Final Conclusion to Children's Literature

Before taking this course in Children's Literature, it had never really occurred to me that there are 'bad' children's books and 'good' children's books to be blunt. As a child, I only read and remembered the books I really enjoyed and now looking back, I am able to understand why those books stood out to me in my younger years. The illustrations have always been an important factor to me and even now, I love looking at the work in children's book. Through this assignment, I have reevaluated books I loved as a child and even ones that I did not particularly enjoy. This course has even helped me reevaluated children's movies and rethink their quality. It is easy to say a book is a good one for young children if it is popular and recommended to you; but I now know that is not the correct way to critique a book. Being a future Early Childhood Educator, I will need to have many different genres of books available to my students; not just books I like or enjoy reading. While that may seem like a simple task, making sure a book is appropriate and beneficial for a classroom requires evaluation of the book. Due to the blogg assignment, I know now know how much time and thought it takes to correctly evaluate children's literature.

As a young child reading a book, you do not really notice if the book is biased, politically incorrect, or scientifically correct. It is the responsibility of the teacher to make sure all of the literature being offered to students is beneficial to their education in one way or another. If a book is biased and it is put into a classroom, then that should be something that is discussed with the students. Characters that are marginalized can provide a good lesson to any age even if it not quality literature. Students should be aware of such social issues and given a wide perspective. All of the old Disney princesses were mainly Caucasian and needed to be rescued by a 'prince'. What does this say to young girls? That to be princess you must be white and since you are a girl you must depend on a man? This should not be the case. Young girls do not benefit from this lesson but since they are popular stories, many people assume they are quality children's literature. I know now this is not true by any means. I am not saying that these books should not be provided for children to read, but there should also be book that have stories that contradict that stereotyping. There are plenty of books with princesses that are not Caucasian and do not need to be rescued by a prince. By reading a classic folktale like Cinderella and two different multicultural and international variations of it, I was able to explore and analyze different ways to bring the same story into my classroom without bringing the stereotype. Adelita by Tomie dePaola is a perfect example of the classic Cinderella story told through a different culture. Young children need to be exposed instead of sheltered and by offering a large variety of text and opening it up for discussion is the perfect way to begin exposing young children to issues of social justice.

The illustrations in children's literature, what captured my attention as a young child, are an extremely important aspect. The illustrations tell half if not the majority of the story and if they are done well, the reader should be able to follow the story just by looking at the illustrations. The illustrations should bring life to the text, establish the setting of the story, and reinforce the emotions of the characters. Going into this course, I though Eric Carle was my favorite illustrator, but now there countless authors and illustrators I have come to love. While Eric Carle is still one of my top, I was overly surprised to find out that some of the information in his books was not scientifically correct. For instance, in the book Hungry Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, he calls the chrysalis a cocoon which is what moths use, not butterflies. Going through all of the different children's books, it was interesting to see the variations in the quality of the illustrations. Some were bright and colorful while other were dull and boring. A few times, the illustrations were too over done and took away from the text while at other times, the illustrations fell short and did not support the text enough.

The quality of children's literature is something I have never given much thought to before now. To realize that there were many different books I enjoyed as a child that are not even in publication today is surprising but also makes sense. There are numerous options for children's books and simple because they are being published and sold does not mean they are worth while or even good books. By looking at books that have stood the test of time and those that will obviously fadeout, I am stumped by the fact that so many poor quality children's books are even published! I will be surprised if anyone can find a Dora the Explorer book within the next 5 years or so being sold in a bookstore. Children need a variety of genres of books brought into their environment to help enrich their literacy exposure. Even though I many not have enjoyed informational text as a young child, I now see their importance in a classroom and will make sure I have them in mine.