Search this website
Email Jan Susina
This form does not yet contain any fields.
    login

    ENG 372:

    Origins of Modern Literature for Young People

     Syllabus for ENG 372 Fall 2017

    Caldecott Medal Winners list

    Research links

    Link to .pdf of Mark I. West's "Key Reference Works Related to Children's Literature" from Everyone's Guide to Children's Literature. Ft. Atkinson, WI: Highsmith Co., 1997.

    Research & Writing Resources for Children's Literature.  A list I've compiled to help you on your research papers.  Includes links to online resources, journals and more, plus a list of books.

    If you are struggling to write a literary analysis paper, read "How to Write a Research Paper in Literature" by Geoff Baker at Chico State University (.pdf format)

    Check out the 60Second Recap video page on How to Write a Paper.  Informative, lively points about writing academic papers.  Can your paper pass all the tests?  

    Resources in children's literature research for college students, teachers, librarians & academics

    MLA Guide, in .pdf format.  How to write and format your papers.  Important to look at before you hand in the final version of your research paper.

    L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz

    L. Frank BaumThe Wizard of Oz: An American Fairytale, an online exhibit at the Library of Congress. Covers Baum's book in detail as well as stage and film adaptations.

    International Wizard of Oz club for fans, scholars, book collectors and more. Publishes Baum Bugle. Literary Traveler article on L. Frank Baum  

    The Wonders of Oz.  Documentary about the book and author on YouTube clip Episode 1 (good ideas but bad production values)

    John Ritter as Baum in this segment from the Idea of the Wizard of Oz as he tries to figure out how to write the book. YT. 7:31

     1893 World's Columbian Exposition

    Films by L. Frank Baum

    Early Oz films

    Warner Bros' 1939 Wizard of Oz

    Contemporary Oz adapations

    Oz, The Great and Powerful (2013)

    Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book (1889)

    Here is a link to the text of The Blue Fairy Book along with images on The Baldwin Project

    German Fairy Tales not in Lang's Blue Fairy Book

    German Folk Tales "Little Red-Cap" and "Snow White" in .pdf format

    A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne, his son, Christopher Robin and Edward, the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh

    The Real Winnie: website at Ryerson University

    Christopher Robin Milne in CNN Ashdown Forest segment. video

    Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966). YouTube video of the opening. begins at 3 min.

     A. A. Milne's poem "Teddy Bear"

    A.A. Milne reading from Winnie-the-Pooh in 1929.  YouTube. reading begins at about :58

    Winnie-the-Pooh read aloud by a British cast including Stephen Frye as Pooh and Judi Dench as Kanga. Chapter 2.  Illustrated video on YouTube. 8:14 min.

    The Page at Pooh-Corner website, which focuses on A. A. Milne (rather than Disney version).  Includes timeline & history info.

    Link to Just-Pooh site, with info and links 

    From the 1968 Disney film Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day

    Celebrating 75 years of Pooh in 2001 from Penguin. Classroom activities for teaching Pooh from Penguin

    Photograph of A.A. Milne. Illustration by E.H. Shepherd of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-PoohOriginal Christopher Robin toys

    "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" by Clifford Berryman, 1902. Click to link of larger image

     E. H. Shepherd illustration of Winnie-the-Pooh

     Christina Lindsey's photos from Hundred Acre Wood in Sussex, EnglandEyore's gloomy place

     Pooh sticks bridg Plaque at woods

     Overview of area from a clearing

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Little House on the Prairie

    Site about Wilder and links to Helen Sewell's cover illustrations

    Link to site of Laura Ingalls Wilder home in Mansfield, Missouri.  Good information

    Publisher HarperCollins' very contemporary official series site to Little House series books

     Laura Ingalls when she was a young woman

    Ingalls sisters, Laura in middlePa's fiddle Laura Ingalls Wilder signing a Little House book

    Little House on the Prairie, 1935. Illustration by Helen Sewell

     

    a Garth Williams' illustration

     

    Side-by-side comparisons of illustrations by Sewell and Williams  Little House art

    Children's Literature Book Prizes

    Kenneth Kidd "Prizing Children's Literature: the Case for the Newbery Gold" Children's Literature 35 (2007) 166-190. (link to article)

    Marc Aronson’s “Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes”  Horn Book 1 May 2001. (.pdf)

    Monica Edinger’s “Top Ten Things You May Not Know About the Newbery Award.”  from The Nerdy Book Club (.pdf)

    Shannon Maughan’s “And the Winner Is…”  Publisher's Weekly. 2 December 2011.(.pdf)

     

    Virginia Lee Burton's Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and The Little House

    "Making Picture Books" Burton's talk in .pdf format

    Houghton Mifflin's office Mike Mulligan site

    The Little House, a Walt Disney short film from 1952.  YouTube (8:19 min)

    Opening to HBO series Weeds with "Little Boxes" YouTube (5:58 min) 

    "Little Boxes" in animated clay video with Malvina Reynolds version.

    Podcast of interview of director and producer of documentary on Virginia Lee Burton (22 min)

    Documentary about Virginia Lee Burton, A Sense of Place (2008)

    Virginia Lee Burton exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (.pdf format)

     Vogue article about Virginia Lee Burton from May 2008.(.pdf)

    Librarian Elizabeth Bird's blog about Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House.  includes the Disney animated video (8 min) based on the book.  Bird, writing on Publisher's Weekly site, is also fond of Mike Mulligan.

    Virginia Lee Burton in her studio in Cape Ann, Massachusetts

    Fish Tail design by Virginia Lee (Burton) Demetrios. Click on link to Folley Cove Designer website. Check out Life magazine article

     

      Caldecott winner

     

    Margaret Wise Brown's Good Night Moon

    Margaret Wise Brown informationMargaret Wise Brown

    HarperCollin's 60th anniversary site for Good Night Moon

    Link to every MW Brown book with illustrations & bibliographic info

    YouTube related videos

    Clement HurdThe Little Island (under Golden MacDonald pen name). Illus.Leonard Weisgard

     A few books by Margaret Wise BrownWait Till the Moon is Full. Illus. by Garth Williams

    from Martha Pichey. "Bunny Dearest", Vanity Fair Magazine, Dec. 2000, pp.172-18

    Charlotte's Web by E.B. WhiteE.B. White

    "The Lion and the Mouse: The battle that reshaped children's literature." essay in The New Yorker by Jill Lepore (July 21, 2008).  Sources Lepore used for this essay, in pdf format.

    "Children's Books" an essay by E. B. White in collection of essays One Man's Meat in pdf format

    New York Times collection of info on E.B. White.  Includes links to recordings of White reading from Charlotte's Web.  (requires free registration with NY Times)

    Quotations by E.B. White at goodreads.com.  Quiz on quotations in Charlotte's Web.

    Why Charlotte's Web is still a great book 50 years after publication. by Stephen Amidon in The Guardian

    E.B. White essay in The Atlantic "The Death of a Pig" January 1948.

    Interview by NPR's Melissa Block of E.B. White's relatives and author of annotated Charlotte Web about White's creation of the novel. (8-4-2008)

    Link to "Natural History," an E.B. White poem about spiders from 1929

    E.B. White in The New Yorker, May 23, 1953: "Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this one is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair."

    S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

    "That Was Then: This is Now: S.E. Hinton in the Twitter Age" by Jon Michaud in The New Yorker 11/9/2103

    YouTube videos

    S.E. Hinton's websitecast from the 1983 film The Outsiders

    The Outsiders, official website for film and book

    "Outsiders Forty Years Later" by Dale Peck in The New York Times. Sept. 2007.

    "S.E. Hinton reflects on The Outsiders" in Book Rag website

    Blog quiz.  Which "Greaser" are you most like (from The Outsiders)?  with comments. 

    David Macaulay's City

    Roman City: PBS show on YouTube (55 min)

    "Building a Roman City" animated section from "Roman City" by Macaulay on YouTube (6:49 min).  The first part of Roman City starts here on YouTube.

    Section of video that is part of an exhibit on David Macaulay, especially his childhood. Second section of the video, which was initially prepared by Norman Rockwell Museum on Macaulay. Essay about this exhibit, with a few good illustrations by Macaulay.

    David Macaulay discusess his work at a TED conference. 21 minute talk about his creative process and focusing on his book about Rome.

    The Great Pyramid of Giza documentary 

    David Macaulay's website.  Click on "watch video" for several short videos on how he works.

    PBS series "Buiding Big" focuses on explaining architecture through Macaulay's work.  This page features a transcript of an interview with him. 

    Educational ideas for using Pyramid in class, with many good links about Pyramids and Ancient Egypt 

    David Macaulay speaks at MIT about creating his books. 1hour talk.

    Discovering more about Ancient Egypt

    Tacoma Art Museum's exhibit on David Macaulay in 2009

    David Macaulay receives the Eric Carle Honor Award in 2010. Article in Publisher's Weekly. Nov. 18, 2010

    Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Dayfrom Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day

    Caldecott Acceptance speech by Keats in 1963 (.pdf)

    Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.  Official website.

    Ezra Jacket Keats virtual exhibit, from the deGrummond collection

    Art Exhibition: The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats at The Jewish Museum in New York.

    Nancy Larrick's essay "The All White World of Children's Books." This is a pdf document that links to a copy of Larrick's essay originally published in The Saturday Review, September 11, 1965.

    Here is a recent re-examining of children's books in light of Larrick's essay by Laura Atkins.

    The Brownies' Book published by W.E.B. DuBois.  A link to information as well as links to pdfs of original copies of this series for African-American children published during the Harlem Renaissaince

    The Snowy Day read aloud on YouTube

    Biographical video on Keats on YT (3:36)

    Ezra Jacket Keats virtual exhibit, from the deGrummond collection

    The Snowy Day read aloud on YouTube

    Walt Disney and children's culture

    Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me Margaret

     Judy Blume's website

    Disney's "The Story of Menstruation" sponsored by Kotex.  on YouTube. (10:16 min)

    Cynthia Leitch Smith interviews Judy Blume.

    Interview with Judy Blume (YT 4min)

    Clever book promo created by students for book (YT 1:14)

     Just for fun, Will Arnett reading a paragraph from Margaret on the Jimmy Fallon show. Hulu clip (1:37)

    Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea preview for TV show about the book with interview of Chelsea Handler (YT 1:37)

    Blog posts about adults remembering reading Margaret:

    Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

    Jon Scieszka

    “Someday I might write for adults, but I think kids are the greatest audience for a writer. No one can believe a story or love one as much as a kid does.” Jon Scieszka

    Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The Stinky Cheeseman

    Leonard Marcus  "Give 'Em Helvetica: Picture Book Type"   

     Reading Rockets (WETA) interviews of: Lane Smith interviewed 

    Interview with Jon Scieszka, from Library Sparks, about The Stinky Cheeseman (in .pdf form)

    from The Stinky Cheeseman

    Video Interview with Lane Smith and Molly Leach (2008) 5:08 min

    Reading Rock Stars  of Reading by Mark Levis interviews Lane Smith and Molly Leach

    Lane Smith's official website

    Jon Scieszka, with design by Molly Leach, in The Hornbook o"Design Matters" in Stinky Cheeseman and other books. (March/April 1998)

    YouTube video of interview with Jon Scieszka from Barnes & Noble

    Great video of Stinky Cheeseman by John Gillam. good animation of images with nice voices. YouTube 4:52

    NCTE Lesson Plans (on ReadWriteThink) ideas for books by Lane Smith 

    Russell Freedman's Lincoln: A Photobiography

    Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends

    Here's a .pdf of the 30th anniversary edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends

    Official Shel Silverstein website. High bandwidth version is all in Flash. Low bandwidth less flashier, maybe easier.

    Shel Silverstein performs his poems, accompanied by animated illustrations, on YouTube

    The Actual '73 Giving Tree Movie Spoken by Shel Silverstein (youtube)

    A teacher's guide on poetry and Silverstein, from the official SS website, in .pdf format

    Anna Holmes and Rivka Galchen’s “The Giving Tree: Tender Story of Unconditional Love or Disturbing Tale of Selfishness?” (.pdf)

    Shel Silverstein wikipedia entry.  Includes quotes from his few interviews and materialShel Silverstein about his many passions.

    Kidsread.com site about Shel Silverstein for kids

    Silverstein's bio on Legacy Recordings

    Silverstein performing on "The Johnny Cash" TV show.  He sings "A Boy Named Sue" with Cash and then sings "Daddy, What Would Happen" by himself. YouTube. 5:40 min.

    Overview essay about Silverstein from Poetry Foundation about Shel Silverstein. By Jesse Nathan

    Shel Silverstein material on the My Hero website. Features kids' thoughts on their Poet Hero.

    Mahalo.com's website collection of Shel Silverstein material

    "Shel Silverstein's Unlikely Rise to Kid Lit Superstardom" by Mark Peters from Mental Floss. Aug 8, 2009.

    Jan Susina reading some of Silverstein's problematic poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends at the 2009 Banned Book Reading sponsored by ISU's Milner Library. YouTube video

    Beverly Cleary's Ramona the Brave

    The Ramona page, on a Beverly Cleary site.

    Biographical information on Cleary at Scholastic site.

    Children's Author Beverly Cleary on Turning 100 on Today Show. March 25, 2016

    BookPage interview of Beverly Cleary

    An NPR interview with Cleary on her 90th birthday, April 2006.  An earlier interview with Cleary from Aug. 16, 1999.

    Teaching Ramona, a detailed .pdf document on teaching ideas with Ramona

    from the Canadian Ramona TV show:  The Great Hair Argument.  YouTube. 9 min.

    Walking tour of Portland, home of Cleary and Ramona. brief article

    Interview with Beverly Cleary in 2006.  Set up as video, but only audio of Cleary. 18 min.  She answers 13 questions from students on "Stop Everything and Read Day!"

    Radio essay on Ramona, from Recess! radio show at University of Florida (6/30/2005)

    Fourth graders present a "commercial" for Ramona, the Pest. YouTube. 1.22 min. cute

    Selena Gomez has filmed Ramona and Beezus, to be released March 2010

     Ramona the Pest is a band from Oakland, Calif.

    Virginia Hamilton's The House of Dies Drear Virginia Hamilton

    Home page of Virginia Hamilton.  She writes about what inspires her to write and the importance of libraries.

    Short section of 1988 film based on book.  YouTube. 2 min.

    Glencoe Literature Library .pdf study guide (22 pages) for book along with connections to Frederick Douglass, Levi Coffin, Follow the Drinking Gourd folk song, and Charles Dickens.

    Comprehensive site about folklore in Virginia Hamilton's works.

    Three articles from HornBook about Virginia Hamilton

    Ohio author biography of Virginia HamiltonHouse of Dies Drear film

    Avalon Projects on historic documents at Yale Law School.  Documents on Slavery

    National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

    National Geographic's interactive site about the underground railroad

    Follow the Drinking Gourd, a cultural website

    Map of underground railroad paths

    Friends of the Underground Railroad website

    Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    Film adaptations of the book

    Official Roald Dahl websiteRoald Dahl

    Roald Dahl fans website, rather comprehensive

    Roald Dahl day in September, encouraged by British publisher Penguin Books

    Roald Dahl Museum in Buckinghamshire, U.K.  Informative and includes photos to his writing hut.

    University of Missouri's College of Education site on ideas for teaching Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

    Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are

    Maurice Sendak's 1963 Where The Wild Things AreMaurice Sendak

    Getting to Know Maurice Sendak: 1985 interview on video.

    Maurice Sendak, In His Own Words: Where The Wild Things Are. Video.

    Rosenbach Collection. Museum in Philadelphia

    Animated videos of Sendak's work

    Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, which has the best collection of Sendak materials.

    Rosenbach Museum's DVD segment on Sendak on his work, childhood, inspiration.  YouTube. 10 min.  Sendak on what being an illustrator means.  YouTube. 3 min.  Sendak on his childhood and movies.  YouTube. 1 min.     Sendak on Images and Words. You Tube 2:25 min

    Original Wild Things animated short. YouTube video 6:50 min.

    Read Dave Egger's story Max At Sea, which appeared in The New Yorker, Aug. 24, 2009. Click on this link to open a .pdf document of the Max At Sea story.  OR  Click on this link to go to Max At Sea story by Dave Eggers on The New Yorker's website

    Articles and promotions related to the 2009 film Where The Wild Things AreScene from Where The Wild Things Are film

      Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, 1963

    "A Conversation with Maurice Sendak" by Jennifer Ludden on NPR, June 4, 2005, with additional links

    Terrible Yellow Eyes, website devoted to other artists' renditions of Wild Things

    MercuryNews article about Sendak exhibit at Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco (Sept. 3, 2009)

    President Obama reading Wild Things at the 2009 Easter egg roll

    Horn Book interview with Sendak. Nov./Dec. 2003 by Roger Sutton

    Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

    Purple Socks, an unofficial Louise Fitzhugh tribute site.  Good collection of information.

    "Unapologetically Harriet, the Misfit Spy" an NPR story by Neva Grant on March 3, 2008.Louise Fitzhugh

    A Walking Tour of Harriet's neighborhood in New York with maps, photos & descriptions. This Flickr site also has recent photos of Harriet's New York neighborhood.

    Wake County, North Carolina, Library .pdf 7 page document for kids reading and thinking about Harriet the Spy, includes questions and list of similar books. Fans may like Harriet Spies Again, a 2002 continuation published by Random House.

    Harriet the Spy -- 1996 movie, by Nickelodeon, featuring Rosie O'Donnell and Michelle Trachtenberg. Link to imdb page.

    2009 review of Harriet in Scholastic's website Ink Splot 26

    "I can see why this book is a classic, though. It is honest, frank, and kept me turning the pages. But I don't know many kids who would actually write such mean things down. Maybe it was a product of how she was raised . . . Hmm." -- from review on Ink Splot 26 by Ratha, STACKS reviewer

     

    The Cat in the Hat by Dr. SeussAd for Flit insect repellent

     Bio of Ted Giesel on website about Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Gardens in Springfield, Massachusetts.

    Advertising art work of Ted Giesel in the Univ. of California-San Diego library.  Many images.

    Official Random House site for Dr. Seuss

    Dr. Seuss (Ted Giesel)A.O. Scott's essay in The New York Times magazine "Sense and Nonsense" (Nov. 26, 20000) about Dr. Seuss and children's literature

    10 Facts about Dr. Seuss on the BBC's website on his 100th birthday.

    PBS Independent Lens documentary on the political cartoons of Dr. Seuss.  Scroll down for clip on connection between Cat in the Hat and subversiveness.

    NPR's very informative page on "Fifty Years of 'The Cat in the Hat' " including article by Lynn Neary as well as images and links (March 1, 2007)

    NCTE/IRA's suggested lesson plans for grades 9-12 to use The Cat in the Hat to write an essay using a psychoanalysis perspective.  whew! Includes chart for psychoanalysis id, ego, and superego characters in the book.

    New Yorker essay "Cat People" by Louis Menard (Dec. 23, 2002) on the creation of The Cat in the Hat, Sputnik, The Lorax, and with which character children identify.


     

    Betsy-Tacy series

    by Maud Hart Lovelace. Illustrated by Lois Lenski

    Maud Hart Lovelace

    Betsy-Tacy Society site, filled with informationLois Lenski

    Milner Library's  Lois Lenski site Lois Lenski illustration Lois Lenski's map of Mankato, Minn.