Critical Handbook of Children's Literature

Powerpoint Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19CRMkPsCleY7DycT52TsOZlBiwB6TDPc/view?usp=sharing

Handout:

A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature by Rebecca J. Lukens, Jaquelin J. Smith and Cynthia Miller Coffel

Overview:

A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature is what it sounds like, an effort to examine children’s (and young adult) literature with the same academic standard that is usually reserved for adult literature. The book examines everything from current cultural trends affecting children’s literature to the role of plot, character, and setting in the creation of stories. As it does this, it uses the novel Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White as a “mentor text”, a text the book uses to present examples of these techniques and aspects at work.

Changes in Children’s Literature

            American culture has changed immeasurably in the past ten years and these changes are beginning to be reflected more and more in children’s literature. For one thing, racial and cultural diversity is becoming more prevalent. This has mixed with the proliferation of the Internet to create texts that are different from anything seen before and see increased attention to mediums once ignored or derided. Not only that, but staples of adult literature such as moral ambiguity, certain kinds of plot structure, and postmodern storytelling are beginning to be seen in children’s literature.

Character:

            There are many different kinds of characters in children’s literature, many defined by the details of their appearance, relationships and actions. Two of the most basic character definitions are between flat characters and round characters. The flat character is one who does not have much complexity to them. This is not a bad thing as flat characters are often needed to fill out the world around more complex characters. Fern from Charlotte’s Web is an example of a flat character as she has a small handful of shallow traits that serve to distinguish her from other children. Round characters are more complex creations as the reader comes to know not only their traits but their behaviors and thoughts. It is usually, but not always, these characters that stories circle around. An example of this kind of character is Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web as we learn everything there is to learn about him over the course of the story.

            There is also the two poles of consistency and dynamism. In the language Critical Handbook uses, consistency refers to a relatively changeless character, whether round or flat while a dynamic character is one that changes over the course of the story

Plot:

            The meaning of plot in fiction is simple, the series of events that happen to and happen because of the characters. But children’s fiction is beginning to see variations in that idea. The first deviation is in chronological order. There are many variations in the use of time in stories. An example of this is the book Holes which has two plots taking place side-by-side in different time periods. The other big change in plot is the nature of the conflict that defines the story. These variations include: person against self, person against person, person against nature, and many others. The main conflict of Charlotte’s Web is Wilbur and Charlotte’s effort to keep Wilbur alive. This blends with pacing and various techniques to create patterns of action such as rising action, climaxes, and denouements to influence the anticipation and suspense felt by the reader.

Setting:

            The main difference in setting is the idea of both backdrops setting and integral setting. The backdrop setting is merely a place the story takes place. Stories with backdrop settings can take place anywhere and not affect the story. Winnie-The-Pooh is an example of a backdrop setting, Christopher Robin could be from anywhere in the Western World for all it matters to the story and the Thousand Acre Wood matters only as a nondescript forest for the action to take place in. The integral setting, however, is the opposite, the setting that influences and changes the story that takes place within it. Charlotte’s Web is an example of an integral setting as the farm, the fair, and the daily business of the humans and animals in these settings influence everything in the story.

Challenges:

            There is a major issue with incorporating texts with the classroom, and it is the simple fact that it is a textbook made by teachers for teachers. Not only that, the ground it covers has been covered by other English texts ad nauseum. This makes the active incorporation of this text into a classroom difficult as it can quickly meld into the morass of lessons and textbooks an English teacher has read in school.

Use:

            That does not mean it cannot be useful. The main strength of the book is that it applies the academic techniques of analysis to a type of literature ignored if not outright maligned by the American literary establishment. This could allow the teacher to not just meet common core but also sprinkle more advanced material into their classes. The book also includes a veritable cornucopia of texts the teacher can assign to their class and the ability to expose one to new art is never to be sneezed at.