PICTURE BOOKS IN CHILDREN S CULTURE. Seminars: Mondays and Wednesdays 4pm-7pm Room: HNE 104

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1 1 HUMA S2 PICTURE BOOKS IN CHILDREN S CULTURE Seminars: Mondays and Wednesdays 4pm-7pm Room: HNE 104 Course Director: Dr. Richardine Woodall Address: rglwoodall@rogers.com woodall@yorku.ca Office: 109 Vanier College Office Hours: Monday 2pm-3pm and Wednesday 2pm-3pm (TBA) FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES York University Children's Studies Program UNDERGRADUATE COURSE SYLLABUS Course Description The genre of picture books, the only genre unique to Children's Literature, provides a complex site for theories of narratology, simultaneously invoking differing codes of meaning-making from literary, visual, and performative arts. Students will read critical sources about narratology, literary theory, and picture book theory in conjunction with a variety of picture books that expose them to the historical development of the genre. They will study a diverse representation of genres of picture books, including fiction, non-fiction, verse, wordless picture books, postmodern picture books, and other illustrated texts such as comic books, manga, and graphic novels. Course participants will explore together how pictures mean, how text means, and how pictures and words inform, animate, and unsettle each other in the art and performance of the picture book. Attention will be paid both to sites of production and reception in the readings, class discussions, and written assignments in this course on the semiotics of picture books. Learning Objectives: Students Will: Recognize the relationship between text and image in picture books. Develop insights while examining and discussing illustrations. Recognize visual techniques, such as color, line, form, perspective, shape, etc. in picture books. Develop insights regarding the relationships between the related genres of picture books, concept books, graphic texts and multimedia/ transmedia texts. Consider various approaches to, and theories of picture books, their implied audiences, their ideological implications, and the meaning-making process. Organization of the Course: This is a seminar course that will require active participation (listening and speaking) from students, who are responsible for discussing required and recommended readings. Students should be prepared to deliver at least one group or individual seminar presentation on primary and secondary texts. The required readings are central to the course. The seminars will serve to enrich, clarify, and illustrate crucial issues from the assigned readings. Classes may occasionally involve informal lectures by the instructor; they may periodically be supplemented by films and videos.

2 2 Required Texts: Primary: 1. The 20th-Century Children s Book Treasury. Janet Schulman, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Let's Talk About Race. Julius Lester. HarperTrophy Der Struwwelpeter, Heinrich Hoffman (online) 4.Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Gordon Lightfoot. Groundwood Books Peter Rabbit. Beatrice Potter Lost and Found. Shaun Tan Red: A Haida Manga. Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas Virginia Wolf. Kyo Maclear Wonderstruck. Brian Selznick And Tango Makes Three. Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Northwest Passage. Stan Rogers The Cat in the Hat. Dr. Seuss. Random House Secondary: 1. Children s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling. Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles, London: Laurence King (on reserve in Scott Library) 2. Reading Contemporary Picturebooks: Picturing Text. David Lewis, London: Routledge, (on reserve in Scott Library) 3. Selected articles on Moodle (subject to change) All required texts are available for purchase at the York University Bookstore in York Lanes. Evaluation: Participation (includes visit to Lillian Smith library) 15% TBA In-class quizzes 10% Jun 25 and Jun 30 Seminar Presentation 20% TBA Position papers (2 x 500 words) 20% Jun 30 and Jul 16 Research Essay Outline & Annotated Bibliography 10% Jul 9 Research Essay (10-12 pages) 25% July 23 Grading: The grading scheme for the course conforms to the 9-point grading system used in undergraduate programs at York (e.g., A+ = 9, A = 8, B+ - 7, C+ = 5, etc.). Assignments and tests* will bear either a letter grade designation or a corresponding number grade (e.g. A+ = 90 to 100, A = 80 to 90, B+ = 75 to 79, etc.) (For a full description of York grading system see the York University Undergraduate Calendar -

3 3 Assignment Submission: Proper academic performance depends on students doing their work not only well, but also on time. Accordingly, assignments for this course must be received on the due date specified for the assignment. Assignments are to be handed in at the start of class on the due date or in the assignment slot in the Department of Humanities. Do NOT submit your assignment to the reception desk, as they will not accept them. submissions will not be accepted. Lateness Penalty: Assignments received later than the due date will be penalized one-half letter grade (1 grade point) per day that the assignment is late. Exceptions to the lateness penalty for valid reasons such as illness, compassionate grounds, etc., may be entertained by the Course Instructor but will require supporting documentation (e.g., a doctor s letter). Important Course Information for Students: All students are expected to familiarize themselves with the following information, available on the Senate Committee on Academic Standards, Curriculum & Pedagogy webpage (see Reports, Initiatives, Documents) Senate Policy on Academic Honesty and the Academic Integrity Website Ethics Review Process for research involving human participants Course requirement accommodation for students with disabilities, including physical, medical, systemic, learning and psychiatric disabilities Student Conduct Standards Religious Observance Accommodation Important Dates: Last date to drop Summer (S2) courses without receiving a grade: 4 July 2014 Last date to submit term work: 5 August 2014 You are responsible for knowing sessional dates for this course, including the last day to drop this course without receiving a grade. If you wish to drop this course, you must do so by the drop date and do so through the Registrar s Office; you cannot simply stop coming to class. If your name is on the class list by the end of the course, and you have done none or very little of the work, you will receive an F. Seminar Schedule: June 23: Introduction: Picture Books in Children s Culture 1. Picture Books /acref e-2555?rskey=7zkX3G&result=2537&q= 2. Notes for the Analysis of a Picture Book, Kay E. Vandergrift 3. Harry the Dirty Dog read by Betty White:

4 4 June 25: A History of Picture Books **Quiz #1** 1. Introduction and Chapter 1, A Brief History of the Picturebook, Children s Picturebooks (CP) 2. Selections from The Twentieth-Century Children s Book Treasury (CBT): Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline; Robert McCloskey, Make Way for Ducklings; Wanda Gág, Millions of Cats; H.A. Rey, Curious George. 3. Heinrich Hoffman, Der Struwwelpeter; June 30: How Picture Books Work **Quiz #2** **Position Paper # 1 due** 1. Introduction, and Chapter 2: The Interaction of Word and Image in picturebooks: a critical survey Reading Contemporary Picturebooks (RCP) 2. Ch. 4: Word and Image, Word as Image Children s Picturebooks: The art of visual storytelling (CP) 3. Selections from The 20 th Century Children s Book Treasury (CBT) The Snowy Day. July 2: **Field Trip to Lillian Smith Library and Osborne collection** July 7: How Picture Books Work (2) 1. Ch. 7: A word about pictures (RCP) 2. Sipe, Lawrence. The Art of the Picturebook Children s and Young Adult Literature (Moodle) 3. Brian Selznick. Wonderstruck July 9: Time and Movement in Picture Books **Research Essay Outline and Annotated Bibliography Due 1. Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott, Time and Movement (Moodle) 2. CBT: Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon; Donald Crews, Freight Train; Peggy Rathmann, Good Night, Gorilla. July 14: Postmodern Picture books/ The Art and Technology of Picture Books 1. Ch. 6: Postmodernism and the Picturebook (RCP) 2. Ch. 2: The Picturebook Maker s Art; Ch. 6: Print and Process: the Shock of the Old. (CP) 3. Shaun Tan, Lost and Found 4. Selection of pop-up books (Bring in a book from your own collection or local library)

5 5 July 16: Picture books, Reading, and Implied Audiences **Position Paper # 2 due** 1. Ch. 3: The Picture Book and the Child, (CP) 2. Ch. 4: The picturebook as process: making it new, (RCP) 3. CBT: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom; The Stinky Cheese Man. 4. Kyo Maclear, Virginia Wolf 5. Beatrice Potter, Peter Rabbit 6. Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat July 21: Suitable for Children? Ideology and the Picture Book 1. Ch. 5: Suitable for Children? (CP) 2. M.T. Anderson, On Ideology and Chickens with Blankets : 3. Shaun Tan, Picture books: Who are they for? 3. CBT: Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches; Vera B. Williams, A Chair for my Mother; Virginia Lee Burton, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel; Jean De Brunhoff, The Story of Babar; Helen Bannerman and Fred Marcellino, The Story of Little Babaji. 4. Julius Lester, Let s Talk About Race 5. Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, And Tango Makes Three July 23: Picture Books, Animation, and Film Adaptation **Research Paper Due** 1. Review: 2. CBT: Where the Wild Things Are 3. Film (to be shown in class): Where the Wild Things Are July 28: Why comics are and are not picture books 1. Why Comics are and are not picture books, Hatfieild and Svonkin (Moodle) 2. Picture Book Guy Looks at Comics, Perry Nodelman 3. Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Red, 4. CBT: Mercer Mayer, A Boy, A Dog and A Frog July 30: Canadian Picture Books 1. Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian Railroad Trilogy 2. Stan Rogers, Northwest Passage

Department of English and Writing Studies Western University. English 4050G January 2015

Department of English and Writing Studies Western University English 4050G January 2015 Professor Jan Plug A&H 3G12 (519) 661-2111, ext. 85822 jplug@uwo.ca Office hours: Mon. 1-2, Tues.10-11, Thurs 10-11