Children's Literature (Week One) -Children’s literature

1. Children's Literature: It can be broadly defined as anything that children read or more specifically defined as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama intended for and used by children and young people. Including,
(1) picture books- Books includes lots of pictures.
(2) fairy tales- Fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, mermaids, or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments.
(3) fables- Fable is a succinct fictional story that features animals or inanimate objects which are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson.
(4) nursery ryhmes-Nursery rhyme is used for traditional poems and songs for young children.
(5) fantasy- Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting.

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2.  兒童文學的補充
(1)文學(literature)-包含 poetry, drama, fiction, etc.
(2)兒童文學起源- picture books +解說 eg. characters, plots, theme, and point of view
(3)兒童文學的常見主題- friendship, leadership, and companionship 並且加上勵志,目 
     的是幫助孩子發現天分(gift)。 eg. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

(4) 當我們閱讀兒童文學時,可以運用幾個題目帶出議題- What is that? What is that for? Why 

      should we care?

(5) 中西差異比較:

     中國- 中國的兒童文學是啟蒙(童蒙)書(Didacticism),是具有教訓意味的。

     西方- 兒童文學是屬於有趣型,以好玩為主。但從1400AD以後,會附加上moral and 

                religious message。

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3.  對於nursery rhymes的補充

(1) Mother Goose is a imagery author of collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

(2) My Fair Lady 中也有出現歌曲 eg. London Bridge is falling down.....

* fair--代表London Tower 中所關政治犯的地方。

(3) Nursery rhyme is a kind of oral tradition that adults shared with children before a publishing 

     exist.  

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4. Vocabulary

(1) juvenile: 12-18的青少年

(2) re-juvenile: 回春術

(3) confirmation: a. = insure  b. 堅信儀式(基督教中的)

(4) puberty- is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult

      body: 青春期

(5) anthropomorphized- given human qualities such as verbal communication: 賦予人形

     的 eg. 由Beatrix Potter 自畫自寫的 Peter Rabbit

(6) obscure: a.模糊  b.籍籍無名 c.晦澀難懂

*"obs-"字首的字通常是負面的 eg. obcene(淫穢); obstacle(障礙); obesity(肥胖)