Links
AML2410 Index
AML2410 Syllabus
AML2410 Schedule
AML2410 Assignments
AML2410 Gradebook
AML2410 Blog
AML2410 Wiki
AML2410 Helps
AML 2410
Fall 2006
Issues in American Literature and Culture:
American Children's Popular Culture in Literature, Film and Media
Reading Questions
MacLeod, Anne Scott. "Children's Literature in America from the Puritan Beginnings to
1870." 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 MacLeod. More specifically, address the following questions:
-What was the purpose of Puritan literature for children? What form did this literature take? Where do you see the Puritan influence in children's literature today?
-Explain the statement "fiction for children should be 'the history of realities written in an entertaining manner'" (106).
-When Americans began writing for children, how were their books different from English texts?
-What is literacy? What is education? Are they different in your mind? How so?
-What children's periodicals did you read growing up? What do you remember about them?
-What was children's literature like before the middle of the nineteenth century (1850)? How did it change?
-How were series books for juveniles different than previous literature for children?
-What sort of texts expanded the definition of children's literature? How would you define children's literature?
-Why did parents object to dime novels? What can you compare that to today?