1) Picture Books
2) Traditional Literature
3) Modern Fantasy
4) Poetry
Genres of Children's
Literature
5) Contemporary Realistic
Fiction
6) Historical Fiction
7) Biographies
8) Informational Books
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2nd Lecture: Genres of Children's Literature
1) Mother
Goose
2) Toy
Books
3) Alphabet
Books
Picture
Books
4) Counting
Books
5) Concept
Books
6) Wordless
Books
7) Easy to
read Books
8) Picture
Storybook
s
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Board
Books
Pop-up
Books
Cloth
Books
Plastic
Books
Picture Books:
* What a picture book is:
Picture books communicate information or tell stories through a series of
many pictures combined with slight texts or no texts at all. In fact, the illustrations
are as important as or even more important than the text.
*Types of picture books:
1) Mother Goose.
2) Toy Books.
3) Alphabet Books.
4) Counting Books.
5) Concept Books.
6) Wordless Books.
7) Easy to read and Beginning Readers' Books.
8) Picture Storybooks.
1) Mother Goose:
Mother Goose rhymes are the earliest literature enjoyed by many young
children; the rhymes, rhythms, and pleasing sounds of these jingles appeal to young
children, who are experimenting with their own language patterns, and they aid
children's language development.
The rhythms in many nursery rhymes almost forces children to react. Rhyme
is another aspect of many nursery verses that children enjoy. Rhyming words, such
as dandy and candy, invite children to join in and add the rhyming word or to make
up their own rhymes. Alliteration, the repetition of an initial consonant in
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consecutive words, creates phrases that children enjoy repeating just to experience
the marvelous feelings that result from the repetition of beginning sounds:"One
misty, moisty, morning". Sentences that contain a great deal of alliteration become
tongue twisters. Children love the challenge of repeating such sentences. Humor is
another great appeal of Mother Goose verses for children.
2) Toy Books:
Toy book is a form of 19th century children's book. Toy books became
popular in the latter half of the century during the Victorian era in England. Toy
books typically were paperbound books with six illustrated pages. The term derives
from John Newbery's 18th century "gift books" such as A Little Pretty Pocket Book
(1744) that included small toys for children such as pincushions for girls. By calling
the books a toy book, 19th century publishers identified the books with the gift
books of the previous century.
Front cover of a toy book published in
1874. The illustration is by Walter Crane,
and the coloring and printing is by
Edmund Evans. Published by Routledge.
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Toy books include many types such as: board books, pop-up books, cloth
books, and plastic books. An increasing number of these books entice children into
interacting with stories, developing their vocabularies, counting, identifying colors,
and discussing book content with adults.
A board book is a type of book printed on thick paperboard. The paperboard
is printed and used for the both the cover and the interior pages. Each page panel is
a minimum of 2 plies of paperboard thickness. A board book's pages are specially
folded and bound together. Board books are very durable and consequently intended
for small children (who are liable to damage ordinary books) so that they can start to
develop an interest in books at an early age.
The term pop-up book is often applied to any three-dimensional or movable book,
also included, because they employ the same techniques, are three-dimensional
greeting cards.
A pop-up book
3) Alphabet Books:
Alphabet books are used to help young children identify familiar objects, as
well as letters and sounds. The objects pictured in alphabet books should be easy for
children to identify and should not have more than one commonly used name. For
example, because young children often call a rabbit a bunny, rabbit might not be the
best choice for illustrating the letter "r" in an alphabet book for very young children.
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If young children use the book independently, the pages should not be cluttered with
numerous objects that can confuse letter/sound identification.
4) Counting Books:
Counting books are often used for specific educational purposes. To develop
child's ability to count sequentially from 1 through 10, a counting book should
contain easily identifiable numbers and corresponding objects. Effective number
books for young children usually show one large number, the word for the number,
and the appropriate number of objects- all on one page or on facing pages. The
actual number presented should be clear.
5) Concept Books:
Concept books are used to stimulate the cognitive development of children.
These books rely on well-chosen illustrations to help children grasp both easy
concepts, such as red and circle (color and shape), and more abstract concepts such
as prepositions (through, for example) and antonym (fast and slow, for example).
Concept books come in various degrees of difficulty, so teachers should consider a
child's level of understanding when selecting concept books.
6) Wordless Books:
In wordless books, the illustrations tell the whole story, without words.
Children enjoy the opportunity to provide the missing text for wordless books –an
excellent way of developing their oral and written language skills. Wordless books
stimulate creative thinking and enhance visual abilities, because children must
watch the pages for clues to the actions. Wordless books are especially valuable
because they allow children of different backgrounds and reading levels to enjoy the
same book.
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7) Easy to read and Beginning Readers' Books:
Easy to read books are designed to beginning reading skills. Like picture
storybooks, these books contain many pictures designed to suggest the story line but
the vocabulary is controlled so that young readers can manage independently.
However, it is difficult to write stories that sound natural if all of the words must be
selected from the easiest level of readability. Readability experts assume that easier
books have shorter sentences and more monosyllabic words. As the reading level
increases, the sentences become longer and include multisyllabic words.
8) Picture Storybooks:
Although picture storybooks contain many illustrations, they also develop
strong story lines in text. In a well written picture storybooks the text and narrative
complement each other, so children cannot deduce the whole story by viewing the
pictures. The illustrations are integral to the story line enhancing the actions
settings, and characterizations.
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Traditional Literature:
1) Folktales
Cumulative
Tales
Humorous
Tales
Beast Tales
Realistic
Tales
Pourquoi
Tales
2) Fables
Traditional
Literature
3) Myths
4) Legends
5) Epics
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Fairy Tales
Traditional Literature:
Traditional literature has been handed down from generation to another by
word of mouth. In contrast to a modern story, a traditional tale has no identifiable
author. Instead, storytellers tell what they have received from previous tellers of
tales. Such literature contains something that appeals to all interests: humorous
stories, magical stories, and adventure stories. Traditional tales are both universal
and ancient. Traditionally, young and old alike heard the same tales.
*Types of Traditional literature:
1) Folktales.
2) Fables.
3) Myths.
4) Legends.
5) Epics.
1) Folktales:
Folktales are known as prose narrative which are regarded as fiction. They are
not considered as dogma or history, they may or may not have happened, and they
are not taken seriously. Because the tales are set in any time or place, they seem
almost timeless and placeless. Folktales usually tell the adventures of animal or
human characters. They contain common themes- such as reward of good and
punishment of evil and supernatural helpers. Subcategories of folktales include
cumulative tales, humorous tales, beast tales, magic and wonder tales, pourquoi
tales, and realistic tales.
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Cumulative tales
Tales that sequentially repeat actions, characters, or speeches until a climax is
reached are found among all cultures. The main character of most cumulative taleswhether animal, vegetable, human, or inanimate object- have intelligence and
reasoning ability. Adults often share these stories with very young children because
the structure of cumulative tales allows children to join in as each new happening
occurs. A runaway baked food is a popular theme, for example: German
"Gingerbread Boy"
Humorous tales
Folktales allow people to laugh at themselves as well as at others. The humor
usually results from absurd situations or the stupidity of the characters. Human
foolishness resulting from unwise decisions provides the humor and a moral in some
tales.
Beast tales
They are among the most universal folktales, being found in all cultures. In
such tales there are talking animals that may show cleverness and the stupidity of
others.
Fairy Tales:
The majority of fairy tales contain some element of magic: the fairy character
transforms the kind, lovely, mistreated girl into a beautiful princess ("Cinderella"),
or the evil witch transforms the handsome prince into a beast ("Beauty and the
Beast"). Transformations from humans to animals and animals to humans are also
common in folktales. Magic in fairy tales can be good or bad.
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Pourquoi tales
Pourquoi tales is a French word that means "why" tales. They answer a
question or explain how animals, plants, or humans were created and why they have
certain characteristics. For example, why does an animal or a human act in a certain
way? Children enjoy pourquoi tales and like to make up their own stories about why
animals or humans have certain characteristics.
Realistic tales
The majority of folktales include supernatural characters, magic, or other
exaggerated incidents. A few tales, however, have realistic plots and involve people
who could have existed. Such tales are called realistic tales.
2) Fables:
Fables are tales in which animal characters that talk and act like humans
teach a moral lesson or satirize human conduct. For example "The Hare and the
Tortoise". The most famous fables were written by a man called Aesop. They know
are called Aesop’s Fables, and he wrote more than 600 of them.
3) Myths:
“Myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos” which means “word of
mouth”. Myths are made up stories that try to explain how our world works and
how we should treat each other. The stories are usually set in times long ago, before
history as we know it was written.
People have always asked questions like “How did our world come to be?” or
“Why do tornadoes happen?” Some myths answered these questions and described
the big things that happened to people and the choices they made.
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Subjects of Myths:
They might be about:
1) Triumph (achieving something),
2) Tragedy (losing something),
3) Honor (doing the right thing),
4) Being brave even when you are frightened, or
5) Being foolish and making mistakes.
4) Legends:
Legends are also stories that have been made up, but they are different from
myths. Legends are about people and their actions or deeds. The people lived in
more recent times and are mentioned in history.
The stories are told for a purpose and are based on facts, but they are not
completely true. Either the person never really did what the story says, or the
historical events were changed.
Examples of people in English legends are King Arthur, and Robin Hood. A
man who may have been King Arthur is known to have lived in the 5th or 6th
century. But the stories about the Knights of the Round Table may not be true. The
point of the story was that the knights and their king defended their people and
helped them.
The character and deeds of Robin Hood may have been based on someone
else. Robin of Loxley lived in Nottinghamshire around the time of the story, and he
did help the poor. But did he live in Nottingham forest with a band of robbers?
Probably not, but helping other people is important and the legend hasn’t been
forgotten.
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5) Epics:
An epic is traditionally a genre of poetry, known as epic poetry. In epics, the
story is centered on heroic characters, and the action takes place on a grand scale,
just as in epic poetry.
Epics in this sense are majestic depictions that capture impressive struggles,
such as:
1) Stories of war,
2) Adventures,
3) The real life stories of heroic figures, and
4) Other efforts of great scope and size over long periods of time.
Examples of notable epics include:
1) Ernest Shackleton's exploration adventures in Antarctica,
2) Historical novels such as War and Peace.
3) Two of the better known Greek epics are The Iliad and The Odyssey.
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