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5 credits
Spring 2008 CRN: 22922 MWF 11:30-12:50 pm
View syllabus
for Spring Term 2008 (in PDF format)
COURSE FOCUS: In this course we’ll read, discuss, and respond in numerous ways to a selection of literature written by American authors between the mid-1800s and the present. We’ll examine the changes in literature written and marketed for children, beginning with classic texts that have earned a following by child and adult readers and ending with an exploration into what’s new in American children’s literature. As we read across approximately 150 years of American literature, also we’ll consider how literature set in American and written by Americans is defined and redefined, and how childhood and early adolescence is portrayed in light of the social backdrop surrounding and influencing characters’ actions and motivations, their beliefs and values, and their perceptions of self and others. And we’ll deepen our understanding of what makes literature “distinguished,” in light of literary criteria as well as personal taste.
TEXTS:
[Required]
--Little Women , Louisa May Alcott
--The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
--Call It Courage, Armstrong Sperry* ($1.00)
--A Wrinkle in Time , Madeline L'Engle
--The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selzick
[Optional texts]
--Holes , Louis Sachar
--Bud, Not Buddy , Christopher Paul Curtis
--The Giver, Gary Schmidt
--Al Capone Does My Shirts , Gennifer Choldinko* ($4.00)
--Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
[All books are available at the WWU and College Bookstores with the exception of Call It Courage and Al Capone Does My Shirts. *I’ve preordered these at book club prices and will gladly sell them to you at these great rates.
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