06386 - Children's Literature

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows:

• the cultural context in which children's literature has historycally found itself;
• the children’s books and the complexity and ambiguity that characterizes them;
• she/he knows and analyzes the imagery and interprets the textes;
• she/he knows and analyzes the classic and contemporary novels, picture books, fairy tales, and numerous examples of books for childrens.
• she/he knows how to propose the storytelling languages, and the student knows different comunication modes in the educational relationship.
• she/he is able to make informed choises in publishing children's books.

Course contents

The course intends to go through the main themes relating to literature for early childhood: after a general presentation of the discipline - with references to the history of youth literature and its relationships with educational phenomena - it will move on to examine in depth the topics that are most close to girls and boys 0-3: the fairy tale, the nursery rhyme, the use of illustrated books, the relationship with the first books and, finally, the oral storytelling at home, in the library and in nursery. The aim of the course is to offer pedagogical resources to operators in children's services, so that they consciously orient themselves in the vast and rich world of stories for children, avoiding stereotypes, poor and old teaching models, and naive narrative practices.

Readings/Bibliography

The study for students (including non-attending students) is made up of three parts:

1) Study of your choice of two of the following texts:

- E. Beseghi, G. Grilli (a cura), La letteratura invisibile. Infanzia e libri per bambini, Carocci Editore, Roma, 2011.

- E. Bernardi, La voce remota. La fiaba, l'infanzia, l'eredità delle storie, ETS, Pisa, 2019.

- M. Campagnaro, M. Dallari, Incanto e racconto nel labirinto delle figure. Albi illustrati e relazione educativa, Erickson, Trento, 2013.

- E. Catarsi, Leggere le figure. Il libro nell'asilo nido e nella scuola dell'infanzia, Edizioni del Cerro, Tirrennia (Pisa), 1999 (ma anche edizioni successive).

- R. Caso, Di storia in storia. Crescere come lettori in età prescolare, Anicia, Roma, 2013.

- Hamelin (Ed.), Ad occhi aperti. Leggere l'albo illustrato, Donzelli Editore, Roma, 2012.

2) Study of your choice of two of the following book chapters:

- M. Bernardi, Il raccontare, le storie e l'invisibile della cura, in M. Contini e M. Manini, La cura in educazione, Carocci, Roma, 2007, pp. 187-202.

- I. Filograsso, Libri e lettura 0-3: parole e immagini in gioco, in S. Barsotti, L. Cantatore (a cura di) Letteratura per l'infanzia, Carocci, Roma, 2019, pp. 23-54.

- R. Caso, Crescere come lettori in età prescolare: dalla "mammalingua" ai primi libri, in S. Barsotti, L. Cantatore (a cura di) Letteratura per l'infanzia, Carocci, Roma, 2019, pp. 55-69.

- N. Tucker, I primi libri (0-3 anni), in N. Tucker, Il bambino e il libro, Armando Editore, Roma, 2022 (ma vanno bene anche le edizioni precedenti), pp. 29-52.

- M. Di Giacinto, Letture e narrazioni al nido. L'esperienza con le famiglie, in L. Cantatore (a cura di), Primo: Leggere. Per un'educazione alla lettura, Edizioni Conoscenza, Roma, 2017, pp. 193-202.

3) Reading of two of the following texts/picture books for early childhood:

- M. E. Agostinelli, Sembra questo, sembra quello, Salani, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- S. Bravi, L'uccellino fa, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- P. Corentin, Papà!, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- L. Lionni, Piccolo Blu e piccolo Giallo, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- M. Ramos, Il più forte, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- M. Sendak, Nel paese dei mostri selvaggi, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- B. Tognolini, P. Valentinis, Mammalingua. Ventuno filastrocche per neonati e per la voce delle mamme, Editrice il Castoro - Edizioni Tuttestorie, Milano, 2018.

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Bibliography for Erasmus Students

1 Compulsory Italian Book:

- E. Beseghi, G. Grilli (a cura), La letteratura invisibile. Infanzia e libri per bambini, Carocci Editore, Roma, 2011.

5 Compulsory English Academic Articles (You can download them in Virtuale):

- A. Antoniazzi, Masha and the bear. A new educational paradigm, in Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica – Journal of Theories and Research in Education 11, 3 (2016).

- M. Bernardi, Children’s literature and illustrated novels. Educating readers, literary works and visual surprises, in Studi sulla Formazione: 22, 85-95, 2019-2

- G. Grilli, The artistic nonfiction picturebook, in Goga, N., Iversen, S. H. and Teigland, A.-S. (Eds.) (2021). Verbal and visual strategies in nonfiction picturebooks: Theoretical and analytical approaches. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.

- C. Lepri, M.C. Botines, LIONNI’S LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW: THE JOY OF THE ENCOUNTER, in Revista Internacional de Culturas y Literaturas, junio 2018.

- M.T. Trisciuzzi, Image and imagination in education. Visual narrative through children’s literature, in Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica – Journal of Theories and Research in Education 12, 3 (2017).

2 Children Picture books:

- L. Lionni, Piccolo Blu e piccolo Giallo, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

- M. Sendak, Nel paese dei mostri selvaggi, Babalibri, Milano (vari anni di edizione).

FINAL WRITTEN ERASMUS TEST IS IN 5 QUESTIONS: 2 QUESTIONS ON THE COMPULSORY BOOK, 2 QUESTIONS ON THE FIVE ARTICLES AND 1 QUESTION ON THE PICTURE BOOKS.

 

 

Teaching methods

The course will consist of traditional lectures delivered in Italian. During each lesson the professor dedicates a part of the teaching to collective dialogue in order to process a conceptual map that will allow students to orient themselves in the contents, languages and topics discussed in the meeting.

Assessment methods

Learning will be assessed by individual written test. Test is designed to verify the knowledge of the contents, the linguistic fluency , the ability to organize information that every student is able to master at the end of the course about the topics discussed during the lessons and shown in the texts.

Final score based on ../30 (18 is considered the minimum to pass the exam).

Inscription to the exam on Almaesami website.

If rejected at the exam, it is possible to have a second chance.

Teaching tools

Internet in order to use web resources. Reports and files on "Virtuale".

Office hours

See the website of William Grandi