Today was only marginally better than past classes. I think my other classmates are just as tired of listening to the professor talk for 3 hours, and so they were trying to chime in and talk about other stuff. Which made class a little better, though if you asked me what I learned today or talked about… I can’t tell you a thing.

Though the professor is very nice. He said he would like to have our class up to his cabin for a cookout one weekend towards the end of July.

Next class we will finally move away from theory and discuss Alice in Wonderland. Hopefully, class will get more interesting on Thursday.

I am going to LOVE my Craft of Writing for Children class. The teacher is so lovable, which may in part be due to the fact that she has mannerisms that remind me of my grandmother who recently passed away. (Her middle name is even Ruth, which was my grandmother’s name.)

Today we had a fantastic discussion about the book When You Reach Me (see previous post). Then we did a writing exercise. I’d done this particular exercise before. It’s where you essentially create a biography of your character. You answer everything from the age and gender to their favorite color and music. She told us to think of a character, and then for half an hour she asked us questions like, “What kind of childhood did they have?” or “How do they react to conflict?” I filled 4 handwritten pages with information on one character.

This is a fantastic exercise when you are just beginning a writing project, and I hadn’t done it in awhile because I have several projects that I’ve been working on for awhile. I did the exercise on an entirely new character for an entirely new project that had been brewing in the back of my mind. I really don’t think there is a better feeling for a writer than that first time you work on a new project. It’s like electricity charges your brain and you can’t write or type fast enough.

I have a student whose name I love, and I’d told her I might use her name someday in a story. Her name got me going. Then the story idea is going to be a science fiction/dystopian/survival story. I’ve been reading a lot of that type of stuff lately, and love the action and sense of urgency those plots create.

If you want to read some great sci-fi/dystopian/survival stories, here are a few:

-Life As We Knew It, The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
-Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
-Atherton series by Patrick Carman
-Unwind by Neal Schusterman

I wondered if this mandatory intro class (History and Criticism of Children’s Literature) would be the kind of class where you do the reading, but then come to class and the professor rehashes everything you read, thinking he’s giving you new insight.

Today’s class was pretty much that. Our teacher is knowledgeable and had all these notes he’d taken on the text and an outline for the lecture, but then he just talked for 3 hours. He went over what we’d already read in a more confusing way, told a lot of stories from his own life, talked about The Hobbit a lot, bragged some more about how he’s friends with the author of the book.

Let’s just say I didn’t leave class today feeling enlightened. In fact, I needed a nap.

If you want to know the History of Children’s Lit, I can break it down for you real fast:

1600s-1800s = Children’s Literature was heavily influenced by religion. Things written for children were didactic and strove to teach children religion and moral life lessons. It was pretty boring stuff.

1800s = People start to get the idea that maybe children’s literature should be entertaining. Though, it’s more along the lines of “If we write something entertaining, maybe the didactic message we are trying to send will reach more children and sink in.”

1900s = The period before WWII saw many of the current classics: Alice in Wonderland, Pooh, Nancy Drew, Wizard of Oz, Little Women, Secret Garden, Beatrix Potter, the list could go on forever. Marketing and commercial publishing of children’s lit didn’t really come about until the baby boomers started demanding things to read to their children. And the Young Adult Market didn’t really start to define itself until the 60s, with a slew of controversial teen stories coming out in the 70s and 80s.

Granted, that was a rough and brief timeline, but I personally think it’s all you need to know…

I’m hoping this class will get better when we start talking about the actual books themselves. But it looks like I’m going to love my Craft class better.

The second class I’m taking is “Craft of Writing for Children” and we met for the first time today. I think this is going to be my favorite class despite the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of the reading list.

Here’s the story behind the class: It was supposed to be taught by Professor L, but Prof. L couldn’t teach it. However, the reading list had already been distributed to students and student had already ordered the books. Professor P agreed to teach the class and consented to use the original reading list.

So what’s wrong with the reading list? It’s almost all realistic fiction, with the exception of two books that are historical fiction. I’m not a big reader of realistic fiction. I prefer, fantasy, science fiction, adventure, and mystery. Many of the books on the reading list dealt with topics like drugs, abuse, depression, eating disorders, suicide, etc. And if you know me at all, you know that’s not my cup of tea. I read books to escape the real world, not read about real world problems.

However, I think I’m going to like this class because the teacher recognized the fact that the reading list was focused on just one genre, so she’s letting us explore other genres through individual presentations. And she’s a nurturing “mom” type teacher, but at the same time VERY knowledgeable about the subject matter.

Though she’s a bit obsessive compulsive about how we keep our notes. She wants us to set up a binder with sheet protectors and have our notes color coded with highlighters. I spent $40 at Staples on supplies for her class…

I have lots of work to do for tomorrow’s class that I should get started on. Peter Hunt’s Intro to Children’s Lit will put you to sleep, and already has for me…

I’ve entered a Graduate studies program in Children’s Literature. I’ll be getting an MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) degree which essentially means I’ll have to produce a novel as my thesis.

I had my first class today: History and Criticism of Children’s Literature. It’s basically the introductory course. The class was scheduled to be 3 hours, but based on my experiences in undergrad… I figured on the first day we wouldn’t meet the whole time. I was wrong.

I also received my first assignment which will be a presentation to the class focused on a certain approach of literary criticism. We drew our “brand of criticism” at random, and I got…. *drumroll* …. MARXIST. This was kind of the one I didn’t want, but it’s easy and I already have an idea.

I think I’m going to apply Marxist criticism to Patrick Carman’s Atherton series. I’ve read the first two books in the series, and have been wanting to read the third (in fact I already downloaded it on my Kindle).

I need to put the finishing touches on my homework for tomorrow’s class (Craft of Children’s Lit). We had to take notes on this year’s Newbery Winner When You Reach Me.

I’ll let you know my thoughts on the book after we discuss it tomorrow!