Friday, 15 April 2016

Final reflection - my journey in children's literature

            I took Introducing to Children’s Literature is because it was the only course that I was interested in amount all the literature electives. On the top of that, I know that children’s literature has relations with animations, which is what I am studying right now. I was scared when I received the reading list for this course: at least 10 books. From baby’s first book to novel, children’s literature crosses a wider range than I thought.

            After the course, I have to say that I quite enjoyed this course. I like how themes of children’s literatures were implied in a gentle way. Such as how “The Man with the Violin”, by Kathy Stinson, implied that our society judges individual’s value by one’s fame. The mother from the book only appreciates the music after knowing the true identity of the musician who is playing it. This book does not directly present this message.  However this message can be obvious when an adult reads it. Children’s literatures are not as plain as I thought it would be. Different readers can understand a same book in all different ways.  I enjoy finding those hidden messages instead of being told by authors. For example, I can interpret the mother, from Kathy Stinson’s book, as a horrible mother; she’s teaching her son to be a boring person as she is.

            I left China when I was 12; teachers expected us to read Juvenile and Young Adult Short Story and novels etc., at least not those picture books anymore. Since coming to Canada, reading English literature became a burden to me. I’m pretty happy that Introducing to Children’s Literature is a fun course. Our group made a baby’s first book, we discussed and analysis books and films. My next plan is to read all Roald Dahl’s books in the summer; I had almost the entire collection of his books before I came to Canada. I wish I could have more understanding of children’s literature from an adult’s perspective.

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