SDSU-Imperial Valley Campus
English 306A: Children’s Literature
Spring 2014
Instructor Contact Information
Instructor: Dr. Jeanette Shumaker
Office: West Faculty 157
Office hours: T 3:45-5:15, W 3-4 & 6-7:15, Th 2-3
Phone: 760-768-5524 (or x65524 on campus)
Email: jshumake@mail.sdsu.edu
Website: See SDSU-IV Campus website, Faculty web pages
Wait several days for replies to email.
Section and Enrollment Information
Class meeting: W 7:25-10:05
Class location: C10
Schedule Number: 60012
Course prerequisites: English 200 or Rhetoric and Writing Studies 200.
English 306A and 306W must be taken concurrently. Satisfies
Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement for students who have
completed 60 units; completed Writing Placement Assessment with a
score of 8 or higher (or earned a C or higher in RWS 280, 281, or LING
281 if score on WPA was 7 or lower); and completed General
Education requirements in Composition and Critical Thinking. Proof of
completion of prerequisites required: Test scores or verification of
exemption; copy of transcript.
Course Description
Reading, analysis, and discussion of classic works of children's literature. This course will
acquaint teachers, librarians, and parents with the vast array of children's books available for
preschool through twelfth grade. Students will learn how to devise creative, interesting ways to
bring children and books together so that children will become avid readers. The course will also
help students become more insightful interpreters of literature. Both analytical and creative
approaches to children’s literature will be stressed, as well as the development of reading,
writing, critical thinking and speaking skills. Goals include:
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1. Provide an historical background for genres and issues in children's literature.
2. Explore a variety of ways of introducing literature to children.
3. Become more perceptive analysts of literature, as speakers and writers addressing
adult and child audiences.
Student Learning Outcomes
1.
Present literature to children through storytelling, drama, visual aids, and writing.
2. Write incisively for adults about children's literature
3. Use literature to build children's appreciation for diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and
historical periods.
4. Design inventive assignments that will connect literature to children's writing, art, music,
history, and science projects.
Required Readings and Materials
Our campus bookstore has copies of our books for rent or sale for $5-$10 each for most of these
books. Many of our books are also available at public libraries and the campus library. Make
sure you read complete, unabridged versions of each book.
HESSE, K. OUT OF THE DUST
BURNETT. A LITTLE PRINCESS
SELZNICK. THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET
WHITE, E.B. CHARLOTTE'S WEB
RYAN, P.M. ESPERANZA RISING
CURTIS, C. THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM
DIMILLO, K. THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
FENNER, C. YOLONDA'S G ENIUS
LOWRY, LOIS. T HE GIVER
ANDERSON, H.C. THE LITTLE MERMAID AND OTHER F AIRY TALES (DOVER)
YEP, LAURENCE. THE DRAGON'S CHILD
GAIMAN, N. CORALINE
Course Website
See Blackboard.
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Assessment and Grading
Assignments and Exams
Final Exam--essay format 30% of course grade; Oral Report 15%; Play written & performed for
children & our class 10% (group assignment); Informal Writings and Class Participation 30%;
Storytelling 5%; Illustrated Children’s Book based on your own story 10%.
Final Grades

3.85 or higher = A

3.5-3.84 = A-

3.15-3.49 = B+

2.85-3.14 = B

2.5-2.84 = B-

2.15-2.49 = C+

1.85-2.14 = C

1.5-1.84 = C-

1.15-1.49 = D+

.85-1.14 = D

.5-.84 = D-

0-.49 = F
Grading Policies

No weekly informal writings will be accepted late, even if an excuse of illness etc. is
provided. This portion of the course grade is meant to reward students who manage to
come to class well-prepared and on time despite the vagaries of life.

No laptops, phones, iPods or iPads etc. may be used during class or the student’s class
participation grade will be reduced. The same penalty is applied for holding side
conversations during class.

Class participation will be assessed via students’ willingness to speak up thoughtfully
during class discussion along with their attendance.
Course Activities and Schedule
Date
Topics
Readings to be completed prior
to class
Assignments /
Activities
3
Date
Topics
Readings to be completed prior
to class
Assignments /
Activities
1/29
Talking animals, fables
Read all of Charlotte’s Web.
Informal writing
done in class.
2/5
Fairy tales
Read first half of Little Mermaid
and Other Stories.
Bring a question
about each tale.
2/12
Fairy tales, continued
Read the rest of Little Mermaid
and Other Stories.
Informal writing
done in class.
2/19
Fairy tales and talking
animals
Read all of Tale of Desperaux.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
2/26
Graphic novels
Read all of Hugo Cabret.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
3/5
Realistic fairy tales
Read all of A Little Princess.
Informal writing
done in class.
3/12
American historical fiction.
Racism. Humor.
Read all of The Watsons.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
3/19
Gothic fantasy
Read all of Coraline.
Informal writing
done in class.
3/26
Learning disabilities, bullies,
weight
Read all of Yolonda’s Genius.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
4/9
Poem-novel, diary
Read all of Out of the Dust.
Informal writing
done in class.
416
Chinese immigrants, racism
Read all of The Dragon’s Child.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
4/23
Latina historical fiction,
racism
Read all of Esperanza Rising.
Informal writing
done in class.
4/30
Science fiction, utopias and
dystopias
Read all of The Giver.
Bring 3 discussion
questions.
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Date
Topics
Readings to be completed prior
to class
Assignments /
Activities
5/7
Final essay exam
Bring blue books, a pen, and all
12 books we have read.
Turn in illustrated
children’s book.
5/14
Storytelling
Tell your own children’s book’s
story for five minutes.
Bring props if you
wish.
Course Assignments
You will give a ten-minute Oral Report on an assigned book or topic. No more than three
minutes should be spent on plot summary; just hit the high points of the plot--don’t try to cover
every scene and character. Focus instead on the book’s themes and symbols, and on what
assignments you would create to complement the book at a stated grade level. Background
material about the author is not required, but it is always interesting. Make comparisons between
your assigned book and others the class has read, if possible.
Try to speak rather than read from a script; use eye contact and vocal variation to keep your
audience interested. Bring copies of your handout about your book for each person in the class;
save these to use in later TE classes. If you use sources other than your assigned book, put your
references at the end of your handout in a Works Cited list to avoid plagiarism.
Final Exam essays should be analytical, avoiding plot summary. You will write about four of
the books our class read during the semester. Use MLA format to cite quotations and avoid
plagiarism, as in “The secret garden was no longer secret” (Burnett 182). Exams are open-book,
but no notes may be used; bring blue books. We will discuss sample questions at the class
meeting before the first exam.
In groups of up to four students you will write a 15-20 minute Play based on a work of children's
literature studied in our class. You will arrange to present the play to at least six children, and
will also present it to our class. You may use scenery, props, puppets, and costumes to the degree
you feel that they're helpful, and you may provide a Spanish summary of the play if the children
you present it to primarily speak Spanish. You may invent your own dialogue, and/ or quote
from the book.
Please turn in your typed, double-spaced play when you present it to our class, including a list of
the written sources you used. Evidence (i.e. photos etc.) that you performed your play for at least
six children needs to be brought to me by the final exam for you to get credit for the play
assignment.
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You will write and illustrate a children’s book based on a story you invent. Your book
should be at least 500 words long, with at least five illustrations. You may paper clip your book
together, or hand bind it with a cover, like a real book.
Storytelling for five minutes in front of the class will help you to develop an important skill.
You will tell the story you wrote and made into a children’s book. Don’t read your book aloud;
instead, put the story into your own words, or tell it without referring to a book, pretending we
are an audience of children. Be dramatic, use eye contact, and, if you wish, use props or visual
aids.
Course Policies
Plagiarism means not giving credit to published or unpublished sources for ideas or
information in your writing or speaking. Plagiarism hurts other students and your professors, as
well as degrading your self-esteem and preventing you from learning and growing. Studies show
that college cheaters usually continue cheating in the workplace until caught and fined or jailed;
if you are writing assignments for a friend or concealing a friend’s cheating, you are codepending a dangerous addiction.
Plagiarizing or cheating in other ways (such as not attributing information or ideas from
published sources during an oral report) will result in failure of the course and, for serious
offenders, suspension or expulsion from the university. I punish plagiarists and cheaters in the
most severe way that SDSU allows.
Students with Disabilities
Students who need accommodation of their disabilities should contact me privately, to
discuss specific accommodations for which they have received authorization. If you need
accommodation due to a disability, but have not registered with Student Disability Services
via adviser Barbara Romero in Student Affairs, please do so before making an appointment
to see me.
Oral Report Schedule (use unabridged versions of books)
1/29 Dr. Seuss picture books
Maurice Sendak picture books
Simon Silva picture books
2/5 Almond, David Skellig
Cleary, Beverly Ramona books (choose your favorite)
St. Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince
2/12 Norton, Mary The Borrowers
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Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Gardner, Sally. I, Coriander
2/19 Alexander, Lloyd. The Book of Three
Henry, M. King of the Wind
Hartnett, Sonya. The Silver Donkey
2/26 Curtis, C.P. Bud, Not Buddy
Gant, John. Dead End in Norvelt
Lindgren, A. Pippi Longstocking
3/5 Hoban, Russell. The Mouse and His Child
Nesbit, E. The Railway Children
Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
3/12 Dahl, Roald. James and the Giant Peach
Spyri, J. Heidie
Anderson, Laurie. Chains
3/19 Sachar, L. Holes
L’Engle, M. A Wrinkle in Time
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me
3/26 Blume, Judy Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Konigsberg, E.L. The View from Saturday
Twain, Mark Tom Sawyer
4/9 Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit
Langrish, Katherine. Troll Fell
4/16 Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima
4/23 Snyder, Zilpha K. The Velvet Room
Farmer, Nancy. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
4/30 Law, Ingrid. Savvy
Pullman, P. The Golden Compass
5/14 London, Jack. Call of the Wild or White Fang
Schlitz, Amy. Splendors and Glooms
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