Popular Literature: Writing for Children and Adults (ENGL280)
2012

Texts

y separately published work icon Tales from Outer Suburbia Shaun Tan , Shaun Tan (illustrator), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2008 Z1450931 2008 selected work single work short story art work young adult (taught in 13 units)

'do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street?

or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass?

do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night?

Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight.'

Source: Back cover.

y separately published work icon The Rabbits John Marsden , Shaun Tan (illustrator), Port Melbourne : Lothian , 1998 Z139449 1998 single work picture book children's (taught in 11 units)

"The rabbits came many grandparents ago.

They build houses, made roads, had children.

They cut down trees.

A whole continent of rabbits..." (back cover)

An allegorical story using rabbits, an introduced species, to represent the arrival of Europeans in Australia and the subsequent widespread environmental destruction.

Description

The subject focuses on writing for children and young adults, considered in its cultural and historical context. It is particularly concerned with understanding this writing in terms of larger debates about popular culture, childhood and adolescence.

Subject Objectives:

1. Understand the historical and cultural contexts which produce changing understandings of what kinds of texts are appropriate for Australian child and young adolescent readers. 2. Understand critical debates particular to the study of literature for children and young adult readers. 3. Understand and present an analysis of the rhetorical strategies by which writers for children and young adults position themselves in relation to wider cultural debates.

Assessment

Close reading essay 2,000 words 40% Tutorial participation 10% Tutorial presentation 10% Final exam 2 hours 40%

Other Details

Link to the full list of readings on the Library website: http://iii.library.uow.edu.au/search~S0?/rENGL280/rengl280/1%2C5%2C5%2CB/frameset&FF=rengl280+wollongong+short+loans&1%2C1%2C/indexsort=-

Levels: Undergraduate
X