Children's literature week 9

Onomatopoeia:

Onomatopoeia is a word that phonetically imitates, resembles or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. It refers to the property of such words. For example, there’re animal noises like ‘’oink’’, ‘’meow’’, ‘’roar’’ or ‘’chirp’’.

Nonsense:

Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Many poets, novelists, and songwriters have used nonsense in their works to illustrate a point about language or reasoning. For instance, Noam Chomsky coined the phrase ‘’Colorless green ideas sleep furiously’’.

Nursery rhymes

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for young children in Britain and many other countries. 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.

Fantasy:

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. It comprises works by many writers, filmmakers, or others. For instance, Alice in Wonderland and The Lord of the Rings are fantasy works.

Charles Perrault:

Charles Perrault was a 17^th-century French author. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. For example, one of his best known tales is Cinderella.

1.      What is children's literature? Are there certain specific characteristics detaching children’s literature from adult’s books? If yes, what are they? If no, why are we here to study this subject?

Children's literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are enjoyed by children. I think there’re several characteristics detaching children’s literature from adult’s book. First, books for younger children tend to be written in simple language. While the adult’s book contain much more words. Second, children’s literature uses large print, and have many illustrations in contrary to the adult’s book rarely seen it. Finally, I think children read books for funny, while adults read it can learn something meaningful.

2.      The climax is the high point of the story, where the culmination of events creates the peak of the conflict. In the plot of narrative work, a resolution consists of a series of events that follow the climax, and thus serves as the conclusion of the story, even though not all stories have a resolution. Could you (1) relocate where the climax of Charlotte's Web is and (2) analyze your resolution that (3) associated with the idea of conflicts?

I think the climax of Charlotte’s Web is at the silent time Wilbur resting after the ceremony with Charlotte. Because Wilbur start to ask Charlotte, ‘’Why did you do all this for me?’’ Furthermore, Wilbur is getting to know that Charlotte, it’s brilliant, beautiful and loyal friend can’t go back to the barn and would be dead in a day or two. I think the conflicts include Wilbur’s mood from excitement and strain of the ceremony to shock and unbelievable when knowing Charlotte can’t go back with him.

II.                 We’ve watched an enchanting film, "Miss Potter," based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the best-selling author of children's books of all time, this semester before the midterm. One of the phrases that opens and ends the whole movie is the voice of the title protagonist, “there's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. Mine took me here, where I belong.” Could you paraphrase what that means in the context of your understanding of Miss Potter’s works, life, as well as your life experience and expectation?

When we see Beatrix Potter’s life, we know that Potter grew up isolated from other children in early life, observing and painting the landscape when she spent holidays in Scotland and Lack District, and she had many pets. With these factors, Potter published the successful children’s book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, starting her writing life. I think she found passion in writing and also set up her belief, which make her spend all her life in writing, enjoying writing and said that ‘’Mine took me here, where I belong.’’

1.     Who is Mother Goose? Is she real?

Mother Goose is an iconic figure in literature, associated with both fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The modern American reader may be most familiar with the classic book of short poems called The Real Mother Goose first published in 1916. Many of these poems are well known adaptations of poems or songs for children, long predating the publication of the book.