Juvenile Literature Research Articles

Broadening Understanding of the World and Introducing Foreign Culture and Knowledge through Juvenile Literature

Language and culture are intertwined and cannot be isolated from one another while translating culture, particularly in the realm of literature, poses significant challenges. An effective foreign language curriculum ought to encompass cultural subjects. Educators working with children should adeptly infuse the cultural aspects of the language being taught into the educational materials. In the present era of technological advancements, people’s lifestyles, communication methods, and sources of information have all shifted towards electronic platforms. However, an excessive reliance on the digital environment for social interactions can have a detrimental impact on the development of young children. While it has become commonplace for modern children to embrace diverse foreign cultures, customs, languages, and traditions primarily through electronic means, this trend carries numerous adverse health consequences. Moreover, it hampers children’s ability to socialize, communicate openly and freely with others, and develop essential soft skills necessary to become well-rounded individuals. Furthermore, various health and psychological studies indicate that excessive exposure to technology impedes brain development, hindering a child’s capacity to think critically and imagine creatively. Since parents cannot constantly monitor their children’s online activities, youngsters may come across inappropriate content from various information sources and imitate them, leading to negative behavioral and psychological issues. However, the most effective way to liberate children from the clutches of technology, such as cell phones, computers, tablets, and televisions, is through the power of storybooks and literary works.

Дидактические и эстетические особенности рассказов Ивана Яковлева

The literary creativity of I.Ya. Yakovlev is analyzed in this article. It's noted that his works harmoniously combine didactic and aesthetic features. In the history of the Chuvash literature I.Ya. Yakovlev became one of the founders of the Chuvash juvenile literature. His stories are distinguished by vivid imagery and language simplicity. The heroes of the works (people, animals, plants) are characters close to understanding, living next to young readers. The relevance of the study stems from the fact that the works of I.Ya. Yakovlev can be widely used in the moral and spiritual education of preschool and primary schoolers. In this regard, the purpose of this article was to focus attention on the fact that when analyzing the writer's stories, it is necessary to consider the Chuvash national mentality, didactic and aesthetic features at the same level. Only such an analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the main idea of the work. The research subject is Ivan Yakovlev's short stories-miniatures and scientific research of Chuvash literary critics. As part of the study, the following results were obtained: folklore becomes a significant phenomenon in Yakovlev's stories, his work became the first step and the basis of the Chuvash juvenile literature.

The Face And Phases Of Anthropomorphism In Children’s Literature

Anthropomorphism, the imposition of human traits on nonhuman objects and animals, is an ancient tradition in the art of storytelling. Existing studies on anthropomorphism in literature have mostly focused on its being a satirical device in adult fiction but paid less attention to how anthropomorphism is constructed in literature for children. This study was executed to examine the depiction of anthropomorphism through folktales, modern fables, and digitales-in selected contemporary Nigerian prose narratives for children intending to establish the use of anthropomorphized characters to bring abstract concepts to life. Jean Piaget’s cognitive constructivism was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. Five narratives were purposively selected because of their relevance to the study. The narratives were subjected to critical analyses. The face of anthropomorphism is revealed as a rhetorical tool through personification and metaphoric expressions. Anthropomorphism in children’s narratives serves as an attention grabber and a means of giving concrete information on learning through cognitive constructivism which is effective through a literature-based learning experience. In juvenile literature, anthropomorphism is used in building a relational attitude between the young readers and the fictional characters in the text for subtle facilitation of knowledge.

The French Reception of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Belated Consecration

The French Reception of <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i>: A Belated Consecration

«Истории сестры Руфи, рассказанные ею детям, или Вечера с Джоном Вулменом» (1865): к вопросу о детской литературе «домашнего аболиционизма»

Juvenile literature of “domestic abolitionism” seems to be one of the most interesting, yet under-researched branches of American abolitionist literature. Domestic abolitionist authors were usually women, who often published their texts anonymously or assuming pseudonyms. Diverse as they are in terms of genre, these texts share a set of common features. Among these features, according to Deborah De Rosa, is employment of three overarching images: the abolitionist mother-historian, the slave child, the white child. The mother-historian tells stories to foster “a change of hearts” of her young listeners, to inspire their empathy for their enslaved peers, and to engage them in the abolitionist cause. This paper focuses on semi-anonymous Sister Ruth’s Stories, or, Evenings with John Woolman (1865) — a domestic abolitionist text, which seems to have been overlooked in literary studies so far. Sister Ruth’s Stories are constructed as a sequence of evening conversations between Sister Ruth (“Motherhistorian”) and her younger siblings. The topic of these conversations is life of John Woolman (1720 –1772), a famous Quaker minister and proto-abolitionist. Sister Ruth retells children the plot of Woolman’s Journal, describing his personal campaign against slavery. She comments upon this autobiographical text, embellishing it with some additional sentimental scenes, biblical and poetical allusions. In Sister Ruth’s Stories, didacticism of domestic abolitionist literature seems to be counterbalanced by the multi-voice chorus of Ruth’s listeners, with their unfeigned reactions to the stories. As for revision of national history, which is also a substantial part of domestic abolitionist literature, it plays a pivotal role in the book, and yet appears moderate. Published in the last year of the Civil War, Sister Ruth’s Stories seem to embrace both abolitionist and pacifist messages of John Woolman’s Journal.

بچوں کے انگریزی ادب میں اسلامی تہذیب و ثقافت کی ترویج: منتخب کہانی نگار خواتین کی کاوشوں کا جائزہ

Children’s literature has always been created and published due to its importance to the aesthetical, cultural, and educational needs of young brains. It is purposefully written not only for pleasure and fun but also to teach fundamental socio-cultural values and develop early academic concepts. A voluminous juvenile literature has been produced in the English language for more than a century. However, it was dominated by British-American culture in its context, structure, vocabulary, presentation and even illustration. On the other hand, the growing number of immigrants and children who read English stories worldwide, either for learning or fun, felt it hard to relate themselves to the cultural settings of these stories. Eventually, this need drove giant publishers like Oxford, Cambridge, Macmillan, Scholastic Inc., and others to incorporate diversity and multi-ethnicity in their publications, rather than to make them Euro-American-centric. In general, Muslims—being a significant community in English speaking world—have been striving to maintain their religious identity, while attempting to assimilate into the majority culture. In addition to their various endeavours, from the dawn of the twenty-first century a significant number of women have started writing various fictional, non-fictional, illustrated, and non-illustrated books for children of different ages. In this context, this study provides an overview of women’s contributions to the promulgation of Islamic culture and civilization, using the children’s literature in the English language as their tool.

Роман Доріт Лінке „По той бік блакитної межі”: екскурс в минуле „оссі” для сучасних підлітків

The article analyses the debut historical juvenile novel by the German writer Dorit Linke (b. 1971) “Beyond the Blue Border” (“Jenseits der blauen Grenze”, 2014) in the aspect of the literary, historical and pedagogical potential of the text. The main events take place in the Baltic Sea in August 1989 when youths tried to escape from Rostock to West Germany with flashbacks into their life in the GDR. The connection between the periods of the late 1960s and 1980s is emphasized. It was a time of formation or changing the worldview of the main novel’s characters, which belong to three different generations: 1933 (grandfather), 1968 (parents) and 1989 (teenagers). The title of the book points to a kind of marine locus, representing the key stereotypes about the element of water and the inner state of the heroes. The sea is regarded as a constitutive topos, which not only performs the traditional background function of nature but also turns into an artistic image of a literary text. The narrative from the perspective of a teenage girl makes it possible to explain better to the reader of the appropriate age the motives of the incredible act of their peers and helps to get insight into the everyday life of the “Ossi” (residents of East Germany) in contrast to the “Wessi” (West Germans). In this way, the modern German historical juvenile literature demonstrates the relevance for its recipients, performing the cognitive and didactic functions without aggressive interference in the minds of adolescents.

A Comparative Study of Magic Realism in Works of Neil Gaiman and Angela Carter

Since the release of Gabriel Garciá Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Magical Realism has been in favour as a narrative style or genre in adult fiction. The representation of the genre in children’s and juvenile literature, on the other hand, is a recent trend; the components of the genre have been tracked and proven to be genuinely important in the interpretation of current children’s fiction, such as David Almond’s Skelling (1998). The aim of this paper is to look at the elements of magical realism in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus works in this respect.

Preparing for an Imperial Inheritance: Children, Play, and Empire in Eighteenth-Century Britain

AbstractIn examining how children engaged with the British Empire, broadly defined, during the long eighteenth century, this article considers a range of materials, including museums, printed juvenile literature, and board games, that specifically attempted to attract children and their parents. Subjects that engaged with the wider world, and with it the British Empire, were typically not a significant part of formal education curricula, and so an informal marketplace of materials and experiences emerged both to satisfy and drive parental demand for supplementary education at home. Such engagements were no accident. Rather, they were a conscious effort to provide middling and elite children with what was considered useful information about the wider world and empire they would inherit, as well as opportunities to consider the moral implications and obligations of imperial rule, particularly with regard to African slavery.

Assessment of Acquisition Methods for a Juvenile Literature Collection at a Research University

This study assesses the content and usage of juvenile materials acquired via three acquisition methods by a research-intensive university library. The primary method of acquiring juvenile materials is an awards-based approval plan. Subject librarian selections and purchase suggestions from faculty, staff, and students are also used to acquire juvenile materials. Using acquisition reports, catalog records, and circulation data from four fiscal years (2017-2020), we examined how these three acquisition methods compared to each other in terms of title characteristics and patron usage. We found all three acquisition methods are needed to develop a collection that meets the needs of our users.

‘Sons of Bengal’ and the Absent Daughters: Gender, Performativity and Nationalism in Bengali Juvenile Literature

This article looks at the asymmetrical bifurcation of gender roles and performativity that is reflected palpably within Bengali juvenile literature of the twentieth century. These writings strove to venerate a cult of hypermasculinity through the portrayal of brave, assertive Bengali heroes who engaged in various escapades in distant lands or in the solving of mysteries and crimes, either alone or accompanied by male confidantes who remain completely devoted to them. This dominant cultural trope was consciously employed as a challenge to the imperial, racist stereotypes of the effeminate Bengali man who was imagined to be inferior to the virile, robust and intellectually superior Englishman. However, the role of women within such diegetic portrayals is liminal or conspicuously absent; female readers are conditioned to “wallow in the reflected glory of their heroes” (Mukherjee para. 13). This paper also looks into the politics of sexuality and nationalism involved within the celebration of male homosocial bonding over heteronormative relationships, thereby leading to the almost complete effacement of female agency.

From the Trenches to the Writer’s Desk: Establishing a Collection of Children’s Books Authored by Military Veterans in an Academic Library

Kansas State University possesses a collection of juvenile literature to aid Education and English Department programs. K-State is also the university with the largest military population in the state. It was discovered that several famous children’s authors were military veterans. Building upon this research, over 160 children’s authors who served in the military were identified. K-State Libraries NEH Endowment Committee funded the curation of a military veteran children’s literature collection, the only known academic library to possess such a collection. The collection enabled the libraries to provide outreach through access to the materials, internet resources, and special collections exhibits.

Сказка Оскара Уайльда “The Selfish Giant” в творчестве Эллиса: от драматургии к поэзии

The article discusses some aspects of the reception of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale The Selfish Giant by the Russian symbolist poet and translator Ellis (L.L. Kobylinsky; 1879–1947) as reflected in archival sources and memoirs of his contemporaries. Particularly, Ellis’ participation in theatre performances for children and his interest in the forms of juvenile literature are considered within the framework of his overall poetical activities. Among these plays, a piece entitled The Garden of the Giant which is based on Wilde’s tale The Selfish Giant is to be mentioned first and foremost, since Ellis himself attributed great importance to this work making several attempts to publish it separately and even trying to convince a Moscow modernist publishing house Musaget to implement his rather extraordinary plans. The article also attempts to demonstrate that Ellis’ passion for Wilde’s literary heritage can be traced in his own subsequent work as his second collection of verse Argo (1914) proves it. As, I argue, its first section entitled Snuffbox with Music has been developed under the influence of Ellis’ previous work on juvenile performances, which manifests itself in dedications, the texts of the section borrowed from the juvenile plays as well as through the motivic structure of this cycle.

CLEMENTINE HELM BEYRICH (1825–1896), THE UNUSUAL CASE OF A WOMAN POPULARIZER OF THE GEOSCIENCES DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY IN CENTRAL EUROPE

ABSTRACT During the nineteenth century the role of women was very much restricted. In the geosciences, women were not able to study and thus even less able to publish. Here the work of one female writer is presented who, due to her upbringing in an intellectual family with close connections to the most celebrated scientists in Prussia/Germany, such as Alexander von Humboldt, the mineralogist Christian Samuel Weiss, Ernst Haeckel and many others, was aware of scientific progress and the discussions of the times. Based on her unusual education by teachers and scientists and her intellectual abilities, and knowledge acquired through marriage to a well-established geoscientist, she wrote popular juvenile literature that included geological and palaeontological content. This scientific content was typically woven into fairy tales or novels for adolescent girls and served as a way to spread geoscientific knowledge to a large audience.

A produção literária direcionada a crianças e jovens: horizontes éticos e estéticos na narrativa de Dunga Rodrigues

Neste artigo apresentamos parte da investigação acerca da produção literária direcionada a crianças e jovens em Mato Grosso. Objetivamos estabelecer reflexões a respeito da presença de elementos estéticos (textualidade, equacionalidade, diversidade) ou utilitários (referencialidade, funcionalidade e previsibilidade) no livro Uma aventura em Mato Grosso (1984), de Dunga Rodrigues, obra que inaugura a literatura infantojuvenil no estado, após a sua divisão, na década de 70.

Three-Dimensional Transformation of Chen Bochui’s Version of The Wizard of O z From the Perspective of Ecological Translatology

The American writer Frank Baum created the fairy tale The Wizard of OZ in the early 20th century, known as the American version of Journey to the West. By now, there are many translations of this book in China, the first and the wildly praised of which was translated by Mr. Chen Bochui, a prestigious Children’s literature writer and translator. It has been published for a long time and continues to be reprinted. This paper is designed to explore how the translator proactively chooses and adapts to the target language environment on the ground of the “three-dimensional transformation” model from the perspective of ecological translatology, and to provide a new approach for the research of juvenile literature translation.

&lt;전쟁아동문학&gt;의 지향과 아카기 요시코 문학

&lt;전쟁아동문학&gt;의 지향과 아카기 요시코 문학

Littérature de jeunesse connaît-elle des frontières? (entre tradition et transposition en littérature tchèque destinés)

Littérature de jeunesse connaît-elle des frontières? (entre tradition et transposition en littérature tchèque destinés)

Children's literature in Italian Journals: An Overview

The paper introduces the reader to the most influential Italian journals dedicated to children’s literature, domestic and foreign. It offers an overview of these journals’ themes, features, and content. Italian scholarship in children’s literature today represents an engaging field of academic research, often connected with the major directions in educational studies, such as the history and philosophy of education. Thus, scholarly outcome of the latest research in children’s literature is usually distributed throughout major professional journals, generally led by university-based research groups. These journals offer critical essays with a comparative perspective, not only from a geographic (non-Italian literature, non-Italian authors) but also from a cross-disciplinary point of view (history and philosophy, as well as social science, visual arts, methodology, etc.). Such academic centers at universities in Rome, Florence, Macerata, Bologna, and Genoa support the rich tradition of educational and literary studies. They also host authoritative academic journals, as well as influential periodicals edited by non-academic cultural institutions, libraries and the like, whose main purpose is to enhance reading practices among young people. For this reason, articles in such periodicals privilege contemporary literature (in all its artistic venues), investigate the relationship between literary works and their audiences, and often focus on educational settings and their adult actors (schools and teachers, libraries and librarians). Keywords: Children’s literature, juvenile literature, history of education, literary criticism, reading practices, classroom instruction

A Different Heart in Children´s Literature: The Juvenile Literature in Medical Education

Abstract Jose Saramago, Nobel Prize in Literature, is the author of a statement that provokes adult readers: “What if children’s stories become mandatory reading for adults? Would they really learn what they’ve been teaching for so long?”. 1 It is in this context that literary texts dedicated to children have been used at times in medical education and clinical practice to bring up often invisible subjectivities.