Let’s Review: EA300 Children’s Literature at the Open University
I love children’s literature. Most of the books I read are classified as children’s literature or young adult. So when I discovered EA300 Children’s Literature, I was excited and looking forward to the module.
Work load: It may sound obvious, but EA300 requires reading a lot of books. Some are recent - the past year’s Carnegie medal winner - and some are older; from the 1860s. However, it’s not like you get time to read them. A lot of people rely on audio books or study guides like SparkNotes. Alongside the long readers [essays] you are required to read a whole book in a week. They advise a book will take, say, eight hours to read. However, they take longer. Especially if you don’t enjoy the story, are a slow reader or have other commitments.
What to write about: Whilst EA300 bills itself as Children’s Literature, it’s difficult to describe it as a literature module. The assignments cover child development and this is what you’re expected to write about. Each Tutor Marked Assignment requires you to use the essays and course material (but not the study guide- you’ll get marked down for using that). You should not write about the story itself, or analyse why the characters act the way they do. It is not a traditional literature study. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
The Assignments: Regulations ban me from posting the whole assignment title. However, to give you an overview of what is expected there are six assignments in all. Each, including the final ‘exam’ assignment has two options.
Assignment 1: On Harry Potter or Northern Lights. Using a supplied extract explain how the story appeals to youth. Then, listen to an audio and explain quote.
Assignment 2: On Treasure Island and Little Woman. Argue why, and why not, they are definitive texts.
Assignment 3: On Peter Pan. Explain how the story has evolved over time.
Assignment 4: On Northern Lights or Harry Potter, Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry and Tom’s Midnight Garden (three books). How does education present itself in the stories?
Assignment 5: On Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park. Read books with pictures and explain how childhood is constructed.
Assignment 6: On Junk, The other side of truth, and Coram boy. Explain the power structure between children and adults relating to growing up in the real world. Also on a book of group choice.
Group Work The sixth assignment it a group project. You are required to nominate a contemporary children’s book and produce a ‘wiki’ together. Having read the Wiki page, it seems most groups like to pick the most recent popular titles - think Wonder. For the collaborative Wiki you don’t actually need to read the book. That’s right. For part of your assignment for a Children’s Literature module, you write about a book you haven’t read.
The Books As mentioned, due to time constraints it is difficult to thoroughly read each novel. Many like to read the audio books or ebook. Officially, ebooks such as the kindle version are acceptable. However, many of the tutors argue they are not suitable for the module.
With the exception of the Peter Pan script, the books are not supplied and need purchasing by the student.
Tom’s Midnight Garden : One chapter got rather heavy on religion. Other than that it was an easy read.
Swallows and Amazons : It was heavy on the technical sailing lingo at times, but a readable classic adventure story.
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry : The first book of a series. After reading it I actually looked up what happened next. Very interesting, especially with today’s politics.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The other side of truth : Better than I thought. The characters were irritating at times, and the story is becoming a little dated to make it relatable to today. However, I made it through and has interesting background to Nigeria and life as a refuge in the 1990s.
Treasure Island : It’s extremely long, and goes on. I’m glad I read it though.
Voices in the Park : An illustrated novel. Nice pictures. The same story told from multiple gorillas. Becomes unnecessarily politicalised when the Father Gorilla mentions ‘we know how hard that is’ when he is looking for a job.
100 poems for children : It’s a poetry book so hard to rate. You only need to read a couple of the poems which could easily find them online to save purchasing the book. The book does have lovely illustrations.
Peter Pan: You need to read the Script, which is supplied, along with the 2003 DVD and a short clip of the Disney cartoon. The script is in the smallest print imaginable in a book of other Barrie plays. The module will make you forget that Peter Pan is the story of the boy that never grew up and turn it into something dark. One of the required readings’ author is rather irritated that an American boy was cast as Peter in the film. Whilst only an extract of the Disney cartoon is supplied, you need to source the rest to reference in any assignment.
Books I really struggled with:
Little women: Because I could not relate to the characters.
Coram boy: Because it was jumbled and uninteresting.
Junk: Because of the poor writing, not the subject matter. There are lots of books written more recently that cover addiction and life as a runaway that would fit the module criteria.
