Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Trends in Children's Literature
I took the class titled "Trends in Children's Literature" because I found it applicable to this class because it talks about various techniques when it comes to selecting books for children. This course reviewed the basics of children's literature, examined contemporary books and looked at trends for students K-5. The course emphasized books published since 2000. More than 7,000 new juvenile books are published annually. Books written specifically to meet the interests of young people is a relatively new phenomenon. Many stories that are now considered to be for children especially fairy tales, myths, and folktales, were in reality attempts to understand society, the natural and spiritual world, or to record some aspect of the culture or history of a group and were not written for children's enjoyment. In fact, many examples of classic "children's" literature weren't appropriate for children at all. It's reasonalbe to expect that social values and interests will be reflected in children's literature and the very factors that make the books appealing to young readers may also cause concern for adults. The course had me shelve classic children's books by publication date. The course goes on to break it down by age and tell what these groups are interested in when it comes to literature. Some more trends are talked about such as graphic novels, book packagers, and licensed characters. Once again, the course encompassed so much information, it would be hard to talk about all of it. I did enjoy the class and would recommend it to someone else.
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Sarah, what are book packagers? I haven't heard the term before, are they similar to jobbers like B&T? Your description sounds very interesting to me because I tend to read the classics, and don't know much about books written after 2000. I have lots of juvenile literature ready for my daughter, but the last pub date is the 80's or 90's. I may need to take this course to help in my selection process for my ongoing home library.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in this class also. I work in the youth services department and I am always looking out for the latest "hot reads" for kids.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that children's books are relatively new. I also agree that some of those fairy tales are pretty scary.
ReplyDeleteThis class sounds like a very interesting class. I especially like the fact that they concentrated on books published since 2000. Students at my school like the classics, but they would definitely prefer to read a more contemporary book.
ReplyDeletethanks for the recommendation. It does sound cool and fun. I like childrens books the most. And hope one day to be in childrens dep in a library or in a school library .I will def be taking this course soon.
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