, we will consider anything written and published to be
literature. So a web page is literature. A VCR manual is literature. An ad in a magazine is a
type of literature.
Writing has various purposes. Four main purpose of writing are to

 Inform
 Persuade
 Entertain
 Describe
These purposes are generally integrated. In other words, a short story can achieve all four purposes.
In fact, it may be a poor short story if it doesn’t. A VCR manual is not as extensive in its purpose.
A VCR manual is there to inform, to tell the VCR user how to operate the machine. It may also
describe some aspects of the machine or operation, but probably doesn’t persuade, and most likely
doesn’t entertain. But fiction, drama, and poetry can do much more than what’s listed above.
When it’s really good, literature can teach us what it means to be human, to show us where we
belong in our time and in all time. It can show us how to live rightly and love well, and it can show
us how to be the best we can be. We learn form stories. Early religions used stories to teach their
truths and laws. Think of the parables in the Bible. These are stories to teach people about
Christianity. Ancient peoples used stories or myths to try to explain the mysteries of nature and
even to define their own origin and afterlife.
Today, our parents read us stories when we are children. These stories are primarily used to
teach us about life and the world around us, to help us understand our mentioned and to
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know about human relationships.
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When we begin to choose our own stories, we often choose types of stories that appeal to our
preferences and interests. Some of us like mystery stories or horror stories, while others like sports
or animal stories, and still others like stories about people and families. There are many
choices for us. In school, teachers want us to read books that are important to our
understanding of culture and history. Stories that are common to a group of people help unite
them. For example, most people will
have read Romeo and Juliet by the time they are adults. When references are made to that play,
people who have read it is connected in the group who “get it,” while those who haven’t are on
the outside.
Common stories are one way that people in a society are bonded together. There are certain books
that are considered historically, socially or culturally important.
Teachers also want us to read books that stretch our minds and get us to think about
important or interesting ideas.
Teachers also want us to read because they know that reading helps in many ways:
 We learn new words when we read
 We become better writers
 We learn more about the world
 We learn more about ourselves
Whatever genre of literature we choose to enjoy on our own, it’s important to choose something
and to continue to read long after we’ve left school. It’s one of the best ways there is to continue
to expand our minds.
A definition of Children’s Literature

“Literature is the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of
language.” The province of literature is the human condition, life with all its feelings,
thoughts and insights.
Characteristics of Children’s Literature as Genre

From Perry Nodelman, the Pleasures of Children’s Literature, 1st ed. Longman, 1992
1. It is simple and straightforward.
This does not mean that vocabulary needs to be overly simplistic or that style should be
choppy or flat(as too many books for children)
2. Focuses on action.
Subtle psychological event are often implied through narration and comment on actions.
3. Is about childhood.
4. Expresses a child’s point of view
5. It optimistic.
“Hope is a vital dimension of a children’s book.” (Sarah Smedman)
6. Tends toward fantasy.
Fantasy often implies a symbolic defiance of our knowledge or reality, and represents the
potential that lies below the surface in each of us.
7. Is a form of pastoral idyll.
The pastoral idyll celebrate the joys and innocence of rural life, close to nature
and in the company of friends.
8. Views an un-idyllic world for the view point of innocence.
More complex and interesting books reflect ambivalence about desire to have the comforts
of home and the exciting dangers of adventure, desire to be innocent and experiences,
desire to grow up but not grow up, etc.
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9. Is didactic.
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Traditionally, children’s literature has been as attempting to educate children. A universal
theme is teaching children that despite its boredom, home are better place to be than the
dangerous world outside.
10. Tends to be repetitious.
Repeating task is a basic method of
education. Repetition is a common trait of
oral literature.
Repetitions with variations o words, phrases, situations, and narrative patterns are common in
children’s literature.
11. Tends to balance the idyllic and the didactic.
Some books are almost completely didactic (teaching them how to become like mature adults and
deal with the adult world) or idyllic (reflecting a desire to retain the innocence of childhood), but
most books combine the two approaches, and deal with opposing ideas, such as home vs. away,
communal concern vs. self-concern, good vs. evil.
THE ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

Characters
1. Types of Characters:
 Protagonist (hero): the central figure with whom we usually sympathize or identify.
 Antagonist (villain): the figure who opposes the protagonist and creates the conflict.
 Foil Character: the figure whose personality traits are the opposite of main characters.
This is supporting character and usually made to shine the protagonist.
2. The ways characters are portrayed:
 Flat characters (stock, static characters or stereotypes): they have no depth and no
change; we only see one side or aspect of them. Most supporting characters are
portrayed in this way, for example, a strict teacher, a helpful policeman, and an evil
stepmother.
 Round character (dynamic character): they have more fully developed personalities.
We expect the protagonist and antagonist to be rounded individuals who express a
range of emotion and change throughout the narrative, usually toward greater
maturity.
3. The ways characters are revealed:
 What the narrator says about the character.
 What the other character say about the character
 What the character says about himself or herself
 What the character actually does
Setting
The setting refers to the time, the geographical location, and the general environment and
circumstances that prevail in a narrative. The setting helps to establish the mood of a
story. Two types of setting
1. Integral setting: the setting is fully described in both time and place, usually found in historical
fiction.
2. Backdrop setting: the setting is vague and general, which helps to convey a universal,
timeless tale. This type of setting is often found in folktales and simply sets the stage
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and the mood.
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For example, “long ago in a cottage in the deep woods” and “once upon a time there
was a great land that had an Emperor.”
Narrative Point of View

 Internal narrator: (first person narrator: the narrator uses “I” to refer to himself/herself:
the narrator is a character in the story, but not necessarily, the protagonist. This
narrative point of view allows for a very personal touch in the story telling.
 Omniscient narrator (multiple points of view: the narrator is “all-knowing”) the narrator is
not a character in the story but knows everything about the story. The omniscient
narrator can show the thoughts and experiences of any character in the story. It permits
the writer the broadest scope.
 Limited narrator (external subjective narrator; the 3rd person point of view): the narrator
is not a character in the story but look at things only through the eyes of a single
character. This type of narrative permits the narrator to quickly build a close bond
between the protagonist and the reader, without being confined by the protagonist’s
educational or language restrictions.
Plot
The plot of a story is a series of interconnected events in which every occurrence has a specific
purpose. A plot is all about establishing connections, suggesting causes, and showing
relationships.
Four type of plot structure:
 A dramatic or progressive plot: this is a chronological structure which first establishes the
setting and conflict, then follows the rising action through to a climax (the peak of the
action and turning point), and concludes with a denouement (a wrapping up of loose
ends).
climax
rising action denouement
setting conflict end
 An episodic plot: this is also a chronological structure, but it consists of a series of loosely
related incidents, usually of chapter length, tied together by a common theme and/or characters.
Episodic plots works best when the writer wishes to explore the personalities of the
characters, the nature of their existence, and the flavor of an era.
Climax 1 Climax 2 Climax 3

rising rising action etc.
rising
action action
ending 1 ending 2 ending 3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
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 A parallel plot: the writer weaves two or more dramatic plots that are usually linked by a
common character and a similar theme.
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 A flashback: this structure conveys information about events that occurred earlier. It permits
authors to begin the story in the midst of the action but later fill in the background for full
understanding of the present events. Flashbacks can occur more than once and in different
parts of a story.
climax
end
exposition
conflict
Chapter 1
Apr.
Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter Chapter 5 etc. Chapter 12 Dec. Dec.
4 May. Nov. 2019 2020 2019
2019 2019
Jan. 2019 Feb. 2019 Mar.
2019
Conflict
1. Common types of conflicts:
 The protagonist against another
 The protagonist against society
 The protagonist against nature
 The protagonist against self
2. A single story may contain more than one type of conflict, although one often
predominates. The conflict provides the excitement and makes possible the growth and
development of the protagonist’s character.
Theme
1. The theme is the main, underlying idea of a piece of literature. It is woven subtly into
the fabric of the story rather than being lectured or preached by the author.
2. Among the frequently found thematic issues in children’s literature are the problems of
growing un and maturing, such as adjustment to society, love and friendship, achieving
one’s identity, and finding one’s place in the world.
Style
1. Word choice
2. Sentence length and construction
 Short sentences best convey suspense, tension, and swift action.
 Longer sentences work best when explanations and descriptions are needed.
 Prose has rhythm just as poetry does. Its rhythm can produced by the
juxtapositions of sounds, the use of repetition with a slight variation of patterns,
and the varied length of sentences.
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3. Exposition: the narrator’s passages that provide background information and/or
introduce characters to help readers understand the events of a story. Children prefer a
balance between exposition and dialogue.
4. Dialogue: the words spoken by the characters, usually to each other, not to the reader.
Children especially enjoy dialogue as a realistic and convincing way of defining
character.
Tone
Tone refers to the author’s mood and manner of expression in a work of literature. The tone
can be serious, didactic, humorous, satirical, caustic/sarcastic, passionate, sensitive,
sentimental, zealous, indifferent, poignant, warm, agitate and so on.
Humor:
Incongruity is the foundation of humor. We laugh at the tension resulting from something out
of the ordinary. Humor is elusive. Humor tends to be age specific. Humor can be either
sympathetic or genitive. One prerequisite is that the victim must seem to deserve the fate or
the harm must not be critical.
Ten types of humor most common in children’s books (Kappas, 1967):
 Exaggeration
 Incongruity
 Surprise
 Slapstick
 Absurdity
 Situational humor
 Ridicule/satire
 Defiance
 Violence
 Verbal humor: word play, name-calling, jokes and puns, malapropisms (the unintentional
misuse of language), or the misinterpretation of language.
Parody:
A parody is a literary imitation of another piece of literature, usually using exaggeration
for comic purpose.
A parody implies a degree of sophistication that deconstructs the original story and depicts the
characters from a different perspective.
Parodies can demonstrate the vitality of literature and can suggest new ways of interpreting old tales.
Condescending tones:
Condescending tones are inappropriate for children’s stories, placing the adult narrator in a superior
position.
For examples, a moralizing, didactic, sentimental, or cynical tone is not appreciated in children’s
literature nowadays.
CLOSURE ACTIVTIES
1. Explain how the different elements of a story contribute to a good story.
2. Discuss the characteristics of children’s literature by giving illustrations.
3. Present the definition of the children’s literature as well as its elements by way of a
song, a rap or acrostics.
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Literature is defined as writings that have excellence of form or expression, which express ideas of a
permanent or universal interest.
The ultimate goal of literature is to understand others and ourselves. It provides the reader with
clues to life itself.
Elements of literature
We generally refer to the things that make up a work of literature, its component parts, as
elements. Such things as Plot, Character, Setting, Theme and Point of view
A genre is a type. The basic types of literature are fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. But
within those there are sub-types:
Fiction: novel, short story
Nonfiction: essay, editorial, news story, feature story,
Poetry: verse, narrative poetry, epic poetry, free verse, and many more
Drama: classical, tragedy, comedy
In addition to the genre above, we will consider anything written and published to be
literature. So a web page is literature. A VCR manual is literature. An ad in a magazine is a
type of literature.
EVALUATION
POST TEST
Provide the concept/idea or word that being describe:

2. The figure who opposes the protagonist and creates the conflict.
3. The figure whose personality traits are the opposite of main characters.
4. They have more fully developed personalities.
5. Refers to the time, the geographical location, and the general environment and
circumstances that prevail in a narrative.
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6. Setting is vague and general, which helps to convey a universal, timeless tale.
7. A series of interconnected events in which every occurrence has a specific purpose.
8. It is the main, underlying idea of a piece of literature.
10. It is defined as writings that have excellence of form or expression, which express ideas
of a permanent or universal interest.
1. Select one of your favorite story and identify the elements of the story. Use
graphical representation or matrix in presenting your answer.
2. Browse an story from the internet or books and classify them according to their genres.
Provide short preview or summary of the selected story. Use matrix in presenting your
answers.
REFERENCE
Ladia, M.A.P. (2014) Rediscovering Children’s Literature
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CHAPTER 3
The Art of Illustration, Early Childhood Books
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Demonstrate their understanding of the importance of Arts Illustrations in children’s literature
2. Demonstrate their understanding on the impact of picture books to young learners.
3. Discuss the elements, different type and characteristics of picture books
PRE-TEST
Read each item carefully and try to answer or provide the concept or thing being described or asked.
1. It enhances text by providing a visual representation of the subject matter.
2. It provides a children’s visual experience, where the story develops and is supported by
rich illustrations.
3. They enjoy books that have bright colors and big pictures.
4. They begin to see that the print holds meaning and they can quickly become adept at
print concepts such as holding the book properly, turning the pages, and even tracking
the print as they “read.”
5. Children can actively participate in read-alouds by asking and answering questions about
the text and retelling stories.
6. Types of picture books which include board books, pull-tab books, flap books, pop-up
books, cloth books, and plastic books.
7. Types of picture books that foster visual literacy and language development in children.
8. A type of picture book in which a text is absent or minimal, so children can apply
meaning to the story.
9. These are realistic stories that have animal or inanimate objects as the main character.
10. In this genre a fusion of reality and imagination with dreamlike imagery heightens
the experience of the young reader.
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Illustration is one of the most versatile art forms in today’s visual culture. Somehow it has
always crossed boundaries between fine art and drawing into a “grey” area, and has
consistently provoked debate, but how do we comfortably define it?
The “label” illustration/illustrator is ambiguous. The definition of the form is amorphous and
indefinite, constantly challenging notions and perceptions of contemporary image making. Like
photography and printmaking, illustration has often been questioned by its intent — if it’s
commercial, is it art? The answer to that is obvious; some of today’s greatest artworks have
been commissioned, for example, Angel of the North by Antony Gormley or Marc Quinn’s
sculpture of Alison Lapper and Mario Testino’s flawless images of Kate Moss.
As a genre, illustration has been born out of many things, grown broader in its context through
new media and technology, and this has signified that illustration now shares a valid platform
with fine art. Today’s illustrators go beyond caricature and visual representation to observational
statements about current trends and popular culture. Contemporary illustration is a new
movement with illustrators drawing influences from graffiti, fashion, computer games and animation.
There are fewer boundaries and more friction.
T H E A R T O F I L L U ST R A T I O N
Not very long ago an artist who was an illustrator wasn't taken very seriously by the pundits of
fine art. Those days, thankfully, are gone. It is hard to believe, looking at the illustration above,
that N.C. Wyeth struggled for artistic recognition beyond the well known pages of children
literature. "-despite worldwide acclaim, he judged himself a failure, believing that illustration was
of no importance." Illustration enhances text by providing a visual representation of the subject
matter. The illustration may be intended to simplify complicated concepts or objects that are
difficult to describe textually.
The Way Things Work is one of our all-time favorite books for kids and adults. Here we can take
apart and put together the complicated ideas of machinery and systems. David Macaulay gives
diagrams a whole new life in his many books.
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Our first interaction to Illustration is often in children's literature and "picture books". What is your
favorite children's book illustrator? Here is a sample.
Some places to see original illustrations are:

Brandywine Museum in Chads Ford, PA
National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, RI
Society of Illustrators in New York City.
Of course, illustration is not only inside of books but book covers, posters, zines, and websites.
The New Yorker Magazine is the archetype of illustration as commentary on events of the day.
Many artists have often worked as professional illustrators in order to support their careers as
artists. And, many such artists have incorporated the techniques of illustration into their artistic
practices, or even—and this is more common during the second half of the 20th century—had
their illustration considered fine art and exhibited within fine art institutions. Recent examples
include the work of R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Saul Steinberg. One of the 20th century's
most famous artists, Andy
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Warhol, began his career as a relatively successful fashion illustrator before
developing the artistic practice he has become known for.
Picture Books throughout Early Childhood
Picture books provide children a visual experience, where the story develops
and is supported by rich illustrations. They are a wonderful tool to generate
excitement about books and reading and to provide the opportunities for
discussions about the story and the illustrations. The evidence is strong in
showing that rich language and literacy experiences early on are related to
later
learning. Reading (and re-reading) picture books contribute to these important early experiences.
Infants
Infants and toddlers enjoy books that have bright colors and big pictures. Consider offering
sturdy books that can be handled by their small hands, but don’t make other books off-limits.
Even young toddlers can learn proper book handling and caring for books. Include books that
encourage active participation from the young child such as “touch and feel” books and lift-the-
flap books. Be sure to read books with large pictures to talk about and books that have rhyming
and repetition. Make the experience warm and inviting by holding the child on your lap and
looking at the book together. Allow the child to handle the book and to help turn pages. Be
comfortable in re-reading books and also in veering from the printed words. Engage in
conversation about the book by telling the child more about the pictures or elaborating on the
printed words. Youngsters will come to learn that reading is a pleasurable experience and that
books are just as interesting as toys. Therefore, be sure to have a multitude of books available
for them to explore independently as well.
Preschoolers
Preschoolers actively construct literacy knowledge through texts such as picture books. They begin
to see that the print holds meaning and they can quickly become adept at print concepts such
as holding the book properly, turning the pages, and even tracking the print as they “read.”
Children this age can also begin to engage in meaningful conversations about picture books. For
instance, children can make personal connections to a story or talk about their favorite part and
why they like or don’t like a particular story or character.
Kindergarten and Grade 1

Reading picture books aloud at this age offers children the opportunity to enjoy literature and
see value and beauty in reading. Children can actively participate in read-alouds by asking and
answering questions about the text and retelling stories. Comparing and contrasting stories is
also a great use of picture books at this age level. Children can make connections between
similar stories, similar characters, and similar genres or authors. Additionally, picture books can
be used as models for generating writing from young children, such as texts with a pattern or a
cumulative storyline.
Grades 2 and 3
Picture books offer a great opportunity for close reading. This is where the text is read and re-
read several times to consider the author’s purpose, the structure, and the flow of the text.
Reading picture books aloud can provide the modeling and scaffolding of this close reading.
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Children can recount the stories to determine their central message, lesson, or moral. Picture
books can be used to study
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characters, and how their motivations and feelings contribute to the story. They also provide
shorter text to practice comparing and contrasting themes, plots, and characters across stories.
Beyond Grade 3
Sometimes we think that as children get older and begin reading on their own that there is little
reason to read pictures books with them. Not so. Beyond the early years, picture books are
great vehicles to teach literary elements. Literary devices such as imagery, voice, theme, satire, and
personification can be identified and discussed using carefully selected picture books. These can
be valuable understandings for older children to then apply to reading chapter books, and also
to apply to their own narrative writing.
– Shannon Riley-Ayers, Assistant Research Professor, NIEER
What is Picture Book?
A universal definition of a picture book is hard to pin down, but one thing experts agree on is
that the interplay of narrative and illustration is fundamental to the book as a whole. Picture
books, picture storybooks, and illustrated books are similar in that illustrations play an integral
role in each format. These terms are often used interchangeably. The difference between the
three is the degree to which illustrations play a role.
In a picture storybook, the pictures merely complement the story, often mirroring the plot.
In an illustrated book is a fusion of words and pictures. Outstanding picture books seamlessly meld
both components together, forming a rich and rewarding reading experience. While the
illustrations are the core of the book, the text is still essential. After all, it inspired the pictures.
“A picture book for children as distinguished from other books with illustrations is one that
essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of
story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is
comprised.”
Elements of a Picture Book
Picture books are a format(form/design) and no a genre(content), though many people sometimes
use the term “genre” to describe picture books as a whole. Picturing books does not refer to
picture books as a genre because it is the format that is the physical aspects, of picture books
that make them distinct within the field of children’s literature.
 32 pages is standard (though titles can be 24-48 pages)

 Illustrations dominate text
 Illustrations integrate with the narrative to bring story to a satisfying conclusion.
 Word count is generally less than 500 words. Although picture books can have over 2000
words or have none at all, as is the case with wordless picture books.
Types of Picture Books
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1. TOY BOOKS include board books, pull-tab books, flap books, pop-up books, cloth books,
and plastic books (bathtub books). Took books can be simple or very complex. They are a
wonderful introduction to children’s literature…and quite fun to incorporate into story time.
2. CONCEPT BOOKS foster visual literacy and language development in children. Concept
books introduce children to shapes, colors, the alphabet, counting, and more difficult
concepts, such as principles of grammar and time.
3. ALPHABET BOOKS introduce children to the ABCs and COUNTING BOOKS introduce
numbers and counting.
4. WORDLESS BOOKS are excellent tools to help children develop language and narrative
skills. In wordless books text is absent or minimal, so children apply meaning to the
story. The marvel of wordless/nearly wordless books offer is the opportunity to retell the
story over and over.
Genre of Picture Books
Genre is a term used in literature to designate a type-for example: mystery, adventure,

romance, science fiction, history, traditional literature, informational, and anthropomorphic
(animal) stories. Unlike novels, pictures books have fewer genres. While they exist, it is difficult to
find mystery or science fiction picture books.
The principal genres for most picture books are:
1. ANTHROPOMORPHIC (ANIMAL) STORIES are realistic stories that have animal or inanimate
objects as the main character. Animals/objects talk, walk, dress, and otherwise behave
like humans. There is usually little or no magic because the animals or objects have
human characteristics that render them capable of extraordinary feats. Settings can be
imaginary or contemporary.
2. REALISTIC STORIES feature sympathetic characters that children identify and empathize
with. For the last two decades or so authors have explored timely somber topics in
picture books, such as cancer, death, homosexuality, adoption and AIDS—to name a few.
Realistic books can have a contemporary or historical setting.
3. MAGIC REALISM is a fusion of reality and imagination with dreamlike imagery that
heightens the experience. Ordinary activities are infused with a sense of wonder and
promise—anything is possible: a boy can take a purple crayon and create a fabulous
dream world, a board game can come to life, or a boat can transport a frustrated child to
a land where Wild Things rule. These takes can have a contemporary or an imaginary
setting.
4. TRADITIONAL LITERATURE includes tall tales, fairy tales, folktales, trickster tales, myths,
legends, noodlehead tales, jakata tales, beast tales, creation stories, pourqoui tales,
mother goose, and fables. Traditional literature features storytelling patterns rich
language, and elements of fantasy. Traditional literature can be set in both imaginary
and contemporary settings.
5. INFORMATIONAL (nonfiction) picture books are an alternative to encyclopedias and other
reference sources. Illustrations and/or photographs are bright and colorful. Accuracy and
timeliness of titles is important. Look for source notes, bibliographies, indexes, and table
of contents—the mark of exceptional nonfiction. Quality informational books are easy to read
and eliminate threat to young readers.
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Source: Picturing Books: a website about picture books by Denise J. Matulka
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CLOSURE ACTIVTIES
DISCUSSION POINTS: Write your answers on a clean sheet of paper and attach on this page.
1. Why picture books attractive to children? In what way do pictures help in the
understanding of the stories?
2. Create or provide some examples of picture books in class and discuss the elements present
in that picture book.
Illustration enhances text by providing a visual representation of the subject matter. The
illustration may be intended to simplify complicated concepts or objects that are difficult
to describe textually. Picture books, picture storybooks, and illustrated books are similar
in that illustrations play an integral role in each format.
What is a picture book and how it helps the young learners to learn literacy through
literatures. A picture book for children as distinguished from other books with illustrations
is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a
collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures
of which the book is comprised. Picture books are a format(form/design) and no a
genre(content), though many people sometimes use the term “genre” to describe picture
books as a whole. Picturing books does not refer to picture books as a genre because it
is the format that is the physical aspects, of picture books that make them distinct within
the field of children’s literature.
EVALUATION
POST TEST
Read each item carefully and try to answer or provide the concept or thing being described or asked.
1. It enhances text by providing a visual representation of the subject matter.
2. It provides a children’s visual experience, where the story develops and is supported by
rich illustrations.
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4. They begin to see that the print holds meaning and they can quickly become adept at
print concepts such as holding the book properly, turning the pages, and even tracking
the print as they “read.”
5. Children can actively participate in read-alouds by asking and answering questions about
the text and retelling stories.
6. Types of picture books which include board books, pull-tab books, flap books, pop-up
books, cloth books, and plastic books.
7. Types of picture books that foster visual literacy and language development in children.
8. A type of picture book in which a text is absent or minimal, so children can apply
meaning to the story.
9. These are realistic stories that have animal or inanimate objects as the main character.
10. In this genre a fusion of reality and imagination with dreamlike imagery heightens
the experience of the young reader.
Choose a simple story and make a picture book out of it or you could come up with a story of
your own and present it through a picture book, be ready to present it in class.
ATTACH YOUR WORK ON THIS PAGE.
REFERENCES
https://aestheticamagazine.com/defining-the-art-of-illustration/
http://illustrationart.blogspot.com/2011/10/old-question-finally-answered.html
https://newburyportart.squarespace.com/blog/2018/3/7/the-art-of-illustration
http://nieer.org/2013/11/27/picture-books-throughout-early-childhood
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CHAPTER 4
Traditional Literature, Modern Literature, Animal Fantasy, Contemporary Realistic Fiction
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

4. Evaluate and select appropriate literature for children
5. Demonstrate understanding of how significant human experiences are best captured in
various literary forms that inspire humans to bring out the best in them.
PRE-TEST
Read each items carefully and answer the questions or provide information that is ask or being describe,
1. It includes all the myths, legends, epics and folktales passed down by word of mouth
through generations.
2. The characters are mainly gods and goddesses, with occasional mention of humans,
and the setting is high above earth in the home of the gods.
3. These are long stories of human adventure and heroism recounted in many episodes,
often in verse.
4. These are stories based on either real or supposedly real individuals or their marvelous deeds.
5. These are highly exaggerated accounts of the exploits of persons, both real and
imagined, so they may be considered a subcategory of legends, though with much
more recent origin.
6. These are simple stories that incorporate characters (typically animals) whose actions
teach a moral lesson or universal truth.
7. It is any story of the impossible, but it is presented as if they
were possible.
8. They are stories in which animals behave as human beings in that way they
experience emotions, talks, and have the ability to reason.
9. It attempts to portray the world as it is. It contains no fantasy, no supernatural
elements, and it usually depicts ordinary people going about the business of daily living,
with all its joys, sorrow, successes, and failures.
10. The quest may be pursuit for a lofty purpose, such as justice or love, or for a rich reward,
such as a magical power or a hidden treasure.
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"Traditional literature encompasses books rendered from oral tradition--stories that have been passed
down for ages (Kiefer, 2007)--and as a result are commonly shared throughout the world. This
literature includes folktales, myths, fables, and legends."
Barone, D. M. (2011). Children's Literature in the Classroom: Engaging Lifelong Readers. Guilford Press.
"Folktales differ from the stories of today in that folktales are more interested in preserving
tradition rather than creating it. Whereas the modern storyteller values originality of plot, the
folklorist values connecting his audience with past and present culture (Thompson 4). With all due
redundancy, folktales capture tales of the folk. They are living histories of the people of a
particular time and place. They shed light on the values, aspirations, fears and dreams of a
particular culture. They educate, inspire and entertain."
Boyd, D. Using Folktales to Create (Even More) Drama in the Middle School Classroom.
What is folk literature?

 Folk literature includes all the myths, legends, epics and folktales passed down by word of
mouth through generations. The authors of traditional literature are usually unknown or
unidentifiable.
 These stories have endured because they are entertaining, they embody the culture’s belief
system, and they contain fundamental human truths by which people have lived for
centuries. Knowing the characters and situations of folk literature is part of being culturally
literate.
Traditional literature, regardless of its place of origin, seems clearly to have arisen to meet a
variety of human needs:
1. The need to explain the ,mysteries of the natural world
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2. The need to articulate our fears and dreams
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3. The need to impose order on the apparent random, even chaotic, nature of life.
4. The need to entertain ourselves and each other.
 The brevity, immediate action, easily understandable characters, recurring features,

fantastic elements, and happy endings particularly appeal to children between the ages of 3
to 8.
 Traditional literature can help children begin to develop a sense of morality. It helps children
to sort out good and evil in the world and to identify with the good.
Characteristics of Traditional Literature of Folk Literature

Folktales employ certain characteristics or conventions common to virtually all tales. The
most familiar involve the setting, character, plot, theme and conflict, and style.
A. Setting – most folktale settings remove the tale from the real world, taking us to a time
and place where animals talk, witches and wizard roam, and magic spells are
commonplace. The settings are usually unimportant and described and referred to in
vague terms (e.g., “Long ago in a far away land…” and “Once upon a time in a dark
forest…”)
B. Character – the character in folk literature are usually flat, simple and straightforward.
they are typically either completely good or entirely evil and easy to identify. The
characters are usually stereotypical, for example, wicked stepmothers, weak-willed fathers,
jealous siblings, faithful friends.
C. Plot – plots are generally shorter and simpler than in other genres of literature. The
action is concentrated, no lengthy explanations and descriptions. Conflicts are quickly
established and events move swiftly to their conclusion. The action never slows down.
Endings are almost always happy (“They lived happily ever after”)
D. Theme and conflict – theme in folk literature are usually quite simple, but serious and
powerful. Folktale themes espouse the virtues of compassion, generosity, and humility
over the vices of greed, selfishness, and excessive pride.
E. Style – the language is typically economical, with a minimal amount of description and a
heavy reliance on formulaic patterns. e.g., conventional openings and closings. Folktale
often use a technique – stylized intensification, which occurs when, with each repetition,
an element is further exaggerated or intensified. This has the effect of increasing the
drama.
Types of Traditional Literature

1. MYTHS – are stories that recount and explain the origins of the world and the phenomena
of nature. The characters are mainly gods and goddesses, with occasional mention of
humans, and the setting is high above earth in the home of the gods.
2. EPICS – are long stories of human adventure and heroism recounted in many episodes,
often in verse. Epics are grounded in mythology, and their characters can be both
human and divine. However, the hero is always human (e.g., “Iliad”, “Odyssey”,
“Beowulf” and “The Song of Roland”). The setting is earthly but not always realistic.
Online texts:
Bulfinch’s Mythology(by Thomas Bulfinch) – The Age of Fables or Stories of Gods and
Heroes, such as the Golden Fleece, The Adventures of Ulysses, and The Adventures of
Aeneas.
3. LEGENDS – are stories based on either real or supposedly real individuals or their
marvelous deeds. Legendary characters such as King Arthur and Robin Hood are a
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tantalizing mix of realism and fantasy.
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4. TALL TALES – are highly exaggerated accounts of the exploits of persons, both real and
imagined, so they may be considered a subcategory of legends, though with much more
recent origin. Tall tales usually defy logic and are usually without moral lessons.
Online examples:
Legends,
Legends and Sages
American Folklore –
legends
American Folklore – Tall Tales
King Arthur and his Knights
King Arthur for kids (animation)
Animated Tall Tales
5. FABLES – are simple stories that incorporate characters (typically animals) whose actions
teach a moral lesson or universal truth. Often the moral is stated at the end of the story.
Online examples:
The online collection of Aesop’s
Fables Aesop’s Fables at by
Gosh.com
Aesop’s Fables on the Golden Scales
Aesop’s Fables: Traditional and Modern
What Is Modern Literature?
Modern literature is written in the contemporary period. When modern literature began is hard to
define and varies from country to country, but it covers at least the 20th and 21st centuries.
Literature covers all written works including letters and journals, but is best known for novels,
poetry and nonfiction articles as found in magazines and newspapers. It should not be
confused with modernist literature, even though the two groups are contemporary.
PRIMARY WRITERS OF THE MODERN PERIOD
English
German French Russian
Britain United States
poetry Pushkin Wordsworth Whitman
GoetheHugo
Novel Tolstoy Dickens Twain
Romanticism Goethe, Hugo

drama
modernism Ibsen
General Features
From the dawn of civilization up to the modern period (ca. 1800-present), poetry and verse
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drama (as opposed to prose drama) were generally favored as the most profound means of
telling a story.
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Beginning in the nineteenth century, however, drama has been composed chiefly in prose, and
the novel has reigned as the primary literary form.
Modernism ca. 1850-present
The term "modern", in the context of history and art history, has three common meanings. In
discussion of history, it usually means either the period ca. 1500-present (when history is
divided into ancient, medieval, and modern) or the period ca. 1800-present (when the divisions are
ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern). In discussion of art history, it usually means the
period during which "modern art" has been produced: ca. 1850-present.
MODERN LITERATURE
Branch primary authors
prose Flaubert, Tolstoy

realism
drama Ibsen
radicalism
prose Proust, Kafka, Joyce
poetry Baudelaire, Rilke, Eliot
Modern art (aka "modernist art") simply denotes new, non-traditional art. Modern artists, who
deliberately sought to break with traditional styles, innovated a wide range of new aesthetics.
Modern literature can be broadly divided into two approaches, realism and radicalism, both of
which can be traced back to ca. 1850.
Realist literature features realistic characters, settings, and plot, which are described in a
straightforward, detailed manner (just as a work of visual art, in order to be realistic, must be
straightforward and detailed). Events are not idealized, fantastic, or excessively improbable; life
and society are simply presented as they are, positive and negative qualities alike. The founding
of realist literature is generally credited to French author Gustave Flaubert, whose masterpiece
Madame Bovary recounts the anguished boredom of a rural doctor's wife.
Note that the term "realist author" is typically reserved for writers devoted to strict realism, such
as Flaubert (the foremost realist author in French) and Tolstoy (the foremost in Russian). The
literary category of "realism", however, is often stretched to include less severely realistic
authors who nonetheless incorporated much realism into their works. This relaxed definition
would include such authors as Dickens, Twain, and Hugo.
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Realist drama was pioneered by Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, founder and greatest figure of
modernist drama. Indeed, Scandinavia was one of the two leading regions of modern drama,
giving rise to both Ibsen (Norway's foremost author) and August Strindberg (Sweden's foremost
author). The other leading region was Russia, whose most revered dramatist is Anton Chekhov. In his
later works, Ibsen (as well as Strindberg) shifted toward radicalism, making him simultaneously
the foremost pioneer of radical drama.
The primary modernist playwrights in English are George Bernard Shaw (UK) and Eugene O'Neill (US).
Radical literature features a wide range of untraditional techniques, often inspired by movements
in visual art. Impressionist writing, for instance, communicates with fleeting suggestion rather
than clear, direct narrative, while symbolist literature focuses heavily on symbolic images.
Surrealist literature appeals to the subconscious with fantastic, dreamlike qualities, while
expressionist writing brazenly ignores external appearances, instead directly exposing inner,
psychological realities.
Regardless of which "-ist" labels might apply to a particular work, however, all radical literature is
united by the rejection of traditional restrictions (to varying degrees). Rules of spelling and
grammar might be ignored, or conventional linear narrative subverted. In poetry, restrictions of
metre and rhyme are often loosened, and even removed altogether (resulting in free verse). In
drama, conventions are routinely shattered with regard to acting itself and theatre's auxiliary
elements (e.g. staging, lighting, costumes).
One especially popular innovation of radical literature is stream of consciousness, which attempts
to set down the constant flow of thought experienced by the mind. This technique is most
famously employed in the novel Ulysses, masterpiece of Irish author James Joyce, often
considered the greatest of all radical prose writers. The foremost radical prose author in French
is Marcel Proust; in German, Franz Kafka.
In the field of radical poetry, the most renowned author in French is Charles Baudelaire; in
German, Rainer Rilke; in English, Thomas Stearns Eliot.
Throughout the modern age, all artistic barriers (regarding both form and content) were torn
down, ultimately unleashing total aesthetic freedom. Consequently, the art world gradually
ceased to feature overarching aesthetic movements. Today, authors write whatever they please,
in whatever style they please, drawing upon any influences they please (from antiquity to the
twenty-first century); "art history" has thus, in a sense, come to an end.
Romanticism ca. 1750-1900
As described above, the age of modern literature spans ca. 1850-present. Modernism overlaps
with Romanticism, which flourished ca. 1750-1900.
Romanticism denotes unrestrained expression of emotion. Romantic literature features a

number of typical Romantic themes, including the natural world, simple/pastoral life, social
struggle, exotic lands and cultures, magical/supernatural elements, and historical nostalgia. A range
of familiar modern genres initially flourished during the Romantic age, including adventure (from
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Edmond Dantès to Long John Silver), fantasy (from Peter Pan to Dracula), and science fiction
(from Captain Nemo to Frankenstein).
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Another major Romantic genre is the fairytale, which may be defined as "a brief story with
magical elements". While fairytales have flourished (in both oral and written form) in all periods,
they experienced a surge of attention from Romantic authors. The stories composed by these
authors (either by drawing on traditional material or inventing new stories in the traditional spirit)
have become the most widely familiar body of European fairytales.
As noted above, some Romantic collections of fairytales were freshly invented, while others
were new settings of traditional stories. In the latter case, the most popular sources were French
(e.g. Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast) and German (e.g. Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin).
The most influential authors of traditional fairytales are the German Brothers Grimm (Jacob and
Wilhelm), while the foremost author of newly-invented fairytales is Hans Christian Andersen (e.g.
The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling), Denmark's greatest writer.
Drama
Romantic drama thrived chiefly in France and Germany, led

by Hugo and Goethe respectively.4 (Sometimes the supreme position in German drama is
accorded instead to Friedrich Schiller, the most renowned figure in German literature after
Goethe.) The satirical tragedy Ruy Blas (in which a commoner rises to the rank of prime minister)
is often considered Hugo's greatest play, while Goethe's foremost drama is Faust.
Modernist drama, on the other hand, flourished primarily in Scandinavia and Russia. The
founder and leader of modern drama is Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, whose most renowned plays
include A Doll's House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder. (Widespread consensus has not emerged
on a single "greatest" Ibsen play.)
Poetry and Prose
The five leading nations of modern literature (ca. 1800-present) have

been France, Germany, Russia, England, and the United States. (With the decline of overarching
aesthetic trends, however, the presence of such "literary leaders" has dwindled since the late
twentieth century.) The figures who hold the title of "greatest novelist" and/or "greatest poet" for
each nation are nearly all widely agreed-upon; most lived in the nineteenth century.
PRIMARY POETS AND NOVELISTS OF THE MODERN PERIOD
English
German French Russian
Britain United States
poetry Pushkin Wordsworth Whitman
Goethe Hugo
novel Tolstoy Dickens Twain
The principal founder of the Romantic movement (which originated in late eighteenth-century
German literature) was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, generally considered the greatest poet,
novelist, and dramatist in the German language. Goethe's masterpiece is Faust, an adaptation of
the traditional
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legend of a world-weary scholar who trades his soul to the devil for knowledge and power. Faust
is simultaneously considered a drama and an epic poem, as it straddles the two forms. (As an
epic poem, Faust is the only serious modern rival to Milton's Paradise Lost.)5
In France, Romantic literature was led by Victor Hugo, often considered the supreme French
poet and novelist, as well as the greatest French Romantic dramatist. His poetic masterpiece is
the epic La Légende des siècles, which traces the history of humanity from the Garden of Eden
onward. His two most renowned novels are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables.
Romanticism in Russia was led by Alexander Pushkin, widely esteemed the greatest Russian
poet. Pushkin's masterpiece is Eugene Onegin, an epic poem (often described as a "novel in
verse") that recounts the tragic life of a directionless nobleman. The foremost work of Leo
Tolstoy, Russia's leading novelist, is War and Peace, which chronicles the Napoleonic invasion
from the perspective of several Russian families.
Charles Dickens is often singled out as England's greatest novelist. His foremost novels include A
Tale of Two Cities (by some estimates the best-selling novel of all time), Great Expectations, and
David Copperfield. Dickens also penned A Christmas Carol, the world's most famous novella (a
prose story of intermediate length, between a short story and a novel).
The title of "greatest English poet" in the modern period is contended by several Romantic
poets, of which William Wordsworth may be foremost. Some have argued that Wordsworth is the
greatest lyric poet in English, and occupies the third rank of English literature (after
Shakespeare and Milton); at any rate, he was certainly the leading force in establishing the
Romantic movement in England. Wordsworth's outstanding collections are Lyrical Ballads (co-
authored with Coleridge, and considered the founding work of English Romanticism) and Poems in
Two Volumes.6
Mark Twain, often considered the foremost American novelist, is known primarily for The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (his masterpiece). Though
consensus is less strong regarding America's greatest poet, the leading candidate may be Walt
Whitman, whose masterpiece is the massive lyric collection Leaves of Grass.
The Main Characteristics of Modernist Literature
Literature scholars differ over the years that encompass the Modernist period, however most
generally agree that modernist authors published as early as the 1880s and into the mid-1940s.
During this period, society at every level underwent profound changes. War and industrialization
seemed to devalue the individual. Global communication made the world a smaller place. The
pace of change was dizzying. Writers responded to this new world in a variety of ways.
Individualism
In Modernist literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Specifically, modernist
writers were fascinated with how the individual adapted to the changing world. In some cases,
the individual triumphed over obstacles. For the most part, Modernist literature featured
characters who just kept their heads above water. Writers presented the world or society as a
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challenge to the integrity of their
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characters. Ernest Hemingway is especially remembered for vivid characters who accepted
their circumstances at face value and persevered.
Experimentation
Modernist writers broke free of old forms and techniques. Poets abandoned traditional rhyme
schemes and wrote in free verse. Novelists defied all expectations. Writers mixed images from
the past with modern languages and themes, creating a collage of styles. The inner workings of
consciousness were a common subject for modernists. This preoccupation led to a form of
narration called stream of consciousness, where the point of view of the novel meanders in a
pattern resembling human thought. Authors James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, along with poets T.S.
Eliot and Ezra Pound, are well known for their experimental Modernist works.
Absurdity
The carnage of two World Wars profoundly affected writers of the period. Several great English
poets died or were wounded in WWI. At the same time, global capitalism was reorganizing
society at every level. For many writers, the world was becoming a more absurd place every day.
The mysteriousness of life was being lost in the rush of daily life. The senseless violence of WWII
was yet more evidence that humanity had lost its way. Modernist authors depicted this absurdity
in their works. Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," in which a traveling salesman is transformed
into an insect-like creature, is an example of modern absurdism.
Symbolism
The Modernist writers infused objects, people, places and events with significant meanings.
They imagined a reality with multiple layers, many of them hidden or in a sort of code. The idea
of a poem as a riddle to be cracked had its beginnings in the Modernist period. Symbolism was
not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists' particular use of symbols was an innovation.
They left much more to the reader's imagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended
narratives with multiple interpretations. For example, James Joyce's "Ulysses" incorporates
distinctive, open-ended symbols in each chapter.
Formalism
Writers of the Modernist period saw literature more as a craft than a flowering of creativity. They
believed that poems and novels were constructed from smaller parts instead of the organic,
internal process that earlier generations had described. The idea of literature as craft fed the
Modernists' desire for creativity and originality. Modernist poetry often includes foreign languages,
dense vocabulary and invented words. The poet e.e. cummings abandoned all structure and
spread his words all across the page.
4.3 Fantasy/Animal Fantasy
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Fantasy is any story of the impossible, but it is presented as if they were possible. Moreover, the
fantasy element has to be fresh and original. It may include magic, talking animals, time travel, the
supernatural, and adventures in alternative worlds-any feature that is contrary to the laws of
nature as we understand them.
Fantasy is highly imaginative story about characters, places, and events, yet it is believable.
Good fantasy is rooted in reality and in human nature. Modern fantasies often contain truths that
help the reader to understand today’s society, though the events they describe cannot happen
in real life.
“The imaginary world captures us; its underlying reality moves
us.” (Russell, 2009, p. 217)
Characteristics
 Settings transcend to the world of reality.
 Characters are well developed and behave in believable ways.
 Plots are well structured and believable too.
 Themes reflect the same universal ideas present on other forms of children’s literature –
the value of friendship, loyalty, the overcoming of fear, and respect for others, coming of
age.
 The tone is often serious, though stories are often light, airy, and humorous.
Types of Fantasy
1. Modern Folktales (Literary Folktales)
They are tales told in a form similar to that of a traditional tale with the accompanying
typical elements: little character description, strong conflict, and fast-moving plot with a
sudden resolution, vague setting, and sometimes magical elements. However, these tales
were original and written by known authors.
Examples: Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (e.g., “The Ugly Duckling”, “Then
Nightingale”, “Thumbelina”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, 1985)
2. Animal Fantasy
They are stories in which animals behave as human beings in that way they experience
emotions, talks, and have the ability to reason. The animals in fantasies also retain many of
their animal characteristics. Animal fantasies often have easy-to-follow episodic plots. Animal
fantasy constitutes a form of literary symbolism, the animal characters symbolizing
human counterparts, and these fantasies are often vehicles for exploring human emotions,
values, and relationship.
Examples: The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter, 1902)The Wind in the
Willows(Kenneth Grahame, 1908), Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (Hugh Lofting, 1922),
Charlotte’s Web(E.B. White, 1952), Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (William Steig,
1969)
3. Toy Fantasy
They are stories which admired or beloved toys (e.g., teddy bears, puppets, or dolls) are
brought to life and transformed into animated beings who talk, think, live, breathe, and
love like humans do. Modern toy fantasies are most frequently in picture-book format.
Examples: The Adventures of Pinocchio (Carlo, Collodi, 1881), Winnie the Pooh (A.A.
Milne, 1926)
4. Magical Fantasy
The magic itself – whether a magical object or character with a magical powers –
becomes the very subject of the story, rather than simply a means to an end. Note that
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the magical always operates according to some established rules.
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Examples: Pippi Long Stockings (Astrid Lindgren, 1950), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(Roald Dhal, 1964), Silvester and the Magic Pebble(William Steig, 1969)
5. Enchanted Journeys and Alternative Worlds
In many fantasies, we see the protagonists undertaking journey to some fantasy world or
alternative world.
Realistic stories also use the journey motif, but only in fantasies journeys do magical
things occur.
The journey may have some purpose (e.g., Alice Wants to Find the Queens Garden,
Dorothy Wants to Find the Emeralds City and ultimately a way back home, but the
purpose is usually overshadowed by the thrill and delight offered by the extraordinary
events happening in the fantasy world.
Examples: Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland ( Lewis Carroll, 1865), The Wonderful Wizard of
Oz ( L. Frank Baum,1900), Peter Pan (Sir James Barrie, 1911), Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowlings,1998), Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726), The
Borrowers (Mary Norton, 1953).
6. Heroic or Quest Fantasy(High Fantasy)
They are adventure stories with a request, search, motif. The quest may be pursuit for a
lofty purpose, such as justice or love, or for a rich reward, such as a magical power or a
hidden treasure.
Examples: The Hobbit/ The Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937), The Lion, the
Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis, 1950), Then Book of Three (Lloyd Alexander, 1964),
The Hero and the Crown (Robin McKinley, 1985)
7. Supernatural and Mystery Fantasy
One common form of supernatural fantasy is the ghost story. Ghosts in children’s books can
be fearful o helpful protectors. Another common form is the mystery in which the solution
is partially supernatural or arrived at with supernatural assistance, for example,
witchcraft.
Examples: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving, 1917), Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling, 1998).
8. Science Fiction
Science fiction is a form of imaginative literature that provides a picture of something that
could happen based on real scientific facts and principles. They may portray a world that
young people will one day inhabit ; thus, there are sometimes called “futuristic fiction”.
Examples: Frankenstein ( Marry Shelley, 1818), The Time Machine (H.G. Wells, 1895), Rocket
Ship Galileo ( Robert Heinlein, 1947), A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L’Engle, 1962) The
white Mountains ( John Christopher, 1967), The Giver ( Lois Lowry, 1993).
Values of Fantasy for Children

Children can develop their imagination through the vicarious experience of entering a
different world.
Imagination keeps us hopeful, enabling us to see the myriad possibilities that life offers.
Children can increase their ability to think divergently. In fantasies, the normal rules of
the real life are suspended, permitting the reader to gain a new perspective on the world
of reality.
Fantasy provides a temporary escape from reality for children.
Fantasy can entertain through its humor. Two universal sources of humor are exaggeration
and the ridiculous or far-fetched; both of these characteristics are often found in modern
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fantasies. Children can be inspired by an author’s treatment of serious themes in
fantasies.
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Discussion Points:
1. How do you explain the meaning of this line: “The imaginary world captures us; its
underlying reality moves us.”
2. Using the Venn diagram, write a comparison and contrast of Traditional Literature form
Modern Literature.
3. Could you describe the characteristics of Modern Fantasy.
4.4 Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Realistic fiction attempts to portray the world as it is. It contains no fantasy, no supernatural
elements, and it usually depicts ordinary people going about the business of daily living, with all
its joys, sorrow, successes, and failures.
Over the past 150 years, children’s literature has gradually moved from a romantic view of the
world toward a more realistic view (*Note: “Romance” refers to the fiction portraying a world that
seems happier than the one we live in). Subjects that were once taboo in realistic fiction is now
commonplace and language and character development are presented with greater candor and
boldness.
In good realistic fiction

1. The characters are engaging and believable
2. The dialogue is believable.
3. The plot is fresh and original.
4. The setting is true to life.
5. The problems faced by the characters are honestly portrayed.
6. The resolution makes sense.
7. The theme grows naturally out of the action and characters – the writer does not preach at us.
Characteristics
The Coming-of-Age Theme
Many realistic stories depict their protagonist growing up or coming of age. The coming-of-age
stories typically trace the protagonist’s growth from a self-absorbed, immature individual into an
expensive, mature human being concerned with the welfare of others, and his/her place in the
world scheme.
In good realistic fiction, the characters possess a clearly defined personality and exhibits growth
during the course of the story. Their growth of self-awareness usually comes with struggling,
pain, and even suffering.
In children’s stories, the protagonist usually reaches a higher level of maturity and a greater
sense of self-awareness by the book’s end, nut has not achieved adulthood.
Humor in Realistic Fiction
In realistic fiction, humor is frequently used to break the tension in sensitive situations, unlike
fantasies in which the humor is often the humor of the absurd. Humor is s form of self-
preservation, of the three forms, coping.
In realistic fiction, humor usually takes one of the three forms:
1. The humor of character. This depends on the antics of an eccentric personality.
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2. The humor of situation. Surprising, awkward, or ridiculous actions or situations are
among the most common sources of children’s humor.
3. The humor of language. Plays on words, verbal irony, malapropism (the misuse of
words), misunderstandings, all contribute to verbal humor.
Discussion Points:
1. What could be described as Realistic Fiction?

2. At what age should a teacher introduce Realistic Fiction? Explain your answer.
3. What is meant by “Coming-of-Age Theme”? Could you give some examples of such stories?
4. What is the use of “humor” in Realistic Fiction? Could you give television shows that
cater to these kinds?
CLOSURE ACTIVTIES
1. Compare and contrast traditional literature to modern literature.

TRADITIONAL LITERATURE MODERN LITERATURE
2. List down some examples of Traditional and Modern Literature and point out their
differences and similarities.
3. Using Venn diagram compare and contrast Fantasy story and realistic fiction. Discuss
your interpretation and insights comprehensively.
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"Traditional literature encompasses books rendered from oral tradition--stories that have been
passed down for ages (Kiefer, 2007)--and as a result are commonly shared throughout the world.
This literature includes folktales, myths, fables, and legends", while "Folktales differ from the
stories of today in that folktales are more interested in preserving tradition rather than creating it.
Whereas the modern storyteller values originality of plot, the folklorist values connecting his
audience with past and present culture. With all due redundancy, folktales capture tales of the
folk. They are living histories of the people of a particular time and place. They shed light on the
values, aspirations, fears and dreams of a particular culture. They educate, inspire and
entertain."
In the same manner, literature scholars differ over the years that encompass the Modernist
period, however most generally agree that modernist authors published as early as the 1880s and
into the mid- 1940s. During this period, society at every level underwent profound changes. War and
industrialization seemed to devalue the individual. Global communication made the world a
smaller place. The pace of change was dizzying. Writers responded to this new world in a
variety of ways.
On the other hand, fantasy is highly imaginative story about characters, places, and events, yet
it is believable. Good fantasy is rooted in reality and in human nature. Modern fantasies often contain
truths that help the reader to understand today’s society, though the events they describe cannot
happen in real life while realistic fiction attempts to portray the world as it is. It contains no
fantasy, no supernatural elements, and it usually depicts ordinary people going about the
business of daily living, with all its joys, sorrow, successes, and failures.
EVALUATION
POST TEST
Read each items carefully and answer the questions or provide information that is ask or being describe,
2. The characters are mainly gods and goddesses, with occasional mention of humans,
and the setting is high above earth in the home of the gods.
3. These are long stories of human adventure and heroism recounted in many episodes,
often in verse.
4. These are stories based on either real or supposedly real individuals or their marvelous deeds.
5. These are highly exaggerated accounts of the exploits of persons, both real and
imagined, so they may be considered a subcategory of legends, though with much
more recent origin.
6. These are simple stories that incorporate characters (typically animals) whose actions
teach a moral lesson or universal truth.
7. It is any story of the impossible, but it is presented as if they
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were possible.
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8. They are stories in which animals behave as human beings in that way they
experience emotions, talks, and have the ability to reason.
9. It attempts to portray the world as it is. It contains no fantasy, no supernatural
elements, and it usually depicts ordinary people going about the business of daily living,
with all its joys, sorrow, successes, and failures.
1. Make a survey of the different kinds of modern fantasy that you have watch for the past
five years and classify them according to kind. Be ready to make a graphical presentation.
2. A power point presentation of your book report (including a biographical sketch of the
author, a summary of the book, an analysis of plots and characters, a discussion of themes,
symbols, tones and styles, your criticism and personal response to the book).
REFERENCES
Ladia, M.A..P. Rediscovering Children’s Literature.
Internet links:
Wollacot, Mark (June 18, 2020). What is Modern Literature?
https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-modern-literature.htm
Essential Humanities – Modern Literature
http://www.essential-humanities.net/western-art/literature/modern/
Josh, Patrick. (June 13, 2017) The Main Characteristics of Modernist Literature
https://penandthepad.com/main-characteristics-modernist-literature-8451197.html
Children's and Young Adult Literature: Traditional literature/Folklore
https://libguides.usask.ca/childlit/traditional
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NAME: SCORE:
YEAR & SECTION: DATE:
SUMMATIVE EXAM (MID-TERM)
GENERAL INSTRUCTION: Read each directions carefully. Write your answers in “ALLCAPITAL” letter.
Strictly No Erasure and Superimpositions
Test I: Multiple Choice

Direction: Read each item carefully and select the correct answer. Write the letter of your answer
before the number.
a. Folk literature
b. Modern literature
c. Realistic fiction
d. Fantasy
2. The characters are mainly gods and goddesses, with occasional mention of humans, and the
setting is high above earth in the home of the gods.
a. Fantasy
b. Legend
c. Myths
d. Epics
3.They are long stories of human adventure and heroism recounted in many episodes, often in verse.
a. Novel
b. Epic
c. Quest stories
d. Heroism stories
4.These stories are based on either real or supposedly real individuals or their marvelous deeds.
a. Legend
b. Epic
c. Myths
d. parable
5. These stories are highly exaggerated accounts of the exploits of persons, both real and
imagined, so they may be considered a subcategory of legends, though with much more
recent origin.
a. Legend
b. Tall tales
c. Folk tales
d. Fantasy tales
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6. These are simple stories that incorporate characters (typically animals) whose actions teach a
moral lesson or universal truth.
a. Fables
b. Parable
c. Legend
d. Myth
7.These are any story of the impossible, but it is presented as if they were possible.
a. Fairy tales
b. Myths
c. Fantasy
d. Magical
8. They are stories in which animals behave as human beings in that way they experience
emotions, talks, and have the ability to reason.
a. Fantasy
b. Animal fantasy
c. Magical fantasy
d. Heroic or Quest fantasy
9. It attempts to portray the world as it is. It contains no fantasy, no supernatural elements, and it
usually depicts ordinary people going about the business of daily living, with all its joys, sorrow,
successes, and failures.
a. Fiction
b. Realistic
c. Realistic fiction
d. Real stories
a. Fantasy
b. Animal fantasy
c. Magical fantasy
d. Heroic or Quest fantasy
Test II: Definition Identification

Direction: Identify the following. Write your answers on the space provided before the number.
1. It enhances text by providing a visual representation of the
subject matter.
2. It provides a children’s visual experience, where the story develops
and is supported by rich illustrations.
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4. They begin to see that the print holds meaning and they can
quickly become adept at print concepts such as holding the book properly, turning the pages, and
even tracking the print as they “read.”
5. Children can actively participate in read-alouds by asking and
answering questions about the text and retelling stories.
6. Types of picture books which include board books, pull-tab books,
flap books, pop-up books, cloth books, and plastic books.
7. Types of picture books that foster visual literacy and
language development in children.
8. A type of picture book in which a text is absent or minimal, so
children can apply meaning to the story.
9. These are realistic stories that have animal or inanimate objects as
the main character.
10. In this genre a fusion of reality and imagination with dreamlike
imagery heightens the experience of the young reader.
Test III: Matching Type

Direction: Read each item in column A and select your answer from column B. Write your answer on
the space provided.
COLUMN A COLUMN B
1. It is defined as writings that have A. Foil character
excellence of form or expression, which B. Setting
express ideas of a permanent or universal C. Literature
interest. D. Antagonist
2. The figure who opposes the E. Integral setting
protagonist and creates the conflict. F. Plot
3. The figure whose personality traits are G. Round character
the opposite of main characters. H. Backdrop setting
4. They have more fully I. Tone
developed personalities. J. Protagonist
5. Refers to the time, the K. Theme
geographical location, and the general
environment and circumstances that
prevail in a narrative.
6. Setting is fully described in both time
and place, usually found in historical fiction.
7. Setting is vague and general, which helps
to convey a universal, timeless tale.
8. A series of interconnected events in
which every occurrence has a specific
purpose.
9. It is the main, underlying idea of a
piece of literature.
10. It refers to the author’s mood and
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manner of expression in a work of literature
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Test IV: True or False
Direction: Write T if the statement is true and F if the statement if false. Write your answer before
the number.
1. Alice in Wonderland (1865) is usually considered the first successful children’s novel.
2. As Jon Stott points out, the best children’s authors choose details that are significant and arrange
them into meaningful pattern. People’s lives are like a series of random event; an effective author
shows the connections between events, thereby creating meaning and significance.
3. A good story should alter you in some way; it should change your thinking, your feeling, your
psyche, or the way you look at things.
4. Children’s literature can be used by teachers as instructional materials to meet a variety
of educational goals and objectives.
5. The visual and performing arts responses to children’s literature featured in this section are offered
as suggestions and to inspire new ideas.
6. Drama responses allow students to explore how elements such as body language, posture,
gesture, voice, and inflection contribute to expressing and understanding meaning.
7. Visual arts responses explore how color, lines, shapes, drawing, painting, and all other elements
of art communicate messages to the viewer.
8. Literature is the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures of
language.” The province of literature is the human condition, life with all its feelings, thoughts
and insights.
9. Simple and straightforward is one of the characteristics of children’s literature.
10. Incongruity is the foundation of humor. We laugh at the tension resulting from something out
of the ordinary. Humor is elusive. Humor tends to be age specific. Humor can be either
sympathetic or genitive.
Test V: Enumeration
Direction: Read and Enumerate the following
1. Key themes and concerns in children’s
literature a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. Examples Arts-based responses to children’s

literature a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
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Bachelor in BACHELOR

Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature

INSTRUCTION TO THE USERS

After developing an understanding of contemporary children’s literature, this chapter focuses on

Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature

Upon completion of this module the learners will be able to:

Enumerate the items asks in each questions.

2. What are the characteristics of patterns in children’s

CONTENT PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES

Before we start this chapter, let’s think about the following

Why do we need to study literature?

What is a good story?

Why read children’s classics?

Why should you care about children’s literature?

Key themes and concerns in children’s literature

Patterns in Children’s Literature

Changes in children’s literature

History of Children’s Literature

Multimodal Texts in Children’s Literature

Connecting Learning Standards to Arts-Based Responses to Literature

Children’s literature can be used by teachers as instructional materials to meet a variety of

Table 1. Literature Response Activities Purposes and Standards

Teachers’ Purposes for Literature Response

Gauge students’ comprehension of the literature

Key Ideas and Details. Retelling in

Comprehension and Collaboration.

Help students make connections to curriculum

Self-selecting texts based on personal

Table 1. Literature Response Activities Purposes and Standards

Examples of Arts-Based Responses

Hear your life

Color and emotions

Sound and action story

Walk like a/an…

Find your style (dance and music response)

Questions and Activities

2. What are the characteristics of patterns in children’s

Do the following task to be written or printed on a clean sheet of paper.

Ching, S. H. D. (2005). Multicultural children’s literature as an instrument of power. Language

Dresang, E. (2003). Controversial books and contemporary children. Journal of Children’s

Wertheim, M. (n.d.). Faith and reason: Postmodernism. Retrieved

WETA Public Broadcasting (2015). Story maps. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/

Children’s Literature References

Allen, D. (2001). Brothers of the knight. New York, NY: Puffin.

Boyd, L. (2014). Flashlight. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, LLC.

Brown, M. W. (2006). Goodnight moon. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s

Books. Brown, M. W. (2006). Runaway bunny. New York, NY: HarperCollins

Cain, J. (2000). The way I feel. Seattle, WA: Parenting Press.

Erhardt, K. (2006). This jazzman. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc.

Ladia, M. A. P. (2010). Rediscovering Children’s Literature,

Elements of Quality Children’s Literature

Upon completion of this module the learners will be able to:

Tone Theme Back drop

CONTENT PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES

Writing has various purposes. Four main purpose of writing are to

A definition of Children’s Literature

Characteristics of Children’s Literature as Genre

THE ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

Narrative Point of View

rising action denouement

setting conflict end

Climax 1 Climax 2 Climax 3

ending 1 ending 2 ending 3