Childrens Literature Studies - Annotated Bibliography Example

Topic: Children’s Literature Studies Name: Student No: Course Code: Date of Submission: Annotated bibliography, containing The Lost Thing plus another three books by your chosen author (Shaun Tan) and four other books Tan, S. (2004). The lost thing. Vancouver: Simply Read Books. The lost thing is a picture story book authored and demonstrated by Shaun Tan. This is a story full of humor. It is about a boy who finds out a creature with weird looks while at the beach collecting bottle tops. He guesses that the creature is lost thus he a makes an effort to search for where it belongs or the owner. However the problem is approached with coldness by all the other people, who even merely acknowledge its existence. Everyone is unsupportive in their own way as they are not ready to entertain the undesirable disruption to their daily routine. The book can exclusively be described as quite visually dense and through this it is able to replicate the surrounding it represent, having a sense of compression and congestion. As much as this book is best suited for young age group, a wide range of ages will still read it and certainly enjoy the proceedings. While it is filled with typical ideas of a caring and observant young individual, the graphics deliver a dreamlike and stimulating background that has a clear-cut twist. What makes the literature and the art so out of the ordinary is that it presents the audience with unusual events that prompts them to ask questions about the things they know already. It is about returning the audience, more so the older ones, to unfamiliar state, offering the chance to revive fresh insights through objects they don’t quite distinguish. Finally it is important to point out that the painting style is to some extent more cartoonish and have a futuristic impression. Tan, S. (2007). The arrival. London: Hodder Children's Books. The arrival is Shaun Tan authored picture book that narrates about a man who gives the daughter and wife a last kiss before boarding a ship to cross the ocean. The man embarks of the on a journey he considers to be important to his life despite it being painful, he leaves his family and home to build the family a better future. The author stirs up the worldwide experiences of immigrants by means of a single imagination work. He manages to do so through application of vividly precise and thrilling pictures. For the reason that the main character ca not communicate through words, the work consequently forgoes them. However while a reader has the opportunity of experiencing the isolation of the main character he subsequently shares his eventual happiness. This piece of work is really graphic and illustrative. The story is distressing and readers are certainly to love how it realistically reveals immigrants and the way in which the world-building and settings are fantastically and metaphorically drawn. Beside the graphics and setting, the reader is not only able to vividly see the experiences of the main character while he travels but also the individuals he comes across. Many readers would complain that the story is too short thus fast paced and thus it could have been a bit longer but this is majorly about experiences, going forward and adaption. The beautiful stunning pictures within the book literary show why THE ARIVAL contains no words in the first place. Tan, S. (2002). The red tree. Port Melbourne: Lothian Books. The red tree is a pictured story written and subsequently illustrated by Shaun Tan. The book presents a disjointed expedition through a dark world. The graphics within the book are bizarre. The dark illustrations are matched with the sparse text within the book. The story is about a child who wake up to find drifting dark leaves within her bedroom, she holds onto a feeling that sometimes there’s nothing to be hopeful for as the day begins. Emotions that cannot be accommodated in words are provided through an imaginary scenery in which the child roams in, unaware of the flicker of hope in the form of a tiny red leaf. Apparently, everything is hopeless until the child comes across the red tree and her world is filled with hope. With wonder and sensitivity, the author’s reminiscent images give an opening to the readers’ curious emotions and narrate a story about renewal, inspiration as well as the power of hope. The book is sparely scripted with far-fetched paintings narrating about despair and how an individual muddle through it. This piece of work is varied and beautiful on every page with the imagination of the author enormously lending it well to precise lines. It’s a significantly innovative book tackling day to day questions that are hard to answer. The author’s absolute craftsmanship and originality is equaled by his capacity to configure such a deceptively precise narrative possessing a moving destiny. Tan, S. (2008). The haunted playground. Minneapolis: Stone Arch Books. This is a picture book by Shaun Tan. The artwork is about Gavin who is passionate with pursuing treasure with the help of his metal detector. He comes to discover the ideal location, a big, sandy playfield. During one of his hunts, he comes to realize that his watch is missing and is surprised why even though he uses a metal detector; he is still unable to find it. In his search, Gavin comes across a group of children who have their own mystifying treasure hunt. The main character in The Hunted Playground, Gavin, is trapped by the group of kids who plays trickery on him before vanishing with his collected treasures. They had suggested to him if they could play when the lights came but when the lights went out he is robbed of all his treasures. The book is generally fantastic. Some of the language within the book is simplistic and the plot to some extent is a little predictable. Within the vocabulary limitations, the author worked incredibly well as he used well assembled sentences to sustain suspense regardless of the fact that readers may get some idea of what to expect next. This is one type of a story book that is recommendable to parents or teachers that would like a short story to help them do group work reading with students. Writing prompts and discussion questions are also listed at the back. Scieszka, J., Wolf, A., & Smith, L. (1989). The true story of the 3 little pigs. New York: Viking Penguin. This is a frantic and clever fracture fairy tale picture story book authored by Jon Scieszka. There exists various elements within the story that readers would enjoy going through. However the main positive element turns to be the illustrations and writing. The author’s proficiency in storytelling is innovative and comical as he describes the wolf’s point of view of the story. The wolf explains why he had to eat the three little pigs something he says had been misunderstood for long. Scieszka performs a significant task in linking the wolf’s dilemma to the readers, so that when they go through the book, they definitely feel sorry for the three little pigs. As much as the Lane instructions are dark they are to an extent humorous. It is important for parents and teachers to realize that scenes where the wolf eats the first and the second little pigs may be distressing to some little children. As much as this is picture book for children, it is also a pure classic for the adults as it characterizes comedy that is dazzlingly satirical and occasionally dark. This children’s picture book is a boundless artwork to make children contemplate and generate their own view points. It narrates the story of the three little pigs from the wolf’s perspective and is much convincing. At the start, wolf performs an introduction of himself and subsequently proclaims that the three little pigs had framed him. Burton, V. L. (1969). The little house. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. This is a beautifully crafted picture book authored by Virginia Lee Burton. It is about an appealing country cottage that becomes overwhelmed by the city growing around it. As a child, she had grown and lived in a country setting which is described as the best then moved to the urban area which is seen as bad. The cottage possesses a suggestive face of doors and windows, and subsequently have the feelings of an individual; so she is not happy when encircled by the noisy, dirty hustle and bustle of the city. The house gets a happy ending as it is taken back to where she belongs, the country. This is an example of a picture book which has been prudently and evocatively politicized. The author comprehensively succeeds in showing the cost of proliferating urbanization. For the reason that “The little house” is a picture book, it flourishes in streamlining the pressure between the city and the country. Whereas the city is set up as a cruel villain the country is painted as a universal hero. The book provides unblemished context, which is still applicable today as it was when the book was written, by which the evolution of urban development is questioned. This book has the capacity to imbed itself in the memory of the readers forever. The picture book has a predictable structure as it has the ability to offer the audience various clues on what to anticipate next. This book would appeal any child. Wiesner, D. (2006). Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books. This is a picture book for children authored by David Wiesner. It is about an upbeat boy who is science minded. He goes to the beach to gather and evaluate flotsam, which is any floating object. In his routine collections, he gets a Melville Under Water Camera, removes its film and rushes to process it. it is after receiving the print back that he discovers the work of the camera he collected. Among his usual finds included tiny objects of every description, lost toys and bottles. This is a really enjoyable picture book that many young readers will be glad to pass through. The significant advantage it has is in relation to the lack of dialogues. As much as this is dubbed children’s book, it can be promptly recommended to everybody due to its universal nature. The drawings are illustrated in a horizontal format as they are wider than tall. The story is pleasant and universal, full of fanciful invention and with magnificent details. The connection between reality and imagination is actually charming, and so is the inspiring mood. Each of the characters within the book are drawn in a realistic way, particularly the images of fish performing activities of man under the sea. The story is superbly structured that even the youngest audiences are able to understand it on their own as it is entirely in pictures. However it can be of much fun for the adult audiences to read it with the younger ones. Sendak, M. (1984). Where the wild things are. New York: Harper Trophy/HarperCollins. This a picture book by Maurice Sendak. It is about a boy, Max, who wears a wolf costume who hunts his dog using a fork, plays dangerously with hammers and even threatens to cannibalize the mum. The mother being an irony master sends him to bed without dinner. Max as a result sails to a land of wild things where he is made a king. At the land of wild things Max can be dreadful as he wants, and the wild things join in the fuss. Ultimately, he becomes tired of being wild and desires to embark on a journey back home. Almost everything about this book; from illustrations to texts, is adorable. The artworks possess splendid pictures and this blends well with the terrific story to bring about a exemplary picture story book. The readers will be able to appreciate the message the author intends to convey. He promotes unconditional love: Max was always loved by his mother no matter how much he misbehaved. The author is a master of concision, narrating moving stories in just a few words than most authors will use. The approach he has applied is non-condescending and honest. It will be important for all readers to contemplate about the moral of the story. In a way it may be true to assert that the author’s work is a proof to the unrestrained strengths of kids thoughts. As much as this book is intended for the young readers it is accommodative to the adult readers too. How the children will benefit The selected picture books will benefit the children more than any other genre. It is not good to skip them and continue with chapter books for the reason that picture books are very important in the holistic development of the children’s learning foundation. For instance, picture books can be equated to crawling while reading the chapter books can be regarded as walking. Just like crawling, a picture book teaches about forward movements, coordination and it drills both margins of the brain. The selected picture books will have the capacity to enrich children’s lives in various dimensions and prepare them for the future learning experience. Reading picture story books at a young age will provide the pupils with the chance to enjoy literature and appreciate the beauty and value of reading. Pupils can actively get involved in asking related question and suggesting answers. Comparison and contrast of stories will be of great help for the children. The selected authors present their books in a way that children are able to establish linkages between similar genres, similar stories and similar author. Subsequently they will be able to make up connections between the stories exhibiting similar lessons. Additionally, the selected picture books will be used as models to generate creativity from young children, for instance through generation of accumulative story lines. The selected picture books will give pupils an opportunity for close reading. Close reading in this context refers to where a text will be read many times in order to take into consideration the authors’ structure and objective. Reading the picture book aloud will provide framework and modelling of the close reading. The use of these picture story books in the curriculum will help pupils recount the stories in order to generate their own perspectives of the books. Additionally, the picture books will be useful in efficient studying of various themes presented. Language development A number of studies have indicated that children between the ages of two to seven are considered to be at an optimum age for learning language. The brain of a young child is ravening for stimulation of language. That is the reason why it is normally proposed at this stage children should learn a new language. They have the capacity to quickly absorb a new language. For the reason that the selected picture books contain only a few words, the vocabulary within are structured with care. This is to imply that the paragraphs, sentences and words are crafted with care. The authors of the selected picture books distill the language to its very core. This is the reason for the engaging, evocative and rich texts within the picture books. Reading this kind of language will definitely help in enriching the children’s language development. Development of the brain Subsequently, a series of studies conducted in relation to children’s growth and development indicates that in the early childhood, the brain rings with additional neurological influences that are endeavoring to institute sequences, patterns, causes and effects. The selected picture books, with their specific visual and verbal nature, provide this to the growing mind of the child. Stimulation of a child’s imagination The selected picture books, with their associated illustrations and dedicated texts, will be perfect for stimulating the children’s imagination. Whether through innovative story lines or even imaginative characters, the picture books will assist the children in opening their minds to the comedy, fun and fantasy provided. They will be motivated by the imaginary characters that present the base of the moral lessons. Increased attention span Due to their distinctive structure, the selected picture books will help in increasing the attention span of the children. Most of these contain refrains which makes the children to keep on reading or listening as they enthusiastically anticipate the refrain section. Refrain in this context refers to a repeated sentence at regular intervals. The fact that these books are much interesting and enjoyable, the children will be able to concentrate for long period of time in order to satisfy their curiosity. Enjoyment The selected picture books are to a great extent to help the children refresh their minds. This is important as it help in relaxation of the mind. The books are full of comic that will certainly help the children break monotony of reading chapter books that lack descriptive pictures. Picture books are just like movies and cinemas thus have the same effect of helping break monotony from routine operations. The provision of delightful pictures and illustrations within the books will definitely excite young readers in class. It is always said that picture books are much fun than the chapter books, the story is always evolving each time it is read. The young generation like to come up with imaginations and picture story books always provide an opportunity for that. They may possess diverse ideas from what is taking place from the story book but then again their ideas may be more original and imaginative than that of the teacher. Promotes creativity The selected picture story books are carefully authored to help develop a creative mindset. The books are organized in such a way that, as the children will be going through the book they will be able to predict what is to happen in the following scenes. Picture story books helps children have an open mindset thus think outside the box, it is this characteristic that make them be innovative. Long-term memory The selected picture story books will help children develop memories that can hold onto ideas for a very long period of time. It is important to note that the pictures and illustrations provided are easy to master and remember. The fact that this is a more descriptive piece of art, many children will establish connections between real life experiences and the graphic provided in the books. This in return brings about a long lasting effect as they come to master storylines by use of picture. Other benefits to the children will include: • Vocabulary development • Listening comprehension • Pronunciation and fluency • Stimulating the imagination Other references Hall, S. (2000). Using picture storybooks to teach character education. Westport, Conn: Oryx Press. Rolton, G. (2000). Using picture story books: A resource book for teacher. South Yarra [Vic.: Macmillan Education Australia. Brodie-Hall, S., & Mottram, O. (2005). Fairytales & picture storybooks. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corp. Julich, J., & Chabot, J. F. (2006). Sequences: Picture stories for ESL. St. Catharines, Ont: Full Blast Productions. Hall, S. (1990). Using picture storybooks to teach literary devices: Recommended books for children and young adults. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Northrup, M., & Cianciolo, P. J. (2012). Picture books for children: Fiction, folktales, and poetry. Chicago: American Library Association. Read More