EDU/ENH291: Review Assignment Questions/Answers
1. Define children’s literature. 1 pt
Both fiction and non-fiction books, written especially for children 0-12 years old.
2. Name four children's basic needs met by reading books. Just list them, but be aware of the meaning of each.
(There are seven basic needs listed in your reading.) 4 pts
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Security: physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual.
Achievement
Belonging
To love and be loved
Fun and change
Aesthetic satisfaction
Need to know
3. Define the term "vicarious experience." 1 pt
A vicarious experience is the sympathetic participation in the experience of another.
4. What are the qualities of a good story? (There are four you can find in your reading.) 4 pts
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Lively action and plot
Worthwhile theme or message
Unique, memorable character
Style that reads aloud delightfully
5. What values can be gained from literature? (Note I said "literature," which denotes quality. I did not say just
books. Three values are listed in the class notes.) 3 pts
1. Vicarious experiences through books give insight into living, broaden experiences, and teach about
others and self.
2. Books explore the world of nature and creatures which gives reverence for life, and develops
sensitivity to beauty and goodness and decency in human beings and animals.
3. Books provide a zest for life in all its dimensions: tragic, dull, triumphant and joyous. It is good for
mankind to share.
6. Define a Caldecott Award-winning book and give an example. 2 pts
This award is given to the most distinguished American picture book for children published in English in the
United States (artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children) during the preceding year.
The Award goes to the illustrator of that book, who must be a citizen or resident of the United States. A picture book
for children in contrast to other books with illustrations, is defined as one that essentially provides the child with a
visual experience; one that maintains a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept which is developed through the
series of pictures. The winning book displays respect for children's understandings, abilities, and appreciations up to
and including age fourteen.
Flotsam by David Wiesner 2007
7. Define a Caldecott Honor winning book and give an example. 2 pts
Honors awards are given to the runners-up. They are the books which remained the longest in the voting. In
addition to the Caldecott Medal-winning book, the awards committees also cite other picture books intended for children.
These books were referred to as "runners-up" for the Caldecott Medal, but in 1971 that term was changed to "Caldecott
Honor Books."
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans
8. How are Caldecott winners determined and who decides the winner? 2 pt
Every January when the Caldecott Award for picture books is announced, it is the culmination of much work, reading, and
discussion by a group of 15 people who compose the committee. Of the 15 members, eight, including the chair, are
elected by members of the Association of Library Service to Children or ALSC, a division of the American Library
Association. The other seven members are appointed by the president of ALSC to balance the gender, ethnic,
professional and geographic representation of the committee. Each committee member must be a member of ALSC and
serves for one year.
9. Define a Newbery Award winning book and give an example. 2 pts
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the
Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most
distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron
10. Describe a hornbook and when it was used. 2 pts
A square piece of wood with a handle; first permanent children’s book in 1550s.
11. What was the first book published? 1 pt
The Bible
12. How long was the Royal Primer used and how many copies did it sell? 2 pts
years; 5 million copies
13. Who wrote the first “lesson books” (not one specific person) for children and when? 2 pts
Monks in 600 A.D.
14. Until what year did children in monastery schools have to read and speak Latin in and out of school? 1 pt
1350
15. Who wrote the first children’s encyclopedia? 1 pt
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury
100
16. What was the most common plan of organization (how it was written; not what it looked like) of children’s books
during the early years? 1 pt
Question and answer
17. In the early years, why were children's books published without author names and when did this start to change?
2 pts
It was considered beneath the dignity of authors to write books for children, so they were published without
any name attached until the early 1800s.
18. When was the earliest record of co-education? 1 pt
766 A.D.
19. Name three adult books that children started reading because they found their books dull. 3 pts
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe), Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift), Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving)
20. Define Maslow's Hierarchy of [basic human] Needs and list and define those needs. 6 pts
concerned with the discovery of identity and humanness; that is, how we are different from others and also
how we are similar to other gives us the following hierarchy: at the bottom are the most basic needs
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first level: Physiological Needs: Hunger, Thirst, Sex, etc.
second level: Safety Needs (physical and psychological)
third level: Needs to Belong, Affiliate, Be Accepted; that is, to love and to be loved
fourth level: Need for Self-Esteem (approval and respect)
fifth level: Need is that for Self-Actualization: Aesthetic and/or Cognitive; that is, the need to be all that you
can be
21. During the Middle Ages, when was a child expected to enter adulthood? 1 pt
Once a child is able to eat, sleep, and dress independently.
22. In what period did children's literature begin to become entertaining? 1 pt
The Enlightenment [1650-1790] Europe
23. Why were French words introduced into the English language? 1 pt
Because it was the language of nobility
24. Why were children’s books so gloomy in the Puritan times [1600]? 1 pt
They reflected the Puritan outlook, which was one that was more interested in the fear of God than in the love
of life.
25. Who wrote the first important illustrated book for children and when? 2 pts
Amos Cormenius, Bishop of Moravia, in 1651
26. Name three stories Perrault wrote in the 1700’s. 3 pts
Blue Beard, The Three Witches, Puss in Boots, The Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood
27. How did the Grimm Brothers create their stories? 1 pt
Traveled around Germany, talking to people and collecting folk stories
28. How did Hans Christian Anderson’s tales differ from the Grimm Brothers’ tales? 1pt
Hans Christian Anderson, in 1841, wrote “modern” fairy tales, so called because Anderson actually created
them and copied old ways of telling stories.
29. Name three fairy tales written by Hans Christian Anderson. 3 pts
Some of his stories are “The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Duckling,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
30. Who wrote the famous poem “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”? 1 pt
Jane Taylor
31. Who wrote the Tales of Mother Goose? 1 pt
Charles Perrault
32. Define “genre” in children’s literature. 1pt
A category of literature defined by their shared characteristics. Within each genre, there are many subgenres.
Total: 60 pts