This will be my last blog entry. This class has been great, and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about children's literature. It has been incredibly nice to be told to read a book other than science texts.

I found a published paper that details the benefits of children's literature. The website says that children's books can help the children better understand themselves, others, and the world around them. The paper suggests that teachers can help their children through difficult times in their lives using children's literature. It suggests two different forms of therapy: bibliotherapy and critical literacy.

Bibliotherapy is a method by which adults find books relating to the specific problems a child is facing. This can help start a conversation, present understanding, or fill in gaps that they may not be able to explain.

Critical literacy is a method by which adults help children build critical thinking skills that enable students to consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware. This can be accomplished by having them read books that introduce other cultures or other ideologies.

The article is extremely interesting and would be very useful to anyone considering a job in the teaching field. The link to this article is http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/bibliotherapy0702.

I highly suggest that everyone read this article if they are interested in the many benefits children's literature can have on children above the simple pleasure of reading.

I know that I read The Secret Garden when I was younger, but I cannot for the life of me remember anything about the story now. I am thoroughly enjoying the read as an adult, and I cannot wait until I get to pick it up again each day. The descriptions are absolutely beautiful, and I truly feel as though I am experiencing each event with her.

I am a little surprised though, at the length and detail with which each scene is described. Most children's literature is more fast paced and action packed to keep the children interested. However, this novel seems to meander through each portion of the garden and each hour of the day. My best conclusion is that it was written in this manner because it was written so long ago for a different audience of children.

I absolutely love the character of Mary. She is a complex character who is introduced as a selfish brat, and slowly develops into a more loving child. She has much more depth than the typical children's literature protagonist. Burnett did an excellent job of slowly morphing her into a more normal child as the story went along.

Again, I am so glad that this book was included in our reading list, and I cannot wait to pick up where I left off!

I recently watched a fantastic children's movie for the umpteenth time. I watched Mary Poppins yet again. This has always been one of my favorite movies, and I will never cease to love the beautiful songs and the fantastic characters and story line. The movie is so fantastic that it is often beyond the realm of possibility, yet even the seemingly impossible features of the story are made plausible by the unique story line.

The magical things do not simply happen all at once. They slowly magnify in intensity through the movie. We are first introduced to something extraordinary when the children begin getting to know Mary Poppins and her "bag of tricks." Later, the children are introduced to Bert who is an incredibly talented artist who makes his money by doing chimney sweep work. He creates paintings that are used to transport the children (with the ever-so-essential help of Mary Poppins) to new and exciting cartoon worlds. They group later visits an old man who is laughing so hard that he ends up flying.

Since we are gradually introduced to Mary Poppins' magic, it is not completely unbelievable. Everyone feels as if we could be transported into the world with Mary Poppins, and after seeing the movie, all children wish for such a wonderful nanny.

When I was in elementary school, I remember two awards always being mentioned in reference to the popular books we were reading: the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott Medal. The first was for the authors of children's literature and the latter was given to outstanding illustrators of children's literature.

Since we are currently discussing picture books, I thought it would be appropriate to do a little research on the Caldecott medal for this blog posting. The award was developed in 1937, and was named after the nineteenth century English illustrator named Randolph J. Caldecott. The Caldecott Medal website says, "His illustrations for children were unique to their time in both their humor, and their ability to create a sense of movement, vitality, and action that complemented the stories they accompanied." The first award was given in 1938 to Dorothy P. Lathrop for Animals of the Bible, A Picture Book.

The most recent winner of the Caldecott medal was awarded to Brian Selznick for his illustrations in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

If you would like more information on the Caldecott medal, visit http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm with the American Library Association.

Also, if you are curious about other literary awards, visit http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/awards.htm for a comprehensive list of children and adult literary awards.

The Cat in the Hat is a less eventful story than I remember. I remember it being a more fast paced and funny story. I guess when I was younger it was easier to find the humor in the balancing act and subsequent fall. I also realized that I had confused this book with other Dr. Seuss books. The story I was fondly remembering was one where the cat revealed smaller and smaller cats under his hat. Each cat had a smaller cat under its hat. Also, I seem to remember something about paint splatters and cleaning it up with mother's dress. So there are several things that are similar to this story (i.e. messing with mother's dress either by flying it as a kite or by wiping up spilt paint). I wish I could figure out which book I am thinking about, because I believe I would enjoy the other one more than The Cat in the Hat.

While this may be stretching the limits of children's literature, I would like to discuss the wide world of children's board games. I think it is related to children's literature because it still takes a creative person to develop the board games and many of them also increase children's learning and social skills. Some of the most popular games that I can remember include Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Cootie, Battleship, Connect Four, Guess Who, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Operation, Twister, and Trivial Pursuit Junior.

For the ones listed above, each game teaches children various aspects of social and learning skills. Candyland teaches children colors and counting, Battleship teaches children logic, Connect Four teaches forethought, Hungry Hungry Hippos teaches hand-eye coordination, Operation teaches various parts of anatomy as well as dexterity, and Trivial Pursuit Junior teaches knowledge in several different subject matters.

I am convinced that playing games is one of the best ways for children to increase their knowledge and learn good social skills that they will carry for the rest of their lives. Socializing with children of their own age is a skill that is invaluable and is immensely helpful as they begin their formal education.

A little history on Beatrix Potter that you might not have known...

I learned this tidbit of information from my boss in my research laboratory in Oklahoma. Beatrix Potter was originally a scientist who studied lichen. Her drawings of lichen and fungi are some of the most beautiful scientific drawings ever created. She was a brilliant scientist and was rumored to have actually discovered the true nature of lichen - that it was a symbiotic life form created from a mutualistic relationship between a fungi and a algae. This was a huge discovery for the scientific world, but she is often denied credit for her discovery. Why? Because she was a woman. The scientific community at that time was not ready to accept that women could make discoveries equally impressive as those made by men.

It was after she was repeatedly scorned and denied credit that she began writing and illustrating children's books. While she became one of the foremost children's literature writers/illustrators, it was a great loss to the scientific community when she left science forever.

The above is an illustration of fungi drawn by Beatrix Potter.