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.

I finally finished The Giver, and I absolutely loved it! The community was an interesting idea, and the idea of sameness was carried out so thoroughly throughout the book. However, a few things caused me to stumble over what I was reading, and just seemed too far-fetched to allow me to completely immerse myself into the novel. One such example was the disappearance of color from their lives. While it was a great idea, I needed a LOT more explanation on how it was possible to remove color without doing some sort of surgery on each individual's eyes. Color is simply a byproduct of light. If he was able to see color in the apple under normal circumstances, then theoretically the circumstances were right to see color. This means the lack of color differentiation would have been the perception of each individual, but not actually a byproduct of the setting.

Also, why would they not be able to hear music? Their hearing organs worked, because they could carry on verbal conversations, and they always heard the speaker announcements. I can understand that the rulers of the community just removed all "music" in the form produced by instruments or singing, but music would not have disappeared. Just the everyday beating of our hearts can become a rhythm for music. They would have had a natural music (the sound of bike tires spinning, the sound of balls bouncing, etc.). So while it would not have been what we call music, it would have been the origination of music in general (natural beats and rhythms).

These are a few of the reasons that I found it difficult to continue quickly through the novel, because I felt myself becoming hung up on issues like the aforementioned. Also, I was personally disappointed with the abrupt ending. I desperately want to know what happened to the boys after they slid down the slope. Did they just release the memories and then die, or did they find homes (since they were only one and thirteen)?

Still, even with these problems, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I would immediately read a sequel to this book if one existed.

I recently read Old Yeller for my last outside reading assignment. The book was written by Fred Gipson, and has long been known as one of the great books of children's literature.

The book basically tells the story of a family with two young boys whose father is away on a cattle drive. The eldest boy, Travis, is told to protect the family when the father leaves, and he takes this duty to heart. While the father is away, a dog shows up on their doorstep. Travis initially tries to chase the dog away (because he fears he will steal their meat), but the younger boy, Arliss, falls in love with the dog immediately. The boys' mother decides to allow them to keep the dog, and he becomes one of the family.

Eventually, the dog's rightful owner shows up and wants the dog back. However, the family convinces him to trade the dog for a nice meal and Arliss' pet toad. The family gets so used to the dog and loves him as a family member, that it is pure tragedy when Travis is forced to put him down. Yeller gets rabies while saving the family from a wolf, and Travis takes him out back to shoot him.

This is known as one of the greatest children's tragedies written in the 20th century. People are known to be of the utmost cold heartedness if they do not cry at the end of Old Yeller.

I feel very privileged to be able to say that my mother knew Fred Gipson personally and that this story has a very deep place in my heart.

One of the greatest shows ever to promote children's literature was Reading Rainbow with LeVar Burton. I'm sure anyone reading this blog has heard of the show, and probably watched it regularly as a child. I remember watching it every week during 2nd grade. We would all get to eat a snack and watch Reading Rainbow, and it was a highlight of the day.

The show aired from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006. Every episode would take children on adventures that could be found in various books, and they suggested different children's book each episode for kids to read. It was a rare show that made reading cool for kids, and established a positive connection with reading. Each episode was also educational because LeVar would travel to various places in the world, and children would learn about cultures other than their own.

I recently learned that Reading Rainbow was cancelled, and this saddens me deeply. The children who have to grow up without the show and the positive reinforcement for reading are at a great disadvantage.

The Giver is an interesting and strange book. The community kind of creeps me out. It is someplace where no one can let their true colors shine through, and everyone is the same. The community would become a stagnant place to live. No one would have original thought. It makes me wonder how people came up with the abstinence pill because it would have had to be an original thought. While this place can be written about in a book, I wonder if it could truly exist. The nature of human beings create a more inquisitive and wanting environment. People would question what they were being taught. Pills could not really squelch all natural human drives. While the concept is very interesting, I do not think it could actually be carried out.

As I was contemplating new blog ideas, I thought of my favorite piece of children's literature from when I was a child. I absolutely loved the Highlights magazine. Those are the magazines that have all sorts of fun games and stories for children to read. Anytime one walks into a pediatric dentist or pediatrician's office, Highlights can be found scattered around the room. I had a subscription to the magazine when I was younger, and I actually found them all a few years ago. They have been kept for over 15 years at the back of my closet. I looked forward every month when the magazine would appear on my doorstep.

I think it is absolutely fantastic that a company thought to put out a magazine solely for children. The magazine has educational articles and brain teaser games that help children learn in a fun environment. Also, children feel as if they are like adults if they are able to read a magazine when they go to the doctor's office, just like their parents.

I appreciate Highlights and think it is an invaluable resource for children - entertaining and educational!

I read the classic children's picture book entitled Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr. This book is extremely simply written, so children of all reading levels should be able to enjoy the book. It is also a great book to be read to small children when they are first attempting to learn their colors and animals. Each page spread consists of a different animal in a brilliantly colored variation. Some of the animals are realistically colored (like a white dog, green frog, and gold fish), but a few are unrealistic (a blue horse and a purple cat).

The book begins by questioning a brown bear on what he sees, and he answers that he sees a red bird, which in turn sees a yellow duck, etc. The order of appearance of the vibrantly colored animals are: brown bear, red bird, yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, white dog, black sheep, gold fish, a teacher, and finally, students. The last page is a beautiful illustration of several children in a classroom of varying races.

The best part of this book is definitely the distinct illustrations. The illustrator for this book was Eric Carle. They are slightly impressionistic, but the audience makes no mistake as to the type of animal in the picture.

For an interesting listen, I was able to find Bill Martin, Jr. reading the book on YouTube. The link to this video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHCYgO9zh8.

This book is great, and I plan on having it on hand as soon as I have children.

For my second paper, I turned in an analysis of Alice in Wonderland (the Disney movie) in comparison with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the Lewis Carroll fantasy novel. I have written the introduction paragraph here:

Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland removed dynamic aspects of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that contributed to the categorization of the work as a classic, thus causing anyone who had both read the novel and viewed the movie yearning for the original. The movie explained the nonsense which, in turn, made it less nonsensical and changed one of the most important dynamics of the book. Also, the movie presented Alice with a clear goal: to follow the white rabbit, and later, to get home. The question of Alice’s personal identity was nearly nonexistent, and Wonderland was kinder to Alice. She began gaining control over the nonsense of Wonderland much earlier in the movie than in the book, and the control that she did retain over Wonderland was not complete. Much of the satire unique to Carroll’s fantasy novel was removed, and several characters from his second novel, Through the Looking Glass, were added to replace some of the nonsense otherwise removed from the movie. For the reasons stated above and the following explanations, Disney’s movie was a sub-par version of Carroll’s classic story.

I have loved Disney movies ever since I was a small child. Within the past few years, I have begun collecting them. However, I have never been quite sure exactly how many classics there actually were. Finally, I have found an official Disney site listing all of the classic Disney animated features. The website is http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/animated.html. I had so much fun going through the list of titles and reminiscing about which ones I have seen in the past. It was also great for me to compare my collection with the official list of classics (I still need about 20 of them).

I also had a lot of fun browsing around www.disney.com. It was fun to try out the games for kids, and I highly recommend the site to anyone with children (although it could be a little difficult for children to navigate easily).

Even though Disney rarely sticks to the true nature of the tales they remake, the movies are wonderful for kids, and they are a part of my childhood that I would never give back (as proven by my current collection goals).