Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

"Time To Prepare A Face": Mythology Comes Of Age, Andrew Lazo

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Guest of Honor address from Mythcon 47. A study of the place of mythology in ancient, medieval, and modern literature, the responses of Lewis and Tolkien to Modernity, and a meditation on Lewis’s thoughts on joy and the varieties of love in Surprised by Joy, the Narnia books, The Four Loves, and especially Till We Have Faces, for which Lazo offers an insightful reading of the concluding pages.

From The Ineluctable Wave To The Realization Of Imagined Wonder: Tolkien's Transformation Of Psychic Pain Into Art, John Rosegrant

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Desire, in the form of the yearning and compelling urge to create, is the topic of this speculative but compelling reading of Tolkien’s recurring “Atlantis-complex” dream, his “exorcising” of it through its use as a recurring theme in his writing, and the underlying tangle of hubris, loss, and father/son issues that might well be the source of this vision. Events in Tolkien’s personal life are aligned with events in his creative life.

A Common Language Of Desire: The Magicians, Narnia, And Contemporary Fantasy, Kelly Kramer

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Grossman’s trilogy, and particularly the first novel, is centered around the theme of unfulfilled and unfulfillable desire—the depressed main character Quentin’s inability to find anything that will ease his disillusionment and grant him lasting happiness. Grossman’s revisioning of Narnia as Fillory is examined closely.

"Enough About Whores": Sexual Characterization In A Song Of Ice And Fire, Joseph Young

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is replete with characters who engage in sexual misconduct and violence. Yet there are subtleties in the intents and effects of their conduct that grant us, as readers, more than mere titillation: increased insight into his characters and themes. Young considers the characteristics of viewpoint characters in Gothic literature and how they engage the sympathies of the reader.

"It Had Been His Virtue, And Therefore Also The Cause Of His Fall": Seduction As A Mythopoeic Accounting For Evil In Tolkien's Work, Maria Alberto

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Seduction is often connected to eros, but Tolkien generally uses the term in a broader fashion. A theoretical underpinning based on medieval sources, Baudrillard, and Catholic thought provides a basis for understanding how characters may be led astray from their proper paths, and how Tolkien’s critique of the domination of other wills is demonstrated in these cases.

The Name Of The Ring; Or, There And Back Again, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Deals with the decline in power of evil through the ages of Arda, and how this is connected with phases of the development of language (metaphoric, metonymic, and demotic) as described by Northrop Frye and Owen Barfield.

Utopia In Deep Heaven: Thomas More And C.S. Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy, Benjamin C. Parker

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Teases out parallels to Thomas More’s Utopia the solar system of Lewis’s Cosmic Trilogy, to show how Lewis’s scholarly engagement with this text informs his depictions of Malacandra, Perelandra, and the smaller world of the N.I.C.E. Particularly emphasized are the similarities in the overall structures and the narrators and protagonists.

Reviews, Nancy Marie Brown, James M. Cochran, Janet Brennan Croft, Jason Fisher, Phillip Fitzsimmons, Mike Foster, Kristine Larsen, Tiffany Brooke Martin

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages. J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins. Reviewed by Jason Fisher.

The 'Great War' of Owen Barfield and C.S. Lewis: Philosophical Writings 1927-1930. Edited by Norbert Feinendegen and Arend Smilde. Reviewed by Phillip Fitzsimmons.

Joy and Poetic Imagination: Understanding C.S. Lewis's "Great War" with Owen Barfield and its Significance for Lewis's Conversion and Writings. Stephen Thorson. Reviewed by Phillip Fitzsimmons.

The Hero's Quest and the Cycles of Nature: An Ecological Interpretation of World Mythology. Rachel S. McCoppin. Reviewed by Kristine Larsen.

Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church. …

Tolkien's Allusive Backstory: Immortality And Belief In The Fantasy Frame, Wayne A. Chandler, Carrol L. Fry

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Mortality and immortality underlie the “emotional truth” (95) of Tolkien’s backstory, a truth which draws us as readers into a world in which longing and loss, death and deathlessness, are the foundation of a sub-created world that we as readers desire. The fantasy frame in Tolkien’s legendarium is extremely deep, and has been highly influential on other creators.

Innovation And Controversy In Children’S Literature, Sean Ferrier-Watson, Madeline Keck, Danielle Sullivan, Hannah Hightower, Kathryn Forshee

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Student presenters: Madeline Keck, Danielle Sullivan, Hannah Hightower, and Kathrun Foshee

Our panel will focus on various issues related to children’s literature and will use research from reputable literary, education, and psychology journals. We will examine issues dealing with fairy tales, YA novels, and comic books and will explore a wide range of social issues. The panelists each have a different topic and focus on different primary sources and secondary research.

The Best Children's Books Of The Year [2017 Edition], Bank Street College Of Education. Children's Book Committee

The Center for Children's Literature

Includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2016. In choosing books for the annual list, committee members consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes.

The Book That Made Me: A Girl, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this installment of The Book That Made Me, a series from Public Books reflecting on the books that have changed our lives, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner reflects on the freedom he received—to become a whole other person, in a whole other place—from an unexpected source.

Inexhaustible Magic: Folklore As World Building In Harry Potter, Samantha G. Castleman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The practice of secondary world building, the creation of a fantasy realm with its own unique laws and systems has long been a tradition within the genre of fantasy writing. In many notable cases, such as those publications by J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft, folklore exhibited in the world of the reader has been specifically used not only to construct these fantasy realms, but to add depth and believability to their presentation. The universe of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series demonstrates this same practice of folklore-as-world-building, yet her construction does much more than just create a fantasy realm. By using …

Bilingual Children’S Literature: Bridging The Gap Between Language And Identity = Literatura Infantil Bilingüe: Cerrando La Brecha Entre El Idioma Y La Identidad, Amanda Weber 17

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Young Adult Fiction: Inside The Mirror Image, Paige Christin Flannelly

Honors Theses

Identity and image-of-self are concepts intertwined throughout the pages of Young Adult Fiction Literature. Characters in Young Adult Fiction interact with their surroundings and as a result form an identity based on these interactions. Research has shown how young adults respond to the feedback of their surroundings whether embodied by other characters or their environment. The way in which identity and the image characters see in the mirror are formed is directly related to the interactions characters experience in their daily lives. Interactions with landscapes, peers, illness, grief, and parents are the specific interactions discussed in this thesis. The novels …

From Refugees To Voting Rights, Books To Inspire A Just, Inclusive Society, Bank Street College Of Education

The Center for Children's Literature

This list - which includes contributions from the Bank Street Children's Book Committee, the Bank Street College Library, and School Library Journal - is intended to be a starting place (not a comprehensive list) to help educators and librarians create a supportive space to explore these issues and help promote an inclusive, democratic, and just society. Sections include: Immigrants/Immigration, Refugees, Islam, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Questioning, Transgender/Binary, Intersex, Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault, Disability, Women in Leadership, English/Spanish Bilingual, Voting Rights, Democratic Process, Children's Rights, History, Bullying, Racism/Injustice Nonfiction, Climate Change, Protest and Activism, Racism in Fiction.

The Fantastic Manifesto: Monstrosity Of Memory And Epiphany Of Selfhood In The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973), Layla Blodgett Carrillo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Spanish culture of storytelling suffered under the nearly forty-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The government-regulated cinema welcomed propaganda and melodrama, and denied the fantastic, the legendary, and the magical. These carefully manipulated histories, which served to romanticize the ideologies of the regime, also served to eulogize the delinquent and the depraved. In the early 1970s, at the heels of the collapse of Franco’s reign, the people of Spain bore witness to a new national cinema. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), the feature debut from Victor Erice, exists at the threshold between a storied history of Spanish dictatorship and …

La Elefanta Exploradora, Paige Welsh

Open Access Books

La elefanta exploradora was written and illustrated in 2017 by Paige Welsh. The original text was edited and translated by Mackensy Asbell and Madeline Strelec. New, original illustrations were created by Rina Sato.

Using Disciplinary Literacy To Fill The Historical Gaps In Trade Books, John Bickford, Cynthia Rich

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Times} span.s1 {font: 6.5px Times} Many elementary and middle level teachers integrate historywith disciplinary literacy.1 Balancing fiction and non-fiction, orliterature and informational texts, provides space for teachersto link multiple, diverse texts.2 Pairing distinct texts positionsstudents to explore connections between secondary sources,like textbooks and trade books, and primary sources, likeletters and photographs. Scaffolding can assist close readings,text-based writing, historical thinking, and civic engagement.3Where textbooks introduce readers to history via specificterminology and short passages, trade books present historicaleras through relatable characters and engaging prose. For mosttopics, trade books are numerous enough for teachers to …

“That Terrible Bugaboo”: The Role Of Music In Poetry For Children, Michael Heyman

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Relational Bullying In Award Winning Newbery Books, 1996-2016, Kaysey N. Wann

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Relational bullying, although covert in nature and difficult for adults to notice and identify, is becoming increasingly prevalent among young children and teens. The success of bibliotherapy as preventative and intervention practices for bullying shows that portrayals of relational bullying in quality children’s literature would be effective in reducing and preventing it. However, relational bullying is rarely portrayed in children’s literature. My goal was to find quality children’s realistic fiction literature that portrays relational bullying in Newbery award-winning books, and to bring them to the attention of teachers.

After creating a table to determine what types of bullying, if any, …

Adventures With Animals Big And Small, Emily Allen, Marcus Blandford, Shannon Brennan, Brennen Keen, Amanda Timm, Tara Penry, Sarah Obendorf

English Literature Student Projects and Publications

The purpose of this project is to produce a short collection of out-of-print children’s stories that would be suitable for first grade level readers. Stories selected for the collection fit the theme of being seasonally themed and include animals as main protagonists. Under the guidance of Dr. Tara Penry, the class searched children’s magazines from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s to find stories that would be relevant and interesting to today’s elementary schoolers.

Historical Representation Of Jackie Robinson Within Primary And Intermediate Level Children's Literature, Amy Minor

Masters Theses

Educators today meet national and state initiatives by spending approximately half their time on non-fiction literature. Starting as early as primary grades students are to analyze multiple texts on the same historical topic. Student's reading levels vary; consequently, trade books can be used to reach each individual child. Due to this, trade book usage has increased. Research indicates trade books can contain possible historical misrepresentations. Few studies have been completed, therefore more research is necessary. My research examined the historical representation of Jackie Robinson within trade books for primary and intermediate grades. After determining events in reading the historical research …

Girls In Graphic Novels: A Content Analysis Of Selected Texts From Yalsa's 2016 Great Graphic Novels For Teens List, Tiffany Mumm

Masters Theses

This study examined the portrayal of female characters in selected texts from the Young Adult Library Association's 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. Appearances, conversations, and behaviors of preteen and teenage female primary characters were coded. Results indicate that progress is being made in the portrayal of female characters in graphic novels. Diversity in appearances, relatable conversations, and a break from stereotypical behaviors have led to more complex characters that provide readers with better role models. While some stereotypical conventions remain, the progress indicates a positive change for all readers.

Relevant And Represented: The Presence Of Special Populations In Trade Books, Jessica Krahnke

Masters Theses

This study provides insight into the presence of special populations in trade books. Special populations are defined as a population that has been assigned a label for the sake of educational interventions; in this case, special populations refer to thirteen categories of disability as well as English Language Learners. Past winners of the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award were analyzed for the presence of special populations, how special populations were portrayed, and any significant patterns over time regarding the presence of special populations. Results indicated a lack of characters belonging to special populations, characters in a special population most …

(Re)Mediating The Spirit: Evangelical Christian Young Adult Media, Tamara Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

"We are in the world, but not of the world," a maxim frequently spoken in evangelical Christian culture, provides insight into how these individuals view their relationship with secular culture. They presume to share the same temporal plane with secular culture, but do not participate in it. In this dissertation, I explore whether the division between evangelical Christian culture and secular culture is as clear as this aphorism implies. To facilitate this investigation, I examine media Christian content creators created for an American evangelical Christian young adult audience in the early twenty-first century, specifically focusing on novel-length fiction, comics and …

A Generation Of Katnisses: The New Power Of Female Protagonists In Young Adult Dystopian Literature, Mckenzie K. Watterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Considering emerging heroines in young adult dystopian fiction, this project first examines them in a literary review. Using feminist ethics of care as a baseline, the review considers their unique worlds, agency, and motivation

Scientific Literacy Matters: Using Literature To Meet Next Generation Science Standards And 21st Century Skills, Cynthia Tomovic, Sueanne Mckinney, Clair Berube

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Scientific literacy matters. It matters because it is vitally important to the education and development of America’s children, tomorrow's workforce, and the keepers of our future. If the future of American individual decision making, engagement in civic and cultural affairs, and valuable contributions to economic development is to be protected, it is critical that American students become more scientifically literate than they are today. Today, most Americans, including students, are considered scientifically illiterate. Recognizing the need to develop and enhance scientific literacy (also known as science literacy), science educators have worked diligently at developing new science standards, new approaches to …

The Spiritual Transformative Process In Roethke’S “Cuttings (Later)” And “Root Cellar”, Pauline Park

Global Tides

This paper discusses the groundbreaking greenhouse poems of Theodore Roethke as a manifestation of the poet's internal psyche and personal childhood memories. It analyzes "Cuttings (later)" and "Root Cellar" as poems within a sequence, all exploring the speaker's desire for spiritual transformation and transcendence through the necessary process of decay, death, and rebirth. The paper reveals the poems as emulating the Roethke's own cycles of spiritual awakening and darkness amidst the cycles of manic depression he experienced throughout his life.

The Male Mentor Figure In Women's Fiction, 1778-1801, Jessica R. Evans

Theses and Dissertations--English

This dissertation follows the development of the mentor figure from Frances Burney’s Evelina published in 1778 to Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda in 1801. The mentor becomes a key figure for exploring women’s revolutionary ideas on female education and women’s roles in society. My dissertation contributes to discussions on mentoring, development of the Gothic mode, and debates over sensibility and sentimental fiction. It considers how the female mentee paradoxically both desires and criticizes her male mentor and his authority. Each author under discussion employed the mentor figure in a way that addressed their contemporary society’s issues and prejudices toward the treatment of …