Fairy tales meant a lot to me as a child. I remember watching Cinderella on VHS until the tape was broken and my parents bought me another one. I remember owning a Cinderella comforter, and dressing up as Cinderella for Halloween. Along with Cinderella were The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. The tales I remember the most were Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz. I believe the reason that Cinderella made such an impact on me is because I also had a stepmother. Of course, she wasn't evil, and she didn't make me perform backbreaking chores either. I believe I identified with Cinderella the most because she had a stepmother. I don't know of many other fairy tales with step-parents playing an important role.
I also loved watching The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was so wonderful to me because of her kindness. I always thought their journey to Oz was so great because of what they encountered along the way. I thought it was really special that Dorothy would travel all that way just to reach her needs and the needs of the Tin man, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. I suppose her shoes helped too! I remember Dorothy and Cinderella the most because they were simple girls who experienced a magical journey that changed their lives and I wanted something like that for myself!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Linda Sue Park
The article written by Linda Sue Park is basically a rant and rave about celebrities writing children's literature. If celebrities are going to be given the opportunity to write children's books, then they at least need to be good. If children are given books that aren't as good as they could be, but are only read because they're written by a celebrity, then the child could be limited in furthering their education. This article simply asks writers to do their work and take the time to give their children audience the best book they can.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
beach article
This article mainly discusses how to introduce multicultural literature to adolescents in the classroom.
"While high school students may have difficulty understanding how individuals' identities and social practices are constituted by their participation in institutional systems or social worlds, they can vicariously gain experience of institutional forces through responding to literature portraying the effects of race, class, and gender systems on characters' lives (Beach, 3)."
The idea of subtly getting students to look at the bigger picture of why cultures behave the way they do is a huge task to overcome. I feel that A Single Shard is one of the better examples of a book that crosses the gender, class and racial gap that many teachers are hesitant to approach. A Single Shard tells of an orphaned, homeless, lower class boy who overcomes adversity and proves himself to be of value and who is worthy to be considered a human being. Students have the ability here to research and understand the customs of 12th century Korea. By doing research, and having class discussions, students can relate to the character for what the character is experiencing, rather than what the student has experienced. By challenging the student to think outside of their religion, class, race and family upbringing, the student can make proper evaluations of characters in A Single Shard, instead of saying that Tree-ear was a thief and Craneman was lazy. This article gives a teacher methods to prompt the student to have reach a revelation about other cultures. Students can have class discussions, quick writes, research papers, and activities that place themselves in the character's shoes. A student could understand the idea of Tree-ear and Craneman gleaning fields, of why Craneman was afraid of a fox, or why Tree-ear never talks back to Ajima or Min through the reinforcement of there social customs in Korea; all of these situations are directly influenced by what society expects of them. For a student to understand different concepts of living, and to see the bigger picture, they can then put together the reasons behind why Tree-ear has to scavenge for food, and why Craneman can't work. By using this book, we can potentially see students grasping the idea of learning about a culture, before making a judgment on them.
"While high school students may have difficulty understanding how individuals' identities and social practices are constituted by their participation in institutional systems or social worlds, they can vicariously gain experience of institutional forces through responding to literature portraying the effects of race, class, and gender systems on characters' lives (Beach, 3)."
The idea of subtly getting students to look at the bigger picture of why cultures behave the way they do is a huge task to overcome. I feel that A Single Shard is one of the better examples of a book that crosses the gender, class and racial gap that many teachers are hesitant to approach. A Single Shard tells of an orphaned, homeless, lower class boy who overcomes adversity and proves himself to be of value and who is worthy to be considered a human being. Students have the ability here to research and understand the customs of 12th century Korea. By doing research, and having class discussions, students can relate to the character for what the character is experiencing, rather than what the student has experienced. By challenging the student to think outside of their religion, class, race and family upbringing, the student can make proper evaluations of characters in A Single Shard, instead of saying that Tree-ear was a thief and Craneman was lazy. This article gives a teacher methods to prompt the student to have reach a revelation about other cultures. Students can have class discussions, quick writes, research papers, and activities that place themselves in the character's shoes. A student could understand the idea of Tree-ear and Craneman gleaning fields, of why Craneman was afraid of a fox, or why Tree-ear never talks back to Ajima or Min through the reinforcement of there social customs in Korea; all of these situations are directly influenced by what society expects of them. For a student to understand different concepts of living, and to see the bigger picture, they can then put together the reasons behind why Tree-ear has to scavenge for food, and why Craneman can't work. By using this book, we can potentially see students grasping the idea of learning about a culture, before making a judgment on them.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Research Proposal
My research proposal is a comparative study of the magical worlds in adolescent literature and the influence they have on main characters. I will be pulling from many different types of books. So far I have read A Wrinkle in Time, The Borrowers, Twilight, Harry Potter and Peter Pan. I want to make it a point to use chapter books as well as picture books that young children could use too. I also want to focus on using the books I write reviews for as a part of my research collection for comparing magical worlds. I will argue that magical worlds are a means of escaping from some form of problem in the main character/character(s) living world. There has been a growing trend in fighting conflict through a separate world. In some genres the conflict is heavy, such as saving a life. In other magical worlds we see the need for order to be restored, and it seems to only happen through average humans from an otherwise mundane world.
I selected this topic because I enjoy reading the creativity of the author. In Harry Potter there is an entire monetary system, as well as a separate government from the non-magical world. This is a single example. Some authors describe new means of travel, and the climate and environment of the world around them. Other authors describe the emotions felt more so than the separate world their characters are engaged in. I will be seeking out different ways of communicating, traveling, eating, and virtually all means of living that are different to what we as readers are accustomed to. I specifically want to focus on what the main character is fighting or escaping from, and in this process, what they are experiencing in their alternate world. I am really looking forward to seeing the differences.
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