KJL4 Alphabets and Animals

Of wizards, vampires & co.

Literature for young readers

Assoz.–Prof. Dr. Susanne Reichl

"toteachandtodelight"

"dulceetu/le"(Horace,ArsPoe(ca)"aspeakingpicture,withthisend,toteachanddelight"(SirPhilipSidney,ADefenseofPoetry,1583)

Hornbooks

Comenius,OrbisSensualiumPictus.1659

H

Primers

TheNewEnglandPrimer

KateGre

EdwardGorey,TheGashlycrumbTinies,1963

AnimalsinChildren'sLiteratureAnthropomorphism

anthropomorphic anthropos=human morphe= form, shape Aesop's fables 550 BCE Panchatantra 6th cent.

BCE

Animalfables

Aesop:TheAntandtheGrasshopper

BeatrixPoQer,TheTaleofPeterRabbit.1901.

h'p://www.gutenberg.org/files/14838/14838-h/14838-h.htm

African"fable"?

SpiderandthecrowsAnansi,thetricksterE.B.White.Charlo=e'sWeb(1952)

Whyanthropomorphism?In stories, television, movies, video games andads, animals are a ready cast of charactersthrough which children explore facets ofthemselves – the wild beast, the cunning fox,the faithful dog, the huge and toothsomedinosaur. Because adults create them, thesesymbolic images are also a window into aculture's ideas about children and animals andhowtheyare related. (Gail F.Melson.Why theWildThingsAre.AnimalsintheLivesofChildren.HarvardUP,2001.p.18)

Whyanthropomorphism?Childrencaniden/fymorecloselywithpicturesof animals than they can with pictures ofanotherchild.Theyseeanillustra/onofablondgirl or dark-haired boy, who they know issomebody other than themselves, andcompe//on creeps in.With imagina/on – andchildrenallhavemarvellous imagina/on– theycan easily iden/fy with an anteater who is apainterorapigwhotransformsfrompeasanttoknight. (Richard Scarry quoted in Publisher'sWeekly)

Whyanthropomorphism?

Whenthepoli/cal, religious,social,orpersonalrisksarehigh,whenwearestandingclosetothemetaphoric fire, the use of animals has longprovided intellectualandpsychologicaldistanceand allowed us to cri/cally explore that whichwewouldnotbecomfortableexploringdirectly.(Burke and Copenhaver, "Animals as People inChildren's Literature." Language Arts 81.3(2004):205-213.)

Class

AnnaSewell,BlackBeauty:TheAutobiographyofaHorse,1877

KennethGrahame.TheWindintheWillows.

1908"The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing." Chapter 1

`Thisverymorning,'con/nuedtheBadger,takinganarm-chair,`asIlearnt last night from a trustworthy source, another new andexcep/onally powerful motor-car will arrive at Toad Hall onapproval or return. At this very moment, perhaps, Toad is busyarrayinghimself in thosesingularlyhideoushabilimentssodear tohim, which transform him from a (compara/vely) good-lookingToad intoanObjectwhich throwsanydecent-mindedanimal thatcomesacrossitintoaviolentfit.Wemustbeupanddoing,ereitistoolate.YoutwoanimalswillaccompanymeinstantlytoToadHall,andtheworkofrescueshallbeaccomplished.'

MichaelMorpurgo,WarHorse.1982.

Picturesources•  hQp://colonialdays.pbworks.com/w/page/16140818/Hornbook•  hQp://www.bookmakingwithkids.com/?p=716•  hQp://www2.uned.es/manesvirtual/Historia/Comenius/OPictus•  hQp://www.bl.uk/collec/on-items/the-childs-new-spelling-primer•  hQps://www.pinterest.com/mompsomas/kate-greenaway/•  hQp://www.amazon.com/Dr-Seusss-ABC-Amazing-Alphabet/dp/0679882812•  hQps://lynnerickardsauthor.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/celebra/ng-dr-seuss/•  Qps://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/peggy-fortnum-ar/st-who-brought-

paddington-bear-to-life-dies-at-96/2016/04/06/4d449734-k6f-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

•  hQp://www.evertype.com/standards/csur/seuss.html•  hQp://www.babyoye.com/h/Stories,-Rhymes-&-Tales/Story-Books/Dr-Seuss-Dr.-Seuss---On-

Beyond-Zebra/p_BPIBH00062•  hQps://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/books/view.dT/9780399167911•  hQps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney%27s_Beauty_and_the_Beast_characters#/

media/File:BeautyBeastCharacters.jpg•  hQps://fic/onfanblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/butchering-books-the-wind-in-the-

willows-by-kenneth-grahame/•  hQps://www.londontheatredirect.com/news/1256/The-Na/onal-Theatre-s-War-Horse--

Facts-And-Figures.aspx•  hQps://alisax26bookblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/war-horse/