English 2F - Children's Lit Purpose: To analyze the messages, hidden and overt, in a child's text, to examine how illustrations and text work together to promote a certain ideology, or view of the world, analyze a text as a reflection of cultural attitudes about children and childhood. Directions: 1. Review the material from Module 3 about analysis in general, and picture book analysis in particular. 2. Choose a book to analyze. Go to the bibliographies posted in the resources for this module, or feel free to choose another picture book. Any picture book will do, as long as it features illustrations as prominently as text. You can visit your local library or bookstore for suggestions if you are stumped for a book. Our own reference librarians are excellent resouces for picture books as well. 2. Write at 4-6 pages discussing your interpretation of the book. Some questions to consider: What cultural messages, both hidden and blatant, is the author sending to the children and/or adults who read the book? Are there any messages that are more blatant than others? What kinds of portrayals of class, sex and/or gender, race and/or ethnicity, religions and family structure does the author include? Are there cultural attitudes or values that are reinforced in the story? Are there any that are subverted? How might children incorporate the messages and images in this book into their own worldview? For a thesis (the main idea of your essay) you can give your overall impression of the messages revealed in the book. Do they uphold traditional or subversive portrayals of class, sex, gender, race, religion, etc.? Do the messages reveal a particularly blatant agenda or bias on the part of the author, or is the author largely absent from the book? Could you sum up in one sentence the author's intent when writing and/or illustrating the book? Make sure you give a thorough description of both the text and the illustrations in your analysis. 3. Remember: what the author chooses not to include is sometimes as relevant as what the author does include. The absence of the father figure in many texts is a good illustration of this principle, but you can apply this to other elements. For example, if all the characters in a story are white, with no other races or ethnicities represented, what message does the absence of diversity send to the child and/or adults reading the story? This is just one example, but you get the idea. 4. Submit your response to the assignments chamber, either as an attachment, or a cut-and-paste. 5. Extra Credit Option: Post your response to the extra credit forums. You will receive extra credit if you post your response and respond to at least one other student's |