EA300 Block 4 online tutorial

1. EA300 Block 4 online tutorial Fantasy and Realism Prestigious and Popular

2. Aims of the session • To think about how texts are different in the post-Romantic era in terms of characterisation, narration and plot • To work towards TMA04

3. Set texts for Block 4 • Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (1976) • Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (1930) • Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (1958) • You also have the opportunity to revisit EITHER Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone OR Northern Lights

4. Second Golden Age of Children’s Literature We are now in the post-Romantic era The set texts for this Block fit into the second golden age of children’s literature. There are some characteristics that show a shift in characterisation, narration and plot

5. Second Golden Age continued Characteristics of the Second Golden Age include: • Children requiring agency and being the actors in their own fate (see “Orphan” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature). Bildungsroman is a big feature here. • New narrative techniques such as free indirect speech (see exercise 1.6 in the AV materials) in which the omniscient or first person narrator describes the characters’ feelings and thoughts not just their actions or speech • More principal characters from working class backgrounds (this was only the start, so wasn’t necessarily a prolific feature of children’s literature of this time)

6. “Orphans” in children’s literature • “Orphans as archetypal figures in children’s literature can be traced back to myths and folk tales, in which the symbolic removal of parental figures is the foremost requirement for successful rite of passage. The most common hero of myth and folk tale is an underprivileged child or young person...often a child of unknown origin. At the end, the hero finds his fortune...and triumphs over those who at first seemed cleverer and stronger. In children’s fiction the absence of parents is a condition for the protagonist’s unhampered exploration of the world. The degree of abandonment can vary from a simple excursion by the parents to their emotional indifference to their actual death. Tom Sawyer’s, Anne Shirley’s, Mary Lennox’s, Dorothy’s, and Harry Potter’s, parents are dead. The March sisters’ father is away at war. Peter Rabbit’s mother goes shopping. The parents in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe remain in London while their children are sent to the country...children’s whose parents are alive (but do not care about them) can be called ‘functional orphans’” (Maria Nikolajeva, Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, 2005/6)

7. Adults and children’s literature (crossover reading) Philip Pullman, paraphrasing a quote from CS Lewis, claims that good children’s fiction should also be appreciated by adults On the plus side: It gives literary merit to children’s fiction and holds it up as worthy On the negative side: It suggests that good children’s fiction is primarily or exclusively judged by adults (e.g. Children’s book awards, prestigious vs popular/Enid Blyton)

8. Children’s books enjoyed by adults • The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis • The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien • The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson • Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins • The ‘Twilight’ Series by Stephanie Meyer

9. Enid Blyton • For Option 1, you can contrast the concept of adults enjoying children’s literature with the success of Enid Blyton, refer to David Rudd’s essay in Reader 1 (pp.168-182) • Enid Blyton’s writing is not respected as being of literary merit, however, David Rudd highlights, and I agree, that she has great merit in encouraging children to read at all, therefore has made a contribution to LITERACY if not LITERARY APPRECIATION

10. Victor Watson on series fiction • Victor Watson wrote a book on children’s series fiction which included the following idea, which I have paraphrased: • For children, reading series fiction is like entering a room full of friends; here he refers to the familiarity that children feel when they engage with a series. In the last 20 years, as a children’s librarian I have often grudgingly supplied children (including my own) with the following series: Animorphs, Goosebumps, Rainbow Fairies, Animal Ark, Point Horror, Babysitters Club, Mary Kate and Ashley. These are the kinds of books I refer to when I suggest that children’s views are not necessarily considered in the idea that the only good children’s books is one that is appreciated by adults. Think of the prestigious versus the popular if you choose Option 1.

11. Rachel Falconer on crossover reading Rachel Falconer’s essay focuses on children’s books written in the third golden age (late twentieth century onwards), crossover reading is a late twentieth century phenomenon, be careful when applying the critical theory from her essay to the set texts for this Block She discusses Northern Lights at some length, and makes some references to the ‘Harry Potter’ series, so might be useful if you choose either of those books for Option 1

12. Education in children’s literature • Formal education: school (Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry; Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; Northern Lights peripherally); books (Swallows and Amazons; Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) • Informal education: experiential learning (all of the books in this Block. Lyra’s experiences with the alethiometer certainly point towards experiential learning as do the encounters that Cassie and her brothers have in their everyday life in Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry). The main protagonists in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone could also be considered to go through a process of experiental learning.

13. Presenting book titles in TMAs You may shorten the titles of the books in this Block as some of them are rather long. However, do not initialise them, e.g. ROTHMC). You should say in your introduction something like: “I will be discussing the following texts: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry (hereafter called Roll of Thunder), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (hereafter called Harry Potter)”, and so on. Make sure that you present book titles in italics.