Author: sm156522

09/15/15

Child as a Site of Adult Desire: The Giving Tree

In “The Giving Tree” portrays the relationship between a boy and a very maternal tree. Throughout the story, the tree gives the boy whatever he needs in life. For example, when the boy needs money the tree gives her apples to him to sell, when the boy grows up and wants his own home, she gives him her branches to build the house. More instances like these happen until eventually the tree is just a stump. I think the adult desire for the child audience is for the child to recognize the selflessness of the tree and it’s unconditional love for the boy, even when the tree only has her stump left she still offers that to him to sit on. This relationship between the tree and child is very much the same as the parent/child relationship. In most cases, parents give their children everything they can to make them happy and safe, even if it only leaves them with a stump. Silverstein, the author, most likely wanted children to see the similarity between the child and the tree as a parent/child relationship so they could recognize and appreciate what their parents do for them.

 

Silverstein, Shel, and Shel Silverstein. The Giving Tree. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Print.

09/8/15

How to Read Children’s Literature: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full;One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
That lives in our lane.

What a Reader Is Asked to Know

About Life

  • what a black sheep is
  • what a master, a dame, and a little boy are
  • what wool is, and that it comes from sheep
  • that a lane is like a street or road

About Language

  • that “baa baa” indicates the sound that sheep make
  • the rhyme scheme
  • recognizing that they are not true rhymes however they still work

 About Literature

  • that nursery rhymes often personify animals
  • that sheep cannot actually verbally articulate what the three bags of wool are for

 What a Reader Is Asked to Do

  • recognize that nursery rhymes have a sing-song type melody to them
  • realize that the rhyme scheme and melody may be more evident when read out loud

Who is the Implied Reader?

The implied reader for this nursery rhyme are children. More specifically this could be narrowed down to children that may have an interest in sheep, it would make sense that they would pick this particular piece of literature for their parent to read to them. As Jonathan Klassen said in “How to Read Children’s Literature,” that the implied reader could be anyone in the targeted age group, however the content of the particular literature in question goes deeper into the interests of children in relation to the topic. Hence a child that actively hates sheep is not the implied reader for this nursery rhyme.

09/1/15

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Dueben, Alex. “”Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall,”” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2015.