Children's literature week 18

Bildungsroman has different names, novel of formation, novel of education, or coming-of-age story. It is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood, in which character change is extremely important. In Charlotte’s Web, after knowing that Charlotte would be dead in a day or two.Wilbur start to ask Charlotte, ‘’Why did you do all this for me?’’ The protagonist starts to think about others, when we know it an example of bildungsroman.

Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. An example is that I experienced coming of age ceremony last year, drinking wine, hugging parents, and take their presents as a symbol that I am an adult, which makes me feel that I have different role to act, and that I should be more mature and reliable.

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as giants, elves, and witches. All of these characters usually have magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables. An famous example is L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that has powerful and magical characters.

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the late 18th / early 19th century. In North America the term Mother Goose Rhymes, introduced in the mid-18th century, is still often used. It has been argued to have hidden meanings and origins. For example, ‘’Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’’ supposed to originate from the period of slave trade and had a meaning that medieval taxes were much lower.

Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story. In prose or verse, it features animals, plants, or forces of nature that are given human qualities, such as verbal communication. It often illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson. Aesop's Fables includes most of the best-known western fables, including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Lion and the Mouse".

The climax of a narrative work is its point of highest tension or drama in which the outcome is made known. Could you relocate where the climax of Hansel and Gretel by Brothers Grimm is and analyze your resolution associated with the ideas of conflict?

In my opinion, the climax of Hansel and Gretel is in the scene that the witch told Gretel, ''Light the oven. We are going to have a tasty roasted boy today!'' Gretel returned, ''I can't tell if it is hot enough or not,'' which makes the witch angry and bend down to check the heat. In this moment, Gretel gave her a tremendous push and slammed the oven shut, leading to the death of the bad witch. There are two conflicts before the climax and have one conflict after it. The first conflict is that Hansel and Gretel lived in a poor family and they didn't have enough food to eat, so their stepmother persuade her husband to abandon them. The second conflict is that Hansel and Gretel failed to return home with his bread trails, and then they met the old bad witch that locked Hansel and made Gretel to do the housework, bringing the story to the climax. After the climax that the witch died in the Gretel's hand, there's still a conflict that Hansel and Gretel took the witch's treasure back to their house, accepting their father that abandoned them twice, living a happily life together with the money.

Discuss the themes from the story“Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears” that children can relate to their own lives such as the incidents and consequences, cause and effect: What happens when the grumpy iguana goes lumbering off with sticks stuck in his ears? How does one misunderstanding become a big problem? What do you learn about the lion from the way he handled the problem? Have you and a friend ever had a misunderstanding? What happened?

The iguana refuses to listen to any more nonsense of the mosquito with sticks stuck in his ears. Grumbling, the iguana offends a friendly python, who shoots down a rabbit hole and terrifies a rabbit. The misunderstanding of the python terrifying the rabbit. Seeing the rabbit scares a crow overhead, who spreads an alarm that danger is near. When a monkey reacts to the alarm, an owlet is killed, which makes mother owl grieve so profound that she is unable to wake the sun each day with her hooting. The nights grow longer, and when the King Lion calls a meeting to get to the bottom of the situation, the chain of events is traced back to the source of all the trouble, the pesky mosquito. Finding the culprit satisfies the mother owl, who calls the sun back again. I learn that you should traced the problem back to the origin, after all the process becoming clear, you can handle anything that is acceptable to others. In my experience, I have a younger sister, who would like to play iPad without my mom's acceptation. Once, my mom came home, without seeing my younger sister and iPad. She started to doubt that my younger sister is playing iPad, asking me about it. We sneaked upstairs to see my younger sister. To our surprise, she is doing homework. What a interesting misunderstanding it is!

source:
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=1127
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Mosquitoes_Buzz_in_People%27s_Ears

Children's literature week 17

 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. 

The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle to kill the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who aims to 

become immortal, overthrow the Ministry of Magic, and destroy anyone who stands in his way.



Aunt Polly: "Spare the rod, and spile the child."
3 main adventure of Tom Sawyer:
1. go to the graveyard
2. go playing pirate games on the small island
3. go to the haunted house
上面小說的主角多是窮苦無依、孤兒、單親、孤絕的心靈。
What may attract you to read the novel?
1. the characters are child
2. the unprivileged stand against the authority
3. leadership and brotherhood
4. dream pursuing and adventure 
(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye)

The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger.^[3] A controversial novel originally published 

for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of 

teenage angst and alienation.

 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in the United Kingdom in 

December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great 

American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout 

in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism.

 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women)

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott(1832–1888). Alcott wrote the books 

rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely 

based on the author and her three sisters.

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre)

Jane Eyre  is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published on 16 October 1847, by Smith, 

Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell."

Children's literature week 16

greedy sea

翻譯：
1. 分段分行
2. 韻味要出來


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust)

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend. He is a scholar who is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther)
The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary, loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. A revised edition appeared in 1787. It was an important novel of the Sturm und Drang period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic movement in literature.

Children's literature week 15

Deck the halls

secular: something happens on earth
religious: 出世的、宗教的

Let it snow

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. The story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz, after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw)

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was a Nobel Prize and Oscar-winning Irish playwright, critic and socialist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics stretched from the 1880s to his death in 1950.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady)

My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a lady.

Children's literature week 14

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid)


"The Little Mermaid" (Danish: Den lille havfrue) is a fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen)

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales.


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale_(fairy_tale))

"The Nightingale"  is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about an emperor who prefers the tinkling of a bejeweled mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Duckling)

"The Ugly Duckling" tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.

rotate ◎    輪流 take turns
shift ┴┴┴ 同等級交換
switch ↑↓ 換位子
alter ←→ alternative = choice (政黨輪替用這個字)
change: fundemental word



The Snow Queen is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children.



The Red Shoes (fairy tale) is about a girl forced to dance continually in her red shoes.

Children's literature week 13

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella)

"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper" is a European folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood)

"Little Red Riding Hood", is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. The story was first published by Charles Perrault.^[2]

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson)

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality—as seen in Long John Silver—unusual for children's literature.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll,^[2][3] and the evil Edward Hyde.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_of_the_Magi)

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story, written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter), about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money.

Children's literature week 12

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm)

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together specialized in collecting and publishing folklore during the 19th century.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel)

"Hansel and Gretel"is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister kidnapped by a cannibalistic witch living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel)

"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_tale)

A fairy tale (pronounced /ˈfeəriˌteɪl/) is a type of short story that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend)
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude.

protagnist: main character
antagonist: 反角

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidekick)

A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague  who is actually, or generally regarded as, subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are  Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, Shrek's Donkey and Batman's Robin.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Thousand_and_One_Nights)

One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age.