Introduction
Can it be that Rousseau, influential Romantic philosopher, is right? Is reading the "plague" we impose upon children? Perhaps. Perhaps, reading oppresses children; perhaps, it liberates them. Perhaps it's wonderously more complicated than a simple either/or; perhaps, it's a both/and. Regardless, reading and books occupy a central place in the lives of virtually all young children in the United States. For many, exposure to books happens at home; for others, only at school or in libraries. For almost all children, books are objects that define them in some way as either literate or illiterate, smart or dumb, cultured or uncultured.

Books written for children represent some of the most important texts that our culture produces because these texts are used in educational settings and reach such a wide audience that just invoking the names of story book characters can cause an emotional stirring in people's hearts. It may be annoyance at The Grinch, excitement at The Cat in the Hat, a touch of empathy with Max as he romps with the Wild Things, an "awww" as we think of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friendship with Piglet.

In this course, we will look closely at books written for "children," which we will limit to those human beings between the ages of 5 and 15. We will investigate both picture books and chapter books, paying particular attention to the literacy practices that these texts encourage in young people. In our study, we will likewise address the following questions:

• What is a "child" in our current culture? What is a "young adult"? What is an "adolescent"? How are these rhetorical categories different now than in previous times?
• How do various books written (ostensibly) for children and young adults construct these categories? What attributes do we give them and how do we distinguish among them? Why do we make such distinctions?
• What stereotypes do writers for children perpetuate? What happens for readers (children, teachers, parents) when writers work outside of sterotypes?
• What makes for a conservative or progressive children's book?
• What do children's books demonstrate about our adult anxieties surrounding childhood?
• How do we determine if a text is "appropriate" for a child reader? Are there texts that are "appropriate" for children but perhaps not "approrpriate" for classroom use? Why? How do we decide?

Because this course is populated by both education majors and non-education majors, students will have a variety of options for projects which will meet their individual educational and/or future needs (see below).

Goals of English 4950
Students in this course will

Required Texts

• Nodelman, Perry and Mavis Reimer. The Pleasures of Children’s Literature, 3 rd ed. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2002. ISBN: 0801332486
• Anderson, Hans Christian. The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales. New York: Dover, 1993. ISBN: 0486278166
• Avi. Poppy. New York: Avon/Camelot, 1995. ISBN: 0380727692
• Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1975. ISBN: 0374480095
• Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. New York: Seastar Books, 2000. ISBN: 1587170302
• Barrie, James M. Peter Pan. New York: Bantam, 1985. ISBN: 0553211781
• Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. New York: Bantam, 1995. ISBN: 0440414121
• Sachar, Louis. Holes. New York: Yearling, 2000. ISBN: 0440414806
• Sanchez, Alex. So Hard to Say. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004. ISBN: 0689865643
• Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Bks, 2001. ISBN: 0618007016
• Handbook of Your Choice (or use the online handbooks available at "Relevant Links")

Instructor Expectations
I expect the students I'm working with to work with me, to be in class and on time each class meeting, to devote a minimum of six (6) hours per week outside of class to course-related work and to turn in professional-looking work on-time. I expect students NOT to complain about writing, reading, and research, but to try to invest in and enjoy the projects we will work on during the semester. And I expect student-writers to feel that they can talk to me about their work, their concerns about their writing and reading, and their goals for this course. I do NOT expect students to be "expert" writers, readers, or researchers, for if they were, they wouldn't need this course, but I DO expect them to work extremely hard to develop those three skills over the course of the semester.

I do NOT believe in a "bell-curve" or in making the students' grades for this course fall along an A — F continuum. Every student who works at the A-level consistently should expect to receive an A in the course, keeping in mind that A-students complete ALL work on time and at an exceptional level throughout the semester; they come to class everyday during the semester; they rarely ask for extended deadlines; they don't make excuses for poor or late performance; they are exceptional peer-responders to writings and presentations of their class colleagues; they take a leadership role in the class, consistently going beyond the "minimum" requirements for assignments; and they seek the one-to-one help they need (from teachers, peers, or the University Writing Center) throughout the semester rather than procrastinating and expecting someone else (teacher, peer, writing consultant) to solve their problems for them. If you can be that sort of student, I look forward to awarding you the A you will have earned. If you cannot perform as this sort of students — and some students can't for various (often important) reasons — then you should not expect to earn an A for the course.

Projects
The following projects integrate the readings that we'll do for class with the readings that students will do outside of class. Students who succeed at these projects will demonstrate advanced thinking and the ability to carefully integrate both the theoretical/practical readings about children and childhood with the various literary texts they're reading. Any projects that do not integrate these various texts will be seen as not meeting the requirements of the assignment.

• Book Reviews • (20%)
  In an attempt to create a trove of book reviews that will help teachers, parents, and child-readers to choose books, students will write 300-500 word critical reviews of two picture books and two chapter books, chosen by lottery from an approved list. These reviews will be submitted at various times over the course of the semester to an electronic archive for public consumption.
• Reading Activities • (20%)
  Students will be expected to demonstrate their daily/weekly commitment to assigned readings by completing a varietey of "reading activities." Some of these will be expository in nature, while others will involve drawing, creative writing, or other artistic endeavors. Half of these will happen in class, so absences from class will greatly affect students grades on Reading Activities.
• Major Project #1 • (25%)
  Students will create a picture book based on an adult text and will write an accompanying reflection/critique.
• Major Project #2 • (25%)
  Students will choose either to write a traditional analytical essay on some theme concerning the construction of childhood in two chapter books or to create a two-week themed unit involving at least four mini-projects and one major project for an elementary- or middle-school-aged classroom.
• Portfolio • Students will be expected to collect all their writings and class activities (graded and ungraded) into a portfolio of their work to turn in at the end of the semester. These portfolios will contain a cover sheet which lists all graded assignments the student has completed and the grades the student has earned. Portfolios should be sturdy, three-ring binders that are big enough to hold all the student's work comfortably. Students may retrieve these portfolios from the professor's office during First-Summer Session or during Fall Semester. Only projects represented in the portfolio will receive credit in the course; failure to turn in work in the portfolio will invalidate earlier grades on individual projects.

** The remaining 10% of your course grade will be "studentship" or "engagement," defined as being in class at each meeting and participating fully in class projects. **

Attendance
Although students may choose to be absent from class as frequently as they’d like, these absences will adversely affect course grades by affecting in-class performance (thus your "engagement" credit will suffer). Because some activities will be compelted in class and/or as part of a group, students who choose to miss class will not be able to complete the activities and will receive a zero (0) for participation in these activities. Students who miss NO days of class during the semester will receive a three (3) point bonus on their final average.  It is your responsibility to sign-in to class each day.  ** If you were in class and forgot to sign-in, then you were absent. **

Late Work
Although I often accept late work from first-year students, I expect students in junior- and senior-level classes to tackle their tasks more responsibly. As such, I will gladly accept early projects by e-mail if students cannot make it to class. However, students are still allowed one late project, as long as that project comes in within one week of the original due date. Because my schedule is so full, students should not expect immediate turn around on late projects; they will be returned as soon as I can get to them, which may be several weeks from the time they were turned in. Since projects build on each other, students are encouraged to turn materials in on time or early so that they do not get behind while waiting for my schedule to open up to provide time for response.

Conferences
Students should schedule conferences with me when they do not understand comments I've made on their projects or when they become confused about the expectations of this course. Likewise, I may require a certain number of individual and/or group conferences during the semester. Each scheduled conference that students miss will result in a zero (0) grade averaged into their major projects. If students cannot make a scheduled conference, I need to know six (6) hours in advance so that we can reschedule and so that other students can make use of my office time.

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a D, at best, in the course), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to "cheat." Plagiarism likewise extends to the use of words, phrases, or ideas of others without giving proper credit through in-text citation and a "works cited" page attached to a project. Students who are unsure about whether they have borrowed too generously from other sources should consult the professor for help.

A Comment on Computers and Technology
Since we live in an age of ubiquitous computing, students are expected to turn in typed papers whenever out-of-class assignments are made. Likewise, students should keep back-up copies of all their files for class in anticipation of an emergency. Losing a file or disk, being out of printer paper, or having a broken printer — none of these is an acceptable excuse for turning in late work.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Services, located in Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.