Week 03 English Children's Literature

           Child Development and Literature.

                          Winnie the Pooh.

                           

Winnie the Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne. The first collection of  stories about the character was the book  Winnie the Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927), All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, including Alexander Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and in 1960, became the only Latin book ever to have been featured on The New York Times Best Seller list.

                           A. A. Milne.

                  

Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 - 31 January 1956) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie the Pooh and for various poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. Milne served in both World Wars, joining the British Army in World War I, and was a captain of the British Home Guard in World War II.

                             
                                Aesop.

                     

Aesop (c. 620 - 564 BCE) was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existance remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

                        Brother Grimm.

                        

The character, created by Geoff Johns and Angel Unzueta, first appeared in The Flash vol.2, #166 (November 2000). Within the context of the stories, Brother Grimm is the son of Brother Nightingale, the king in the alternate dimension of Eastwind. When Nightingale plans an invasion of Earth, Grimm sends a warning to the Flash. When the Flash along with Kid Flash and Jay Garrick stop the invasion, Nightingale is deposed and Grimm offered the crown. He takes the advice of Kid Flash to "follow his own path" and lets his brother Angar take the crown. Grimm, regretting taking the advice, is forced to take the crown and kill Angar when it becomes apparent he is no better than their father. The regret becomes rage when he learns that Wally, contrary to his own advice, has taken up the mantle of the Flash.

           
            Hans Christian Anderson.

                    


Hans Christian Anderson; often referred to in Scandinavia as H. C. Anderson; 2 April 1805 - 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Anderson is best remembered for his fairy tales. Anderson's popularity is not limited to children; his stories, called eventyr in Danish, express themes that transcend age and nationality. Anderson's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", "Thumbelina", and many more. His stories have inspired ballets, animated and live- action films, and plays.


                         King Arthur.

                     

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin. Arthur is a central figure in the legends making up the so called Matter of Britain.


                    Reader's Theatre.

                       

Reader Theatre or Reader's Theater is a style of theater in which the actors do not memorize their lines. Actors use only vocal expression to help audience understand the story rather than visual storytelling such as sets, costumes, intricate blocking, and movement. This style of performance of literature was initially lauded because it emphasized hearing a written text as a new way to understand literature. Readers Theatre is also known as Chamber Theatre or Interpretive Theatre. Readers Theatre became popular during and following the Second World War when resources to produce plays were scarce. There are four different types of Readers Theatre, each an evolution of the former and each with different attributes: Readers Theatre, Free Readers Theatre, Chamber Theatre, and Contemporary Readers Theatre. Each of these styles and manifestations of Readers Theatre are still performed today.

                            Rapunzel.

                         

"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brother's story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Rapunzel by Friedrich Schulz published in 1790. The Schulz version is based on Persinette by Charlotte- Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698 which in turn was influenced by an even earlier tale, Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile, published in 1634. Its plot has been used and parodied in various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture. In volume I of the 1812 annotations )Anhang, it is listed as coming from Friedrich Schulz Kleine Romance, Book 5, pp. 269 - 288, published in Leipzig 1790. In the Aarne- Thompson classification system for folktales it is type 310, "The Maiden in The Tower".


                      Rumpelstiltskin.

              

Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale popularly associated with Germany (where he is known as Rumpelstilzchen ). The tale was one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. According to researchers at Durham University and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the story originated around 4,000 years ago.


                                  Eeyore.

                          

Eeyore is a character in the Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie the Pooh. Eeyore appears in chapters IV, VI, VII, and X of Winnie the Pooh, and is mentioned in a few others. He also appears in all the chapters of The House at Pooh Corner except chapter VII. His name is an onomatopoeic representation of the braying sound made by a normal donkey, usually represented as "hee  haw" in American English; the spelling with an "r" is explained by the fact that Milne and most of his intended audience spoke a non - rhotic variety of English in which the "r" in "Eeyore" is not pronounced as /r/.

                                  Hare.

                          

Hare and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares are classified into the same family as rabbits. They are similar in size and form to rabbits and eat the same diet. They are generally herbivorous and long- eared, they are fast runners, and they typically live solitarily or in pairs. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia, North America, and the Japanese archipelago. Five leporid species with "hare" in their common names are not considered true hares; the hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus), and four species known as red rock hares (comprising Pronolagus). Meanwhile, jackrabbits are hares rather than rabbits.

                              J. M. Barrie.

                                       

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 - 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland but moved to London, where he wrote a number of successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (included in The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.


                               Peter Pan.

                                 

Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never- ending childhood having adventures on the mystical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native American Indians, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works. These include a 1953 animated film, a 2003 dramatic/ live - action film, a TV series and many other works.


                    Arthur Conan Doyle.

                           

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL (22 May 1859 - 7 July 1930) was a  Scottish writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non - fiction and historical novels.

                      
                      Murder She Wrote.

                                      

Murder, She Wrote is an American crime drama television series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons with 264 episodes from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network. It was followed by four V films and an unsuccessful spin- off series was produced in 1987, The Law & Harry McGraw. It is one of the most successful and longest- running television shows in history, averaging close to 26 million viewers per week in its prime, and was a staple of the CBS Sunday night lineup for a decade. In syndication, the series is still highly successful throughout the world.


                        Angela Lansbury.

                            

Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury, DBE (born October 16, 1925) is a British- American actress who has appeared in theatre, television and film. Her career has spanned seven decades, much of in the United States, and her work has attracted international attention. Lansbury was born to a middle class family in London, the daughter of actress Moyna Macgill and politician Edgar Lansbury. In 1940, she moved to the United States, studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942. she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe Award. 


                          Crime Drama.

             

Crime films are a genre of film that focus on crime. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real life criminal figures, to the far fetched evil doings of imaginary arch villains.  The popularity of TV brought about the emergence of TV series featuring detectives, investigators, special agents, lawyers, and the police. In Britain, The Avengers (1960s) about the adventures of gentlemen agent John Steed and his partner, Emma Peel, achieved cult status. U. S. TV stations produced series such as 77 Sunset Strip (1958- 1963); The Streets of San Francisco (1972- 1977),starring Karl Malden and a young Michael Douglas; Kojak (1973-1978), with Telly Savalas playing the lollipop addicted police lieutenant; Switch (1975- 1978), with Eddie Albert playing the retired bunco cop to Robert Wagner's role as a former con man; Charlie's Angles (1976- 1981); Murder, She Wrote (starting in 1984), about the adventures of Cabot Cove based mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury.

              
              Christopher Robin Milne.

                        

Christopher Robin Milne (21 August 1920 - 20 April 1996) was the son of author A. A. Milne. As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie the Pooh stories and in two books of poems. Christopher Robin Milne was born at 11 Mallord St, Chelsea, London at 8 am to author Alan Alexander Milne and Dorothy Milne.


                             E. H. Shepard. 

                              

Ernest Howard Shepard OBE, MC (10 December 1879 - 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrations. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal characters in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne. Shepard was born in St. John's Wood, London. Having shown some promise in drawing at St. Paul's School, he enrolled in Heatherley's School of Fine Art in Chelsea.


                     Anthropomorphism.

                             

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, and intentions to non- human entities and is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions and natural forces like seasons and the weather. Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioural traits to wild as well as domestic animals.


                       King James Version.

              

The King James Version (KJV), also known as the Authorized Version (AV) or the King James Bible (KJB), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. It was first printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker and was the third translation into English, approved by the English Church authorities.