"The purpose of this paper is to develop a list of printed books in the fields of fiction and biography suitable for use with blind, deaf or crippled children. The books are presented in an annotated bibliography arranged in order of readability. An attempt was made to recommend all available books for grades one to six which met the criteria established"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "June, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science under Plan II." / Advisor: Sara Krentzman Srygley, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-32).

This thesis applies concepts from Vladimir Propp’s model of the narrative structure of fairy tales (Propp’s morphology) to a story authoring tool for children. A computer story authoring application based on Propp’s morphology is developed and evaluated through empirical studies with children. Propp’s morphology is a promising model of narrative for a children’s story authoring tool, with the potential to give children a powerful mental model with which to construct stories. Recent research has argued for the use of computer-based interactive narrative authoring tools (which enable the construction of interactive narrative computer games in which the player can affect or change the plot) to support children’s narrative development, and a number of interactive narrative systems use Propp’s morphology as their underlying model of narrative. These interactive narrative tools have many potential learning benefits and a powerful motivational effect for children, who enjoy using them to create narrative games. The potential of an interactive narrative system based on Propp’s morphology to support children’s construction of narratives seems great, combining Propp’s rich narrative model with the motivational benefits of interactive narrative. Before the application of Propp’s morphology in an interactive narrative game creation tool to support children’s writing could be pursued, it was necessary to study children’s story writing with Propp’s morphology. How can Propp’s morphology be represented in a story authoring tool for children? Can children apply Propp’s abstract narrative concepts to the task of creating their own original stories? How does using Propp’s morphology affect the stories written by children? Using the Propp-based authoring tool that is presented in this thesis children were able to grasp Propp’s abstract concepts and apply them to their own story writing. The use of a story authoring tool based on Propp’s morphology improved some aspects of the narrative structure of the stories written by children, and children reported that they enjoyed using the tool and felt it was helpful to their story writing. This thesis lays the foundation and identifies the methods for further study of children’s appropriation of narrative structure by constructing stories using a story authoring tool based on Propp’s morphology.

Thesis (M.A. (Applied Language and Literacy Education))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2017 / This study critically analyses a set of folktales from the African Storybook website, which is an open licence digital publishing platform supporting early reading in Africa (www.africanstorybook.org). The selected folktales were mostly written by educators and librarians working in the African Storybook project pilot sites. The folktales were illustrated and published as indigenous African language and English storybooks during 2014 to 2015. The analysis is centrally concerned with the settings in which the folktales take place (with a distinction made between space, place and time), and the age and gender associated with central characters. The analytical tools used and the perspectives applied are drawn predominantly from post-colonial studies, African feminism, critical literacy, broad folktale scholarship, and theory from local – as opposed to global – childhoods. The analysis is interested in the conventions of the folktale genre, as it is constructed in the narratives by the writers. The three central findings with regards to the settings of folktales are as follows: (i) 90% of the folktales are set in rural environments in or near villages or small settlements. The somewhat idealised villages and settlements appear to have been relatively untouched by modern communications and infrastructure, and represent a “nostalgic, imagined past”. (ii) The study found that 75% of the folktales are set in the remote past, indexical of the folktale genre’s oral roots. (iii) Supernatural characters, objects and events occur in nearly 75% of the folktales. This suggests a possible interpretive space of intersecting temporalities and dimensions of existence, as well as possibilities for imaginative problem-solving. In addition, it raises challenging questions about the limits of human agency. The study also found that the ASb folktales, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly for a genre that tends to employ archetypes and stereotypes, seemingly offer no characterisation outside of heteronormative family roles. But despite the heteronormativity and narrowly-defined family roles, especially for women characters, the folktales also present other positions for female gendered characters, and by extension for girl child readers – courageous, interesting, clever and unconventional female characters are in no shortage in these narrative populations. The findings suggest that the ASb folktales provide a range of identity positions for both girls and boys in African contexts, and my study reflects on how educators might navigate this complex territory. In particular, the findings point to how teachers and other adult caregivers might balance the moral and cultural lessons in folktales with the need for children to imagine and construct different worlds and positions for themselves. / MT2017

The subject of this thesis is the Swedish animal welfare movement, its origin and early development 1875-1920. The first national Swedish animal welfare society was formed in Stockholm 1875. It was soon followed by other associations for the protection of animals. The animal welfare movement grew rapidly in Sweden. Not until towards the 1920s did the membership decline. The material studied in this thesis consists of a broad variety of documents from the animal welfare societies, such as journals and books as well as children's stories and parliamentary publications. The aim is to study both the origins and early development in Sweden of societies for the protection of animals, wild and domestic, during the decades around the turn of the century. The Swedish debates on animal welfare laws are of interest as well as discussions about vivisection and slaughter. The aim is to provide a wider analysis by taking various ideas and groups of people, such as veterinarians, schoolteachers and women into account.

Thesis (M.A. (English))--University of Pretoria, 2003.

The main purpose of this study is to present a detailed description of the interaction between students and teacher, focusing on which literary elements kindergarteners learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) respond to during the story-reading sessions. Two teachers and a total of 101 kindergarteners from a private kindergarten located in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, were chosen for this study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered in the form of classroom observations and student and teacher interviews. This analysis revealed that format was the literary element that students responded to the most. However, factors such as the variance in the students' cognitive level, age, exposure to the target language, teaching method and personality may have affected the results. Consequently, teachers need to take into consideration other literary elements when it comes to storybook selection. Results from this study can be used firstly in developing criteria on how to select storybooks for young EFL learners and how these storybooks can be integrated into the EFL classroom. Secondly, this study can provide information to help further our understanding of how stories motivate children in learning languages, and how stories can be integrated into the EFL classroom. Thirdly, the data from this study can be useful to writers and illustrators of children's books. Finally, it is hoped that this project can also inspire other researchers in pursuing this topic for further study.

Thesis (Ph.D. English)--University of Waikato, 2010. / Title from PDF cover (viewed July 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-390)

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