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AML 2410
Fall 2006
Issues in American Literature and Culture:
American Children's Popular Culture in Literature, Film and Media
Reading Questions
Hunt, Peter. "Children's Literature in America (1870-1945)." Children's Literature: An
Illustrated History. Ed. Peter Hunt. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995.In general, think about the transitions that happened in children's literature and the changing view of children while reading Hunt. More specifically, address the following questions:
-How were expectations different for American and British children?
-How were the "ideas of what was appropriate to young readers" changing (227)?
-Analyze the picture on page 228 (page 4 of the course pack). What does it illustrate about family life and children of the 1890s? What would be different if a similar picture were taken today?
-What kinds of magazines were available to children? What sort of content did they include?
-When and in what form did comics begin? By 1941, what percentage of children read comic books? What type and form of comics did you read as a child? Now?
-Trace the progression of heroines in domestic fiction. What were some of their personality traits and how do they change over time?
-What is an epistolary novel?
-What does the article state is "probably America's most popular creative achievement" (236)? Do you agree or disagree? Give examples to back up your point.
-What type of behavior does the American boy begin to exhibit? How does this relate to depictions of girls in children's literature of the time? How is this different to the literature of the Puritan Americans?
-So, is Tom Sawyer a children's book?
-Pay attention to how illustrations and illustrators are discussed in the two sections devoted to that topic. This can help you in your Caldecott project.
-What were some major trends in the Newbery Award?
-What is realism and how is it depicted in children's literature?
-What other media besides print media (books) is discussed in this chapter?