Pale Green Pants

So I may have mentioned my love for Dr. Seuss in class, but I wanted to comment on it again here. I found Seuss' books to be an incredible (and, I'll admit, unexpected) resource when I was in the classroom. They were thought provoking for my sixth graders; titles that I hadn't read in years proved surprisingly durable. Characters like the Lorax, the Sneeches, and Horton helped us talk about "big picture" issues like the environment, ethics, and friendship. But the Seuss that I want to recommend to you here is the one that I read to my 3-year old stepson last night. It's his favorite Seuss, but one that I never appreciated until I read it with him. It's called The Pale Green Pants. The real brilliance of this book (I think) is taking a silly idea (a pair of pants with nobody inside them) and making it actually scary. I was surprised at first, but now I can see the beauty of the dark purple backgrounds and how they are indeed, pretty creepy. Also, the story gives the paranoia-like decline of the main character (a Seuss style bear thingie) in great detail; he looks exhausted and has dark circles around his eyes. But in the end the pants were really scared of him (I know, not too surprising). Overall, it is really charming and surprisingly spooky. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet!

Genre or Genres?

What are genres? Which genres are important to children's literature? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Is all of children's literature a genre? Well...there are no easy answers here! During this class we will explore and debate these concerns. We will also think about why all of this matters. In the mean time I would like you to explore a couple of small links that will inform our debate.

1) Two children's literature critics demonstrate how children's literature might be a genre
2) Genres in the classical sense (the way you will see them in libraries)

Next week we will be signing up for genre presentations. As you read through the genres, please think about few that interest you. I'll ask you to get together with groups next week and the presentations will occur during the two classes that follow.

The Elephant Wish: Eerie and Wonderful!

I recently had the chance to sit down with The Elephant Wish, a fantastic first book by the head writer for Sesame Street, Lou Berger. I had chosen the book from the "new books" shelves in the curriculum lab after I recognized the cover art by my new favorite illustrator Ana Juan. If you haven't checked out her website, then you are in for a Pan's Labyrinth-style treat! This Spanish artist did the illustrations for another favorite book (one that I now own), The Jewel Box Ballerinas.

Though I was sure that I would love the art, I was not at all expecting such a terrific story. Berger's main character, a little girl named Eliza, makes a birthday wish to be carried off by elephants. Not long after an elephant (wearing a floppy black hat) comes along to do just that. Eliza's parents dream of her marching with elephants, but are caught up in their own lives. It is only Eliza's elderly neighbor that understands what happened because the same thing had happened to her when she was a little girl.

Now I'm going to go out on a limb here, but it felt to me like the girl in the story was imagining what it would be like if she wasn't in the world with her parents--if she had died. I searched online for links about "elephants" and "death" and found nada. So perhaps it was just me. Still, I had this image reinforced when the elderly woman took her place riding the elephant, sending Eliza back to her parent's world.

I would be really curious to know your interpretations. Did you get the same eerie sense? Something else?

"Here Be Dragons"

Welcome to my blog. I created it (with a little help) for the course I teach at the University of Iowa. I'm hoping that it can become a place where I can share my musings about topics related to the teaching, writing, and enjoyment of children's literature; it will also be a hub for my student's blogs on related topics. On a side note, this blog draws its title from a phrase used to denote the uncharted waters of medieval maps. I pictured this like our journey into new territory with children's literature and media. After all, children's books are pretty odd if you think about it. A book written by adults--though often from a child's point of view--for an audience of children. Unfortunately, moments after the "Here Be Dragons" was suggested, a little research accidentally debunked what seems to be a really cool myth. Indeed these maps never seems to exist in the form that I imagined them. Wow, this title just keeps getting better...

The quote under the title comes from Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," a book that I loved as a child, and now love to read with children. Maurice Sendak is amazing and really funny, if you've never listened to him check out this interview on NPR. Also, in case you're a fan (or soon become one) of this book, you'll want to check out these amazing stills of this soon-to-be film from Spike Jonze.

So here it is. A little blogging experiment in my own class. I'm tremendously excited.