EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

POETRY FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

Types of Poetry

A. Nursery Rhyme
- They are part of the oral traditions presented in short verses or songs that are
often memorized or sung by children.
- They are mostly marked by rhymes and rhythm but vary in style, tone, and
theme.

B. Haiku
- It is a traditional Japanese poetry written in tight syllabic structures with
seventeen syllables in three lines.
- There are five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and
five syllables in the third line.

C. Limerick
- It was popularized by the British poet Edward Lear who is considered the father
of limerick.
- Limerick is a humorous type of short poem; it seeks to entertain readers.
- It has five lines with the rhyming scheme "aabba." The dominant meter for
limerick is anapestic with metrical fee in the third and fourth lines : da dum da da
dum."
- The first, second, and fifth lines have three anapests "da dum da da dum da da
dum.”
- A limerick is a good material in teaching grade-school students about rhymes,
meter, and rhythm.
- In telling the story, the portrayed character is expected to be mentioned on the
first line. A punch or twist is a popular method in ending the poem.

D. Calligram Poems
- A calligram is a type of poem created not only to be read and spoken but also
viewed and admired.
- The term calligram was invented by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1918, anchored on
Greek words "'calli" or beautiful, and "gram” means "something written.”
- Calligrams are poems that use creative arrangement of words to create a visual
impact. The verses are designed in different shapes and forms that manifest the
message of the poem.

E. Narrative Poems
- is a type of poem that narrates a story.
- Like a story, it contains a beginning. It is a story told by a narrator.
- It features the elements of a story that includes characters, conflict, plot and
theme.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

- It is written in verse and contains meter and rhyme; although some narrative
poems are written in blank verse, the traditional narrative poem uses the ABCB
rhyme scheme.

F. Kenning Poems
- A kenning poem features poetic compounds or the combination of two words to
form a poetic expression that points to a thing or a person.
- The compounds of kenning poems are associated with the attributes of the
original nouns or related to the metaphorical meaning of the words' thus a
kenning poem is referred to as "compressed metaphor."
- They contain two words that are joined by a hyphen. The two words are usually a
combination of noun and noun or noun and verb. Kennings poems generally
describe an object in detail, the characteristics of which are similar to riddles.

G. Free Verse
- Free Verse poems are free in form translated from the French word "vers libre."
They do not follow specific rhythmic patterns or rhyme schemes.
- Regular pauses and irregular line length can be observed in free verse poems.

H. Sonnet
- Sonnet poems consist of fourteen lines, a combination of octave or two quatrains
of 8 lines, and a sestet or a stanza of six lines.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

TRADITIONAL LITERATURE

Traditional Literature
● Stories that have been passed down through generations
● It was initially told orally and written down later on.
What is the purpose of traditional literature?
- Having the story be relatable to everyone

Traditional Characters
● Most stories of this genre share common characteristics, especially character
archetypes.
● Characters are broken into clear good versus evil.
● The hero of the story is usually given a mission that seems impossible to achieve, and
the villain is set to keep the hero from accomplishing it.
● The main characters can be humans, gods, or animals.
● They are usually very one-dimensional.

Classifications of Traditional Literature

A. Fairytales
● These magical stories of fantastical characters, princesses, elves, fairies,
dragons, unicorns, witches, devils, and goblins.
● These stories are primarily introduced to children to help them distinguish
between good and evil, and teach lessons.
● The plot is simple.
Examples:
○ "Snow White" is a classic fairy tale about a young princess who is forced to flee
into the forest after her jealous stepmother, the Queen, attempts to have her
killed out of envy for Snow White's beauty. In the forest, Snow White encounters
and befriends seven dwarfs who offer her refuge. However, the Queen, disguised
as an old peddler woman, tricks Snow White into eating a poisoned apple,
causing her to fall into a death-like sleep. Only true love's kiss can awaken her. A
prince, enchanted by Snow White's beauty, finds her and breaks the spell with a
kiss. The story ends with Snow White and the prince living happily ever after,
while the evil Queen meets her demise.
○ Cinderella, the story that began in the late 17th century about a beautiful girl
enslaved by her evil stepmother who longs for a better life. When her fairy
godmother appears to grant her a wish, Cinderella meets the Prince, who saves
her and marries her. The lesson is that kindness and love will triumph over
selfishness and evil.
○ Jack and the Beanstalk
○ The Little Mermaid
○ Beauty and the beast

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

B. Fables
● from the Latin word "fabula" which means "story"
● These are fictional stories that aim to teach a lesson and entertain the readers.
● The characters are animals that personify human traits.
● The plot of the fables is straight forward, with simple conflict and resolution.
● These are one of the most selected instructive- traditional literary pieces
introduced to children.
Examples:
○ The Tortoise and the Hare is one of the famous fables familiar to children. The
story began when the hare boasted his speed and challenged the hare into a foot
race, which the tortoise accepted. The hare started running fast to insult the
tortoise. In the middle of the race, the hare took a nap. The tortoise, although
slow, already finished the race. The story teaches children not to boast of their
talents and decides to continue going. When the hare woke up, he realized that
the tortoise had unique qualities. Instead, be steady and always keep trying no
matter how slow one runs.
○ The Fox and the Grapes
○ The Crow and the Pitcher
○ The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg

C. Myths
● These are a symbolic narrative of gods, goddesses, demigods, and
superhumans involved in extraordinary circumstances.
● These are associated with religious beliefs or sacred tales that explain the world
and human phenomena related to the actions of gods.
● Myths project universal subjects such as birth and death or the life after death,
the origin of man, and the story of the good and wicked.
Example:
○ Cupid and Psyche revolves around a story of a god Cupid who is known by many
as the child of Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty. Cupid is famous for his bow
and arrows of heart that whoever will be hit by it falls in love. The story started
when Psyche, a beautiful princess, was envied by Venus. As revenge, she
requested her son to make Psyche fall in love with a hideous monster.
Nevertheless, Cupid was hit by one of his arrows and he fell in love with her.
○ Arachne and Athena
○ The Gods of Olympus
○ Lalahon
○ Τhe Three Sisters of Fate

D. Legends
● from the Latin word "legenda or legendus" meaning to read or worth reading)
● Legends are orally transmitted and later written
● Legends mostly demonstrate human values and aim to teach morals.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

● Common themes in legends include truth, betrayal, revenge, choices, mortality,

and heroism.
● Exaggeration is one of the characteristics of legends.
● A third-person point of view is used in legends with no internal narrative from the
characters.
Example:
○ The Legend of Atlantis is a story about a moral, spiritual people who lived in a
highly advanced, utopian civilization. But they became greedy, petty, and "morally
bankrupt," and the gods "became angry because the people had lost their way
and turned to immoral pursuits," Orser says. As punishment, he says, the gods
sent "one terrible night of fire and earthquakes" that caused Atlantis to sink into
the sea.
○ The Legend of Robin Hood
○ The Legend of King Arthur
○ The Legend of Mayon Volcano

E. Epic
● from the Greek word "epos" that means "story, word, poem”
● It is a long narrative poem that portrays the extraordinary labor of extraordinary
people.
● It is one of the oral traditions that narrates the heroic adventures of the known
characters or heroes with superhuman qualities.
● It has a formal narrative, usually in the third-person omniscient narrator.
● The plot is full of circumstances that give the heroes insurmountable obstacles.
Examples:
○ Beowulf is a story of the heroic adventures of a warrior who fought against the
monster Grendel, a monster that attacked the hall of Heorot and devoured the
people of Danes. He also killed another monster, Grendel's mother, who avenged
his son. Beowulf met another enemy forty years after. It is the dragon that lived in
a barrow holding great treasure. Disturbed by a thief, the dragon unleashed his
fury by spitting fire and killing the people of Geats where Beowulf ruled. Beowulf
fought and killed the dragon, but he also died from the dragon's bite on his neck.
Beowulf is a significant literary piece that teaches students courage, loyalty,
honor among other virtues.
○ The Iliad and The Odyssey
○ Ramayana and Mahabharat

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

HISTORICAL AND REALISTIC LITERATURE

Realistic Fiction
● Realistic fiction is considered a present-day fiction that represents the natural everyday
occurrences of the real world, with a vivid and accurate portrayal of the realistic setting.
● The plot emphasizes personal issues, social events, or concerns of everyday life.
Types of Realistic Fiction
1. Family Stories
2. Stories of Social Realism
3. Survival Stories
4. Detective and Mystery Stories

Historical Fiction
● Is a kind of narrative that allows the reader to go back to a particular period.
● Historical fiction allows readers to connect and understand the events in the past.
Types of Historical Fiction
1. Historical Fantasy
2. Alternate History

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

PURPOSE AND CENSORSHIP OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE

● Prominent historians in children's literature, namely F.J. Harvey Darton, Percy Muir, and
E.M. Field, highlight the value of children's literature as primarily a source of
entertainment next to instruction (Stevenson, 2011). This notion nurtures young readers
to develop a positive attitude toward reading, and in this reading, experts expect learning
to co-occur.
● In education, academicians view children and adolescent literature as a good source of
modeling the acceptable behaviors, virtues, and beliefs valued by the general public
(Jenkins, 2011). Everyone believes that books and other educational resource materials
should serve as "Role Model" to children and youth alike (Jenkins, 2011).
● For this instance, the famous Aesop's Fables is one of the many children's literature that
ideally fits such expectations and purpose. Primarily, it stimulates the readers'
imagination about animals being able to talk and communicate while teaching invaluable
qualities and life lessons.
Examples:
○ In the story of The Fox and the Crow, children learn to be cautious about too
much flattery and that individuals who are good with flattery only gain when
others listen to them. It is crucial to distinguish appreciation from flattery.
○ Another example is the Philippine Legend "Why the Piña has a Hundred Eyes,"
which teaches important lessons for adults and children who read the said story.
At the same time, it promotes imagination and creativity among the readers'
minds.

● It serves two principal functions in the curriculum: first, as a resource is general

knowledge that literature is essential in language for language learning, and second, as
a discipline of study (Naji, Subramaniam & White, 2019).
● The Philippines' new curriculum framework acknowledges the role of literature as a good
resource for students' acquisition of communicative competencies: (1) grammatical
competence, (2) discourse competence, (3) sociolinguistic competence, and (4) strategic
competence.
● English 7, English 8, English 9, and English 10 of the curriculum integrate the study of
Philippine Literature, Afro-Asian Literature, British-American Literature, and World
Literature, respectively.
● One of the purposes for including children and adolescent literature in the framework is
to make the learners aware of and appreciate the diverse culture throughout the global
community.
● Awareness is the first step towards nurturing a generation that values and respects the
world's varied cultural practices, beliefs, and traditions. It aims at enhancing the learners'
sociolinguistic competency, which is essential for learning the appropriate use of
language in particular social contexts. This competency eventually positively influences
the development of the three other communicative competencies.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

● Given all these critical roles of literature in the academe, teachers are responsible for
selecting an excellent list of children and adolescent literature in the curriculum and
assessing its appropriateness for particular learners or groups of learners.
● It goes the same for the librarians alike, who select books for display in the library, filter
the appropriate resources for the different sections in the library, and control the access
of select books.
● However, at some point, these selections are often challenged by particular stakeholders
like parents, students, or leaders in the community on the grounds of possible disturbing
or offensive content.
● These challenges stem from their desire to protect young children and adults from
content and issues that they believe would tarnish the minds and innocence of these
young people.
● It may be in the form of racial discrimination or violence illustrated in the literature, the
embedded same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+ content in the book, or the inclusion
of any dystopian tone in the text.
● Nevertheless, restricting children and adolescents from accessing these forms of
literature would also mean denying the readers the right to intellectual freedom to
understand existing biases, problems, and issues in the real world (Klein, 1985). Hence,
the practice of censorship in the field.

Censorship
● is generally the process of assessing and filtering any literary piece or educational
resource found to be morally offensive or having repulsive or abusive content
● Parents, advocacy groups, and minority groups raise awareness or issue of concern and
put up a challenge for one cause; to protect the minds and hearts of the young children
from disturbing issues and unnecessary information.
● At most, school administration, educators, and parents concurrently decide to censor
and ban literature for its prominent display of brutality and violence.
Examples:
○ The Frog King
○ Cinderella

The Process of Censorship

● Based on Hopkins' 1991 study, book challenges involve six factors:
1. The narrative about the text challenged and the issue of complaint.
2. The challengers of the party initiating the challenge.
3. The librarian’s character and expertise.
4. The library’s existing policy and level of implementation.
5. The degree of support and involvement of the academic institution faculty,
personnel, and officials.
6. External support provided by the immediate community (Jenkins, 2011).
● This list outlines the intricate process of censorship in academia. It includes:
1. Identifying the nature of the complaint.
2. Acknowledging the individual or party raising the issue.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

3. The librarian provides context about the literature and the concern.
4. Referencing library policies during book selection.
5. Involvement of the institution’s stakeholders in the discussion.
6. Input from the immediate community.
● The process begins with acknowledging challenges and progresses through expert input
and stakeholder perspectives.
● School authorities may hold hearings to resolve issues, relying on library policies aligned
with institutional goals. The resolution dictates the fate of the literature.
● Additionally, censorship may occur without a formal challenge. Librarians and educators
may personally censor content after selection, anticipating objections and choosing to
exclude potentially objectionable material.
● During the discussion of a challenge, the outcome determines the fate of the literature or
book.
● If authorities deem the complaint baseless, the book remains available without
restrictions.
● However, if the challenged literature is found objectionable, compromises may include:
1. Closed shelving, requiring parental permission for access.
2. Relocation to the reference section, preventing check-out.
3. Reclassification for higher-level student access only.
4. Altering offensive content (in publishing cases).
5. Banning the text entirely in severe cases, restricting access completely.
● These measures reflect the varying degrees of censorship applied depending on the
nature of the challenge and the decision reached during the discussion.

To conclude…
● Children and Adolescent Literature is essential in the development of readers' minds. It
enhances their imaginative and creative minds while educating them about the realities
of the world.
● The education world knows this for a fact; thus, the integration of literature in language
curriculum frameworks.
● However, specific individuals and groups challenge these selections based on possible
offensive content against minorities, religious beliefs, and other cultural customs and
traditions.
● Their argument centers on one cause - to protect the innocent minds and hearts of the
vulnerable young readers from being exposed to inappropriate content. These
complaints initiate the process of censorship for the literature in concern.
● In the end, Anne Carroll Moore's words sum up the primary purpose for observing all
these sensitive processes:

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

WRITING AND DECONSTRUCTION OF CLASSICAL TALES

Structuralism
Saussure
● Emerged in France (1950s) through Ferdinand de Saussure
● The idea of understanding the world in structures: relationships between categories and
subcategories, whole and parts (Mambrol, 2016).
● A linguistic principle used to explain the relationship between language and culture
Strauss
● It found its way in literary criticism through the works of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
● Particular ideas belong to a more extensive structure to which they can be categorized
or identified.
● Structuralists explain that it is human nature to reduce complex concepts into systems
and categories depending on how a person perceives such structures (Mambrol, 2016).
● It aims to unlock the universal principles to which humans react and conform.
● These systems and structures are constant and collective.
● In the study of literature, the process begins with pointing out the characteristics of a
literary piece and proceeds to classifying the text to which category or systems it
belongs.
● It seeks to find coherence in the elements and parts of the literature and toward a larger
external structure.
● Strauss applied the structuralist principle in his study of the world’s different mythologies
and found that these mythologies are similar in many things, and thus he sought to
categorize and organize these into meaningful structures.
● It resulted in the concept of binary opposition.

Binary Opposition
● The oppositional relationship of two words or ideas determines the meaning of each (e.g.
light/dark, high/low, happy/sad, beautiful/ugly, and life/death).
● They illustrate a hierarchy where one is considered superior or much preferred over the
other.
● The structuralist concept seeks to find certainty and definite relationships among
concepts in the literary text.

Deconstruction
● It is a reaction toward the concepts and definitive nature of the structuralist principle.
● Initially introduced by Jacques Derrida in literature, intending to expose and undermine
the embedded Western ideas in many literary texts.
● It later developed into a method of reading a literary piece and a theory for literary
criticism.
● It challenges the structuralist theory for its dependence on the language systems as a
perfect instrument for determining limitations, coherence, and definitive meanings of a
literary piece.
Three Procedures in Derrida’s Deconstructive Literary Criticism:

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

1. Inverting the hierarchy

- a means to destabilize existing binary oppositions in particular literary
pieces
- undergoes the process of reversal and proceeds to the process of
highlighting the instability of the hierarchy
- emphasizes that one term is not always superior over or inferior to the
other
2. Deconstructing firmly definitive limitation or margins
- avoiding any impulse to categorize a specific literary work in any
particular pattern, system, or rule
- establishes the inconsistent features and elements of the literary piece
3. Analysis of inherent rhetoricity
- exploring and challenging the existing binaries by unraveling possibilities
that undermine the definitive divisions of the opposing concepts
- It is the inversion of hierarchy.
- Rhetoricity unfolds when considering the possibility that literal meanings
were once metaphors that neutralized over time and lost creativity.

Rewriting/Deconstruction of Classical Tales

Censorship
● Deconstruction addresses the political and social issues surrounding several book
challenges among children and adolescent literary pieces.
● Conservative groups, minority groups, or individuals challenge certain books based on
culturally or socially offensive content, brutal and violent matters. Hence, the conduct of
the censorship process, later paved the formulation of the Political Correctness (PC)
ideology..

Political Correctness
● Political Correctness is more than censorship. It sought to eliminate existing political and
social biases deemed to be offensive to any minority groups.
● Kinsler (1995)- It focused on formulating several unnecessary terminologies to hide and
alter words deemed insulting or damaging.
● Rewriting parts of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where the author is Thomas Bowdler, changed
Ophelia’s suicide into an illustration of accidental drowning.
● Ideology of the PC has gone to extremes that it went downhill towards hiding the truth
among young readers, making them ignorant about absurdities, violence, discrimination,
and other problems in the world.

Gender Bias
● Constant struggle between masculinity and femininity, male and female, man and
woman. Feminists feel the need to empower women, which led to propositions of
changing gender biased words to neutral terminologies like man and woman
transformed to person while mother and father transformed to parents.

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EDU189- Children and Adolescent Literature

● Failed attempt at PC ideology inspired the comedian James F. Garner to publish the
book Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories no more than
parody of the original bedtime stories.
● It is no deconstruction, rather a mere reversion of the characters and their distinguishing
characteristics. Even bestowing masculine characteristics or attitudes to female
characters does not empower women; instead, it makes the woman a poor version of a
man (Hourihan, 1997).
● Gender bias is one of the things that deconstruction seeks to dismantle to foster growth
and development in meaning-making and perceiving the world. The way classical tales
portray or present women has persisted for decades, mainly on how princesses always
need saving and how beauty goes with the excellent character (www.bbc.com).
● Tales present women as weak and passive, incapable of defending themselves, and
great at possessing exceptional beauty. Many even accuse the concept of beauty
propagated in the tales as the contributing factor to the insecurities among young adults
nowadays (www.bbc.com).
● Deconstructive criticism of classical tales provides an opportunity of exploring rhetoricity
that provides refreshing possibilities or truth. It is a vehicle in rewriting and reinventing
classical tales to suit the beliefs and culture of modern society.

Moving Pictures as a New Resource of Learning, Extending the Reach of Censorship

● The Philippines acknowledges the revolution of internet and digital transformation, thus
including viewing it as the fifth language skill in the new language curriculum framework.
● Viewing includes activities that involve comprehending and analyzing visual media,
including moving pictures such as television and film.
● The application of censorship started in the United States when the Supreme Court
decided to ban The Miracle- a film by Roberto Rosselini - for its heretical content.
● Censoring films means restricting the viewing of these media for specific age groups,
and observing the level of maturity of these particular audiences in cinemas.
● When films are guilty of having extremely inappropriate content, this is completely
banned from the country, and authorities deny the film production company the
opportunity for showing on their big screen.

Rewriting the Classical Tales on the Big Screen

● The development of technology presents the opportunity of rewriting the favorite

classical tales in motion pictures and film.
● The Walt Disney Company is one prominent entity in such an industry. It started with
their retelling of the Brothers Grimm's The Little Snow White through an animated
cartoon film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

○ The film resulted in the retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s The Little Snow White,
which have been rewritten in a manner that would be acceptable, romantic, and
enchanting to young audiences.
○ Instead of the biological mother inflicting harm on her child Snow White because
of jealousy, the film had a wicked stepmother who is a witch to take its place.
○ Also, instead of the queen disguising three times, bringing poisonous objects -
lace, comb, and apple to harm her child, the wicked witch in the film only
disguised once to poison Snow White with an apple.
○ Lastly, instead of the prince's subordinate accidentally reviving Snow White by
hitting her back, making her spit out the piece of the apple that got stuck to her
throat, the film showed how the prince's true love's kiss brought Snow White back
to life.
○ The film eliminated the disturbing content about a mother hurting her child and
the brutality of the subordinate who intentionally hit a body after he grew tired of
carrying the coffin around the prince's palace.

Tangled (2010)
○ The film is an inspiration drawn from the Brother Grimm collection of fairy tales.
○ Feminist movements at this time of film production have already established
influence and inspired changes in women's image in society, which also led to
the deconstruction and rewriting of Rapunzel's story that suits the culture of
modern times.
○ The film's production team entirely removed the Brothers Grimm's illustration of
premarital sex between Rapunzel and the prince, the prince's suicidal attempt,
and Rapunzel's banishment into the wilderness where she gave birth to twins
and lived a miserable life with them for years.
○ Instead of a woman who lived on accepting her miserable life, Disney's Tangled
presents a woman who knows what she wants, is determined, takes risks, is
resourceful, possesses magical powers, and is capable of defending herself.

Cinderella
○ Cinderella presented the evil stepmother in a different light, exposing her
frustration and pains as a victim of the patriarchal society of the time.
○ A black actor portrays the role of the prince's most trusted captain - a
demonstration of embracing cultural diversity in the film.
○ The film presents Cinderella as a person who is brave enough to remain kind
despite her adversities and can communicate her belief in the essence of
kindness.
○ The film integrated touches of modern structure and culture into the classical tale.

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Beauty and the Beast

○ The live-action film Beauty and the Beast presented a modern deconstruction of
Belle's character, a modern culture that they successfully infused in the story's
old setting.
○ Belle shows her love for reading and her passion for teaching girls to read. Her
role is essential in assisting and supporting her father.
○ She is portrayed as intelligent, strong-willed, selfless, brave, and caring. Her
character completely deviates from the existing social structure of their time.
○ The film incorporates the story of the death of Belle's mother.
○ Beauty and the Beast also exhibited cases of LGBTQ+, which led to
controversies and the banning of the film in conservative countries such as
Malaysia.

Maleficent
○ Maleficent is Disney's most modern and creative rewriting of their previous
animated film Beauty and the Beast.
○ The film portrayed the strength of Aurora's character even when maintaining the
feminine traits of the princess.
○ It also presented Maleficent in a different light, where she became both the villain
and hero in the tale.
○ The deconstruction in the film explored and dismantled the romantic nature of
true love's kiss to give way for another genuine type of love, which is the
surprising twist of the film.
○ It illustrates two complex kinds of beauty among women through Aurora and
Maleficent, how each has her unique strengths and weaknesses.

Compiled by Aliza Rado