Discusses and assesses the writings and the work of author Arthur Ransome, a writer of children's literature in the 1930s. Argues that Ransome always wrote well, took pains to provide children with adventures that could very nearly have happened, and occasionally "wrote well enough for adults, too." (SR)

Focuses on seven books (published in 2000 or 2001) which can help new and experienced teachers engage students in selecting quality literature, in thinking, questioning and dialoging in response to literature, and in exploring social justice through literature. (RS)

Describes how students in an undergraduate children's literature class constructed and created interpretations of the books they were reading. Notes that the students each designed a three-foot paper strip reflecting his or her personal response to the book. Finds fresh thinking, fewer repeated ideas, and more understanding of symbol, metaphor,…

Discusses children's pictures termed "visual manifold narratives" (picture books that develop more than one narrative line by including two or more sets of separate pictures on the page). Discusses some uses of the manifold narrative, the reader's role in constructing meaning, subversion of the linear narrative, the metafictionality of manifold…

Discusses (1) knowledge teachers are trying to teach when they ask children to read stories about incidences of pain and horror; (2) how preservice elementary teachers experience the dangers and the possibilities involved in using such literature; (3) principles literary practitioners call upon to assist readers in working through the psychic…

Describes a university class project designed to help pre-service and in-service teachers explore the ways children and adults respond to the same text. Considers the importance of discussion for the creation of meaning, the support of literary awareness, and insights about the nature of children's responses to reading. (SR)

Shares reflections on what makes a book memorable, from teachers of all levels gathered at a "literacy club" luncheon. Discusses implications for teaching. Appends a list of 65 trade books, children's books, young adult books, poetry books, and professional books chosen as memorable by attendees at the luncheon. (SR)

Centers on the power of words (words from literature) that have woven themselves into the lives of the author's two daughters. Examines the children's response to literature as they became writers of prose and poetry in elementary school, showing how, when, where, and why the children use literary language to enhance and express their own verbal…

An undergraduate course in children's literature was developed at De Montfort University in Bedford, England, United Kingdom (UK). In a children's literature course for first year students from a variety of backgrounds, age groups, and future intents, it is important to consider the discourse of children's literature, to trace intertextual…

The six articles in this focused journal issue are concerned with literature teaching on the secondary and college level. The titles and authors of the articles are as follows: (1) "Aesthetic Reading and Teaching: 'Candide' Revisited" (Michael G. Gauthier); (2) "Discovery: The Role of Subjective Response in Initiating the Literature…

A group of elementary teachers enrolled in a graduate class in language arts at the University of North Dakota explored how children construct their own meanings as they interact with texts. One teacher regularly read to her 20-month-old grandson, and excerpts from the journal she kept reveal that his understanding of a specific text evolved to…