1. ELE 616 Readings and Research in
Children‟s Literature
Spring 2012
Valuing Children’s
Literature

2. 2
January
29, 2012 is the value of children’s literature?
What
• John Cech: Inspiring Children With
Words [Scroll down to see the article]
–“Children‟s books represent our first
encounters with literature, in which
we hear words used beautifully and
tune ourselves to the rhythms of our
language. One can‟t overstate the
value of children's literature. Millions
of people who will never read Tolstoy
or Shakespeare will read Charlotte‟s
Web - and never forget the experience.
Einstein kept a volume of Grimm‟s
Fairy Tales on his night table
throughout his life because he said
they sparked his imagination.”

3. 3
What is the function of literature?
• Nina Bawden:
From the inaugural Dorothy Briley
Lecture, delivered at the third IBBY
Regional Conference in
Madison, Wisconsin, on October 8, 1999

4. 4
January 29,
2012
Why do children read?
• Many reasons:
– reading can provide a safe environment
for experimenting with moral and
psychological risk.
– reading may provide a safe haven in a
world of real-life risk.
• Either way, the reader needs to
feel a sense of control over his or
her reading matter
• Margaret Mackey, “Risk, Safety, and
Control in Young People's Reading
Experiences.” School Libraries Worldwide
9 no1 50-63 Ja 2003

5. 5
January
Controlling
29, 2012 reading
• Margaret Mackey:
–“. . . too many adults want children
to read, and read with
enthusiasm, without conceding to
them any vestige of the sense of real
control that is one of the social and
psychological triumphs of reading.
Children, who are trying to “win at
growing up” as Beverly Cleary‟s
(1984, p. 182) Ramona so succinctly
expresses the challenge, are being
given a false passport that lets them
only into a fenced-off field.”
• “Risk, Safety, and Control in Young People's
Reading Experiences.”

6. 6
January
29,A Canadian’s
2012 view
• Russell Smith, a young
Canadian novelist:
– “. . . what turns off young
readers? A moral approach to
literature. A lack of clever
wickedness. And an outdated
belief in an outdated version of
Canada. . . . Books that are good
for you. Canadian cultural
nationalism is the literary
equivalent of Sunday school, and Quoted in Mackey,
“Risk, Safety, and
young people won‟t sit through Control in Young
it.” People's Reading
Experiences.”

7. 7
January Valuing Children's
29,Another
2012 Canadian Literature
viewpoint

8. 8
What does literature teach?
• Pauline Davey Zeece:

9. 9
Does educational value “cancel out” the
personal value of a book?
• Comment on Amazon.com:
– “. . . instead of intimidating a young
audience away, Harry Potter is
showing children as young as 8 that
reading is one of the most wonderful
pastimes available to them. It's
working! Please, as
educators, parents, and
librarians, encourage that. I read those
„classics‟ in Middle School, Johnny
Tremain and The Moon is Down
almost lost me as a reader forever.
They were dry and horrible and full of
educational value.”
• Spotlight Reviews: Literature Guide:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Grades 4-8)

10. The End