Anderson Chapters 1-5 Blog Response

Chapter 1
★Literature for children=works of good quality
(Hillman, 20012)
★One person cannot dictate to another what they should perceive as high quality.
★It is not easy to distinguish between children's and adult literature.
★Assigning grade levels to books actually discourages children from reading
many quality books.
★Children's literature has dramatically changed from early efforts that typically
contained a moral or 'lesson' to topics that are often for entertainment only and
the sheer joy of reading.
★Children's classics are those that have stood the test of time and children's
interest well into the 19th century.
Literary Genres
★Early Childhood Books=concept, alphabet, counting, general pattern books,
and wordless books.
Traditional Literature=myths, fables, ballads, legends, tall tales, fairy tales, and
traditional rhymes.
Fiction=fantasy, animal fantasy, contemporary realistic fiction, and historical fiction
Biography and Autobiography
Informational Books
Poetry and Verse
Reflections:
★The Dewey Decimal System pioneered by Melvil Dewy (1876) streamlined
the system of classification.
★Technology and literature can be integrated.
★Strategies to facilitate reading for children=pre-reading, schema -building process,
modeling, read-alouds, and book talks

Chapter 2

Elements of Quality-reading Children’s Lit

Tips to find quality Children’s Literature

• 
  

  Book Awards
• Literary Elements
• Writing Style

How can we respond to Literature

• Reader Response Theory
• Literature Circles

Developing a Classroom Library

Good classroom libraries are vital to facilitate a child’s success and creating a
lifelong reader.

Chapter 3

The Art of Illustration
Evaluating illustrations

• Books are often judged by its cover and all the pictures

throughout.

• Being able to interpret and communicate through visual

symbols is an aspect of visual literacy.

• The visual elements of design such a space, line, shape,

color, texture, and composition are all deliberate choices in illustrations.

• Artistic Media and techniques like painting, drawing,

airbrushing, collages, photography, and computer generated graphics provide
a variety of appeal for illustrations and text.

• Illustrations offer insight, connections, and depth to the text in children’s

literature.

Chapter 4

Early Childhood Books

• Board books
• Concept books
• Alphabet books
• Counting books
• Pattern books
• Wordless books

Early Childhood books are vital to creating positive book experiences to
encourage the growth of lifelong readers.

Chapter 5

Traditional Literature

• The earliest form of literature was oral storytelling that helped preserve the

history, traditions, desires, and taboos of various culture and explanations for natural and unnatural occurrences; they provide explanations for existence.

• Characteristics of traditional literature include:

*unknown authorship

*conventional introductions and conclusions

*vague settings

*stereotyped characters

*anthropomorphism

*cause and effect

*happy ending for the hero

*magic is accepted as normal

*brief stories with simple and direct plots

*repetition of actions and verbal patterns

• Themes of traditional literature

*triumph of good over evil

*trickery

*hero’s quest

*reversal of fortune

*small outwitting the big

• Sub genres of traditional literature

*myths

*fables

*ballads and folk songs

*legends

*tall tales

*fairy tales
**African, American, Native American, Asian, British, French, German,
Latino, Middle Eastern, Russian, Scandinavian, other fairy tales.

These five chapters gave me several “a-ha!” moments.

~Assigning grade levels to books actually discourage children from reading many fine books.
(chapter 1-page 4)

~Thank goodness for Melvil Dewey and a ‘practical system of classification of books’.
(chapter 1-page 9)

~It’s okay to integrate technology with literacy. This connection is vital for today’s learner.
(chapter 1-page 24, chapter 2-page 45, chapter 3-page 61, chapter 4-page 73,  & chapter 5-page 78)

~Many of the strategies outlined in these chapters validate what I practice in my classroom; book talks,
independent reading, reader choice, technology, and continuous multiple opportunities to read as often
as possible.

My thoughts:

The purpose of children’s literature is to instill at a very young age a yearning for
books and opportunities for freedom of choice in what is read. Only then will we create
lifelong readers and therefore, learners.

REFERENCE:

Elementary Children’s Literature~Infancy through age 13 (4th edition)

Nancy A. Anderson (2013)