Module The theoretical foundations of children's literature Topic Introduction to course children's literature

Module 1.The theoretical foundations of children's literature
Topic 1. Introduction to course children's literature


Key words: a child from birth through age 18, stories, folklore, riddles, poems,children’s books simpler expression of ideas,simple vocabulary,attention span,stories are told more directly with r/ship among characters shown clearly.


Plan:
1. Children’s literature
2. Studying Children's Literature
3. Inventors of children's literature
4. Differences between children and adult literature
5. History
What is children’s literature are:
•Books, stories, folklore, riddles, poems.
•From birth through age 18?
•Are there books for different age groups?
•“a significant truth expressed in appropriate elements and memorable language”.
•Literature is more than a piece of writing that clarifies or explains. It delights and reveals.
What differentiates between children and adult literature?
Children
•Simpler expression of ideas.
•Simple vocabulary
•Attention span
•Stories are told more directly with r/ship among characters shown clearly.
•Children more open to experimenting with more forms of literature than adults.
•Children find spontaneous pleasure in rhymes & jokes, cartoons, comics, etc.
•Adults tend to stick to one type of literature.
Why Study Children's Literature?
Many strong reasons for studying children’s literature are shaped by the objectives, values, beliefs, and salable skills of the discipline in which the coursework is seated, but all courses across the wide educational spectrum share elements that invite us to the study of children’s literature. Once we choose to accept the invitation, reward us generously for the cleverness of our choice.
First and foremost, a study of children’s literature brings into focus personal taste and beauty. This is true for any course in literature and no less true for children’s literature. Entangled with the question of taste is one of cultural privileging. A study of children’s literature introduces students to a body of aesthetically challenging works that frequently go missing from other literature courses and from what is generally characterized as the canon.


History
Early children's literature consisted of spoken stories, songs, and poems that were used to educate, instruct, and entertain children It was only in the eighteenth century, with the development of the concept of childhood, that a separate genre of children's literature began to emerge, with its own divisions, expectations, and canon. The earliest of these books were educational books, books on conduct, and simple ABCs—often decorated with animals, plants, and anthropomorphic letters.
In 1962, French historian Philippe Ariès argues in his book Centuries of Childhood that the modern concept of childhood only emerged in recent times. He explains that children were in the past not considered as greatly different from adults and were not given significantly different treatment. As evidence for this position, he notes that, apart from instructional and didactic texts for children written by clerics like the Venerable Bede and Ælfric of Eynsham, there was a lack of any genuine literature aimed specifically at children before the 18th century.
Other scholars have qualified this viewpoint by noting that there was a literature designed to convey the values, attitudes, and information necessary for children within their cultures, such as the Play of Daniel from the twelfth century. Pre-modern children's literature, therefore, tended to be of a didactic and moralistic nature,