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Thesis advisor: Margaret Cohen / Creative Writing is an area of study gaining much traction in English departments across the country. Many universities have writing workshops in genres such as fiction, creative nonfiction, magazine writing, business writing, and more. However, there is a glaring gap: the field of children’s literature. This work addresses the presence of this gap amongst university English departments and develops the syllabus for a course to remedy the problem: a creative writing workshop focusing on the study and writing of literature for children. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Arts and Sciences Honors Program. / Discipline: Education.

Thesis advisor: Susan A. Michalczyk / Children's literature possesses the power to crumble walls of prejudice, open the mind to unlimited possibilities and perhaps most importantly, entertain children whatever their race, age or social status. Many people have such fond memories of the books they read as children that, should you demand of any American college student what his favorite book was as a child, and he will find it difficult to narrow his selection down to just one. Ask any American child what her favorite movie during childhood and inherently nine out of ten children will choose a movie made by Walt Disney. Indeed literature and the stories of childhood play an important role in the intellectual and psychological development of human beings. During childhood, the literature children read and have read to them often lay the seeds for their future views of themselves and the world. If this were the case, then how much caution should be taken with the themes of these books? Children's literature is defined as "books that are good for children, written with their general necessities and entertainment in mind." The “goodness” of these books is determined not only in their vivid creativity and wildly imaginative stories, but as well in the long lasting lessons they impart upon the children who read them. These books give a child a glimpse into distant lands far away from the suburb they live in or the city in whose parks they play every day. As well, literature can also cultivate cultural prejudices and stereotypes that can either damage a child's developing psyche or improve it. From its inception, children's literature has always been meant to shape and mold children to the will of society. The questions remains to be answered, if literature holds such power over us, then what control should responsible publishers, teachers, librarians and parents exercise in determining what their children should be reading? Where does one draw the line between education and politics in the world of children's literature? In order to fully examine this question and comprehend its implications, one must first examine the history of children's literature and what it originally desired to achieve. Then, once the evolution has been traced, one can analyze the future and determine where the shifts that have occurred in children's literature throughout the eras are leading us in the years to follow / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Education, Lynch School of. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Orientador: João Luís Cardoso Tápias Ceccantini / Banca: Alice Aurea Penteado Martha / Banca: Vera Teixeira de Aguiar / Banca: Maria do Rosário Longo Mortatti / Banca: Luciana Brito / Resumo: Esta tese propõe algumas leituras possíveis para cinco romances juvenis de Jorge Miguel Marinho (1947): A visitação do amor: uma história mágica em dó maior (1987); Sangue no espelho: histórias de Alices, vampiros e olhares (1993); Te dou a lua amanhã...: biofantasia de Mário de Andrade (1993); O cavaleiro da tristíssima figura (1996) e Lis no peito: um livro que pede perdão (2005), com o objetivo de compreender as singularidades do projeto estético do escritor, que tem produção regular desde os anos 1980, permanece em franca atividade e foi bastante premiado no segmento juvenil. Por ser um autor ainda pouco estudado no que concerne ao conjunto de sua obra, há, no primeiro capítulo, uma abordagem panorâmica que busca situá-la histórica e esteticamente, com fundamentação em Antonio Candido, Silviano Santiago, Tânia Pellegrini, Walnice Galvão, Flávio Carneiro e Beatriz Resende. No segundo capítulo, para o levantamento e discussão de sua fortuna crítica, a produção a esse respeito foi levantada a partir da década de 1980, tanto a disponibilizada em gêneros acadêmicos - teses, dissertações e artigos em revistas - quanto em livros. No ensejo das leituras sobre textos que tratam da obra jorgiana há uma breve reflexão sobre o específico juvenil com ênfase na presença da intertextualidade e da metalinguagem e o tipo de relação dos textos de Marinho com o segmento. Para tanto, o pensamento de pesquisadores mais experientes como Marisa Lajolo, Regina Zilberman, Edmir Perrotti... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This thesis was carried out to suggest reading possibilities for five young-adult novels written by Jorge Miguel Marinho (1947): A visitação do amor: uma história mágica em dó maior (1987); Sangue no espelho: histórias de Alices, vampiros e olhares (1993); Te dou a lua amanhã...: biofantasia de Mário de Andrade (1993); O cavaleiro da tristíssima figura (1996) e Lis no peito: um livro que pede perdão (2005). The objective is to understand the singularities of Marinho's aesthetic project, who has a regular production since the 1980s, remains writing, and has been highly awarded in the young-adult segment. In the first chapter, as the author is not widely studied, there is a panoramic approach that seeks to situate his work historically and aesthetically according to Antonio Candido, Silviano Santiago, Tânia Pellegrini, Walnice Galvão, Flávio Carneiro, and Beatriz Resende. In the second chapter, for the survey and discussion of Marinho's critical fortune, the production in this respect was raised from the 1980s on, both in academic genres - theses, dissertations, and articles in magazines - and in books. Considering these readings of this author's work, there is also a brief reflection about the specificity of the young-adult novels with an emphasis on the presence of intertextuality and metalanguage, and the type of relationship of his texts with this segment. To that end, the ideas of more experienced researchers like Marisa Lajolo, Regina Zilberman, Edmir Perrotti, João Ceccantini, and Alice Aurea Penteado Martha appear intertwined with considerations of Gabriela F.C. Luft, Larissa W.F. Cruvinel, Raquel C. de S. e Souza and other scholars which have joined the area more recently. In the third chapter, the analysis of the corpus, all this theoretical reference aforementioned is resumed with the contributions of Linda Hutcheon and... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Orientadora: Cleide Antonia Rapucci / Banca: Nilce Maria Pereira / Banca: João Luis Cardoso Tapias Ceccantini / Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma possibilidade de leitura das obras Mopsa the Fairy (1869), "Amelia and the Dwarfs" (1870) e Speaking Likenesses (1874), escritas, respectivamente, por Jean Ingelow (1820-1897), Juliana Horatia Ewing (1841-1885) e Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). Essa leitura é feita a partir de um cotejo entre esses textos e seu hipotexto em comum: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), de Lewis Carroll (1832-1898). O enfoque metodológico para tal fundamenta-se na abordagem narratológica, e busca refletir acerca das revisões feitas por essas autoras em relação ao clássico em questão. Para melhor entendimento do contexto sociocultural em que os livros de Alice e seus hipertextos aparecem, o vitorianismo, discutimos inicialmente a "Era de Ouro da Literatura Infantil", período que vai de 1864 até a Primeira Grande Guerra. Ao longo do desenvolvimento da pesquisa, percebemos a necessidade da construção de uma biobibliografia das escritoras supracitadas, uma vez que não há qualquer material em língua portuguesa sobre Ingelow e Ewing. Para a consecução de nosso objetivo, tendo em vista a importância da redescoberta de vozes não-canônicas na expansão do conceito de cânone literário, fundamentamos essa seção de nosso trabalho a partir da teoria ginocrítica de Elaine Showalter. Essa mesma abordagem é utilizada no caso de Rossetti, embora haja mais material sobre ela em nosso país. Dessa forma, podemos afirmar que esse trabalho considera os seguintes tópicos para estudo: 1. o contexto de produção dos textos de Lewis Carroll e sua confecção; 2. a investigação acerca da vida e da obra das escritoras que compõem o corpus; 3. a discussão dos volumes literários selecionados tendo em vista seu hipotexto em comum / Abstract: This thesis was carried out to suggest one possibility of reading Mopsa the Fairy (1869), "Amelia and the Dwarfs" (1870), and Speaking Likenesses (1874), respectively written by Jean Ingelow (1820-1897), Juliana Horatia Ewing (1841-1885), and Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). We suggest a comparison between these texts and their common hypotext, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), by Lewis Carroll (1832-1898). The methodological approach we propose is based on narratology, and is intended to reflect on the revisions of this classic made by these authors. For a better understanding of the sociocultural context in which the Alice books and their hypertexts appear, the "Golden Age of Children's Literature" - a period that runs from 1864 to the First World War - will first be considered. Also, throughout the development of this research, we've realized the need to construct a biobibliography of the aforementioned women writers, as there is a lack of written sources and bibliographical and biographical information about Ewing and Ingelow in Brazilian Portuguese. In order to achieve our goals, considering the importance of the rediscovery of non-canonical voices in the expansion of the concept of literary canon, the section devoted to the authors posits Elaine Showalter's theory of gynocriticism as the basics for our discussion. This same approach is also used in Rossetti's case, even though there is a minimal literature about her in our country. Thus, this study is organized according to the following topics: 1. the context of production of Lewis Carroll's texts, and its writing process; 2. the investigation about the life and works of Jean Ingelow, Christina Rossetti, and Juliana Horatia Ewing; 3. the discussion of the selected texts and their common hypotext / Mestre

Abstract: This thesis investigates the origins of contemporary fictional constructions of childhood by examining the extent to which current literary representations of children and childhood have departed from their Victorian origins. I set out to test my intuition that many contemporary young adult novels perpetuate Victorian ideals and values in their constructions of childhood, despite the overt circumstantial modernity of the childhoods they represent. The question this thesis hopes to answer therefore is, how Victorian is contemporary young adult fiction? To gauge the degree of change that has taken place since the Victorian period, differences and points of continuity between representations of nineteenth century childhood and twentieth century childhood will be sought and examined in texts from both eras. The five aspects of fictional representation that I focus on are: notions of innocence; sexuality; the child as saviour; the use of discipline and punishment to create the ideal child; and the depiction of childhood and adulthood as separate worlds. The primary theoretical framework used derives from Michel Foucault’s concepts of the construction of subjectivity through discourse, discipline and punishment, and his treatment of repression and power, drawn mainly from The History of Sexuality vol. 1 (1976) and Discipline and Punish; the Birth of the Prison (1977). I have chosen to use Foucault primarily because of the affinity between his work on the social construction of knowledge and the argument that childhood is a constructed rather than essential category; and because Foucault’s work on Victorian sexuality exposes links with current thinking rather than perpetuating assumptions about sexual repression in this period.

This thesis concerns the visual representation of the Maori in illustrations featured in the School Journal, Bulletins, Maori Language Readers, and Remedial Readers published by the New Zealand Department of Education from 1907-96. The main focus is to examine how the prehistory of Aotearoa has been presented to the public. For this reason School Journals were chosen as they have been a resource available to all school children for almost a century, and reflect changing theories incorporated into illustrations which can be just as significant, or even more powerful, than text in transmitting information (and sometimes culture-bound values) to the public about past Maori lifeways. I examined specific areas such as the representation Maori physiognomy, representation of gender and ethnicity, material culture, and activities in illustrations and photographs to create an overview of how the Maori have been depicted and question how closely these representations adhere to reality.

The purpose of this study was to investigate children's comments on stories. Through a series of interviews the study sought to elicit comments from six 8 year old and six 11 year old children on evaluating literature, both their own and others and on how they compose stories. A classification system was applied to these comments so as to represent them as set of propositions, constructs or concerns about evaluating and composing stories. The system of classification applied was derived from the children's comments rather than use pre-determined categories. Propositions for evaluation were represented as a list of 'traits' and those for composing as a list of 'facets of the composing process.' These propositions were then compared and contrasted by age and mode (evaluation of reading or writing and comments on composing). This analysis led to the identification of some common concerns and patterns of response as well as distinctions according to age and the topic discussed. Video taped writing episodes were used to investigate the composing process. The children were asked to comment whilst writing and this was replayed for them to invite further comment and explanation. All other interviews were recorded on audio tape. Finally consideration is given to further applications of the analysis and methodology to children's comments.

Cultural representations of bushfire have long reflected the importance of these events in both the nation’s history and in popular imagination. / The central argument of this thesis is that depictions of fire in literature, art, film and popular culture have demonstrated the capacity to shape community understandings of bushfire behaviour and may influence the way in which people respond to and behave during such emergencies. In support of this, the role that bushfire has played in popular culture is explored and the perpetuation of certain myths and understandings through a range of cultural expressions is examined. It is contended that these cultural artefacts can have a direct impact upon community understanding of bushfires, their place in the Australian landscape and — importantly — how the broader community respond to such events. / The work discerns the shift in attitude towards bushfire in such cultural expressions from the 19th century until the present day. One purpose of the research is to posit whether such influences may act as impediments to the delivery of community bushfire education programs. / The structure of the thesis incorporates an introductory review of relevant literature and theoretical material. As the study of the cultural interpretation of disaster in Australia is in its infancy, pertinent overseas research is examined that identifies theoretical models that may be applied to bushfires in Australia. In particular, the representation of bushfire in • visual art • children’s literature; • adult fiction; is examined in detail. / Primary texts and artistic works will be examined for evidence of the understandings about bushfire that they generate or sustain. These interpretations will be compared with scientific and experiential understandings of bushfire behaviour and to the limited literature in disaster studies that has examined myths and perceptions of such events. / In the visual arts, fire has an obvious attraction for practitioners, both during its impact and in its aftermath. There has been an evident revival of interest in fire as a theme in the late 20th and early 21st centuries parallel to the intense interest artists showed in these events at the end of the 19th century. / Juvenile literature in Australia has produced extensive manifestations of bushfire representations. Fire lends itself to depiction in this genre for a number of reasons. It has been used, for example, to locate stories in a distinctly Australian context. It provides the elements of danger and adventure that allow for the development of strong narratives. Finally, it has a bold visual element that lends itself to pictorial interpretations. There is significant theoretical support for the idea that knowledge learned at this stage of a person’s development is retained until much later in life. / Conversely, bushfire appears to be relatively unusual as the basis for adult fiction, although (particularly in the 19th century) it is often incorporated into the background landscape. There are only a handful of adult novels in which bushfire is central to the narrative, while there are many in which it forms part of the backdrop.

Officially in 1934, socialist realism emerged in Soviet society as the new cultural aesthetic, providing an artistic framework for all forms of cultural productionart, music, architecture and literature. In the realm of childrens writing, socialist realism had particularly interesting effects on the themes and formulas that were utilized by authors. Though once thought to represent the tsarist and peasant past, the Party encouraged the use of traditional folk elements to popularize the new overtly Soviet tales, despite the apparent unorthodoxy. Similarly, authors were encouraged to reintroduce the hero, also seemingly unorthodox in what was a theoretically collective society. Nonetheless, heroic themes and characters emerged to recognize achievements in industry and the drive for modernization, encourage vigilance against internal and external spies and saboteurs, propagandize the Soviet war effort against Germany, and honour Soviet soldiers for their sacrifices. Soviet childrens books demonstrated to youth the communist qualities of selflessness and devotion to the collective, and about the dangers of idleness. Children learned that the Soviet Union was to be the new Soviet family, replacing the bond of blood kinship. The leader cult filtered down to childrens books and Stalin made a significant appearance as the father of all heroes. This thesis argues that the Party recognized the value of childrens literature for shaping the character development of young readers. Popular in their own right, childrens books were not able to avoid the manipulation and control of the Party, which employed them as tools of propaganda. However, it is difficult to separate the extent of their genuine popularity from their appeal as propaganda.