Why study children's literature?

Courses in children's literature can be a valuable part of many different programs of study. Teachers and students of education will learn much about literature that can provide a basis for classroom practices and activites. Students of literature and culture will be interested in learning about the constraints and characteristics of writing designed specifically for an audience of children.

For students of history, studying children's literature offers useful insights into particular ideas about children - and their implications for the present. Considering the ideological content of children's literature provides another perspective for students of developmental psychology and sociology on knowledge about childhood. Students of the visual arts might be specifically interested in courses involving picture books.

And, perhaps, you'd just like to figure out exactly why you read that one book again and again as a child...

About Studying Children's Literature at the University of Winnipeg

The University of Winnipeg's Department of English has been offering undergraduate courses in young people's texts and cultures for over 30 years, attracting many teachers in training and other interested students from the fields of English studies, History, and Developmental Studies, among others. The English Department includes a number of instructors who include interests in various aspects of young people's texts and cultures among their specializations.

Close to 20% of upper-level courses offered by the department focus on young people's texts and cultures in some form. Thus, while there is no specialist degree offered in the field at this point—rather one must take courses in the field as part of a more general English degree—the value placed on studying young people's texts and cultures is at the centre of the culture and concerns of the University of Winnipeg's Department of English.

Department of English
Young People's Texts and Cultures Fact Sheet (PDF)
Young People's Texts and Cultures Brochure (PDF)
English Department Fact Sheet (PDF)
English Department Calendar (PDF)

2012-2013:

* indicates prerequisite beyond first-year studies required. Please see English Calendar for further details.

FIELD OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

ENGL-2003/6-001 (FW)

6 credit hours

2012-2013:

F 2:30 - 5:15 TBA

In this particular offering of the course students explore the characteristics of children’s literature through study of a wide range of texts, including Andrea Buchanan’s The Daring Book for Girls (2007), J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (1904), Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (1952), Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), and Natalie Babbit’s Tuck Everlasting (1975). Students also examine the commercial and popular cultures around such literature and develop reading strategies sensitive to the various ways in which contemporary young adult literature engages issues of race, racism, gender, violence, sexuality, and multiculturalism. In addition to studying a non-fiction girls’ manual, poetry, picture books, chapter books, folk and fairy tales, shojo manga (or manga marketed to girls), and YA novels, students consider the challenges of reading touch-and-feel books for babies and toddlers.

FIELD OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

ENGL-2003/6-001 (FW)

6 credit hours

2012-2013:

Tu 6:00 - 9:00 TBA

This course is an introduction to the scholarly study of children's literature. The course will deconstruct the cultural representation of childhood and adolescence from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, particularly in Anglo-American texts. We will use a diverse range of texts to discuss the history of children’s and Young Adult literature as defined genres, as well as the often disputed place of these texts in literary criticism. We will also explore issues around the censorship of children’s texts and assumptions around ‘appropriateness’ of texts for young readers. A wide range of texts will be examined including religious texts, young adult fiction, illustrated children’s books, children’s literature ‘classics’, poetry, short stories, plays, films, franchised merchandise, and series books. In addition, the course will introduce students to research on young children’s literacies as well as psychoanalytic, feminist, and other critical perspectives. We will also address recent cross-media adaptations of children’s texts, and the changing roles of young people as both consumers and producers of these texts. In addition to written assignments and a final examination, course work will involve individualized research papers, in-class written responses, and group presentations. Please see the course outline for finalized list of required texts and film screenings.

FAIRY TALES, FANTASY, AND CULTURE

ENGL-2114/6-001 (FW)

6 credit hours

2012-2013:

M W F 10:30 - 11:20 TBA

This course examines fairy tales from their origins in myth and folklore to their uses in contemporary culture. Students explore the major themes and characteristics of traditional tales, such as those collected by Charles Perrault and the Grimms, and those written by Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde. They then consider the function of fairy tales in contemporary society (in, for example, the social texts of weddings and proms) and study narratives influenced by fairy tales particularly narratives directed to audiences of young people. Topics might include second-world fantasy; narrative revisions of fairy tales; Disney’s animations of fairy tales; or contemporary narrative films using fairy-tale motifs.

FAIRY TALES, FANTASY, AND CULTURE

ENGL-2114/6-050 (FW)

6 credit hours

2012-2013:

M 6:00 - 9:00 TBA

In this course students study fairy tales, focusing not only on original source material, but on literature written specifically for children based on these borrowed forms. Students trace the history of fairy tales from their origins in myth and folklore to their impact on contemporary culture today. Students read and write critically about these tales and engage in comparisons on multiple fronts, exploring major themes and characteristics of these tales as well as the social and psychological aspects of them. The goal is to enrich our appreciation of these tales by strengthening our critical understanding of them as well as to gain insight as to how these tales function in our selves and our society.

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE OF FRENCH CANADA

FREN-2681/3-001 (W)

6 credit hours

2013:

Tu Th 10:00 - 11:15 TBA

This course examines the socio-cultural evolution of children’s literature in French Canada from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. Students study the characteristic themes and styles of this literature by examining representative texts. Emphasis is placed on the contemporary period, and various genres are studied.

FILMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE*

ENGL-3169/3-050 (F)

3 credit hours

2012:

W 6:00 - 9:00 TBA

This course will focus on the critical examination of films for young people as well as distinct representations from films about children for adult audiences. The course will provide a context for a historical overview of films produced specifically for young people, particularly in North America and Europe. We will closely examine a number of key films, applying critical approaches from the areas of film studies, narrative theory, children’s literature criticism, semiotics and visual culture, and audience reception studies. In addition, we will highlight key issues around cross-cultural, linguistic, multimedia, and commercially driven adaptations of popular children’s books, fairytale and folktales in films for young viewers. The final section of the course will address the role of young people as film producers themselves. Students will engage in the focused study of specific films and sub-genres through essays, evaluative written responses, and group presentations. Although the emphasis will be on English-language films, this course will address several international films in other languages (with sub-titles). Please see the course outline for a finalized list of required texts and film screenings.

TOPICS IN FICTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: Gender, Sexuality, and High School Hierarchy*

ENGL-3118/3-050 (W)

3 credit hours

2013:

W 6:00 - 9:00 TBA

In this course, we will examine the construction and representation of adolescent sexuality and gender identity, and how these issues play out within both fictional and real school spaces. We will examine a variety of texts, including novels and poems for young people, ethnographic studies, self-help guides for teens and parents, films and television shows, and news coverage of issues such as school violence and bullying. We will look at the works of authors such as Kate Bornstein, Rosalind Wiseman, E. Lockhart, Burt Royal, and film/tv creators such as John Hughes, Diablo Cody, Amy Heckerling, and Ryan Murphy.

CANADIAN CHILDREN'S LITERATURES AND CULTURES*

ENGL-3119/3-761 (W)

3 credit hours

2013:

ONLINE

In this course, we take up a number of Canadian children’s texts, primarily young adult and juvenile fiction, that focus on issues such as (re)settlement, nationhood, and sovereignty. We enhance our close readings of the primary texts by examining pertinent political and historical contexts and using critical concepts from current feminist, postcolonial, materialist, and cultural theories. This course is taught completely online using the University of Winnipeg’s Learning Management System, Nexus.

TOPICS IN CULTURES OF CHILDHOOD: Folk Narratives and Popular Culture*

ENGL-7160/3-001 (F)

3 credit hours

2012:

Tu 6:00 - 9:00 TBA

In this course, we will study the links and disjunctions between oral storytelling and popular mass-mediated discourse: while folklore and popular culture are often traditionally posited as oppositional, we’ll be examining popular culture as interpreter, shaper, and transmitter of folk narratives. We will begin the course with an examination of the three major forms of folk narrative (myth, legend, folktale), and an overview of popular theories of myth and folklore that have made their way into pop culture, often to the dismay of scholars. During the semester, we will cover topics such as urban legends, horror media as miner and transmitter of folklore, monsters/monstrosity, fairy tales and fairy tale films, audience studies and fandom, and popular religious discourse and folk narrative.