NCHU Course Outline

Course Name	(中) 文學與童年研究(6028)
	(Eng.) Childhood Studies in Literature
Offering Dept	Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Course Type	Elective	Credits	3	Teacher	劉鳳芯
Department	Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures/Graduate	Language	English	Semester	2026-FALL
Course Description	Course Objective and Description: This graduate course explores the diverse ways childhood and the child are portrayed, imagined, and projected in books for children. Rather than treating childhood as a fixed or universal experience, the course invites students to consider how ideas of childhood are shaped by culture, history, society, and literary representation. Through close readings of selected texts, students will encounter different images of children and examine the assumptions underlying these representations. By engaging critically with a range of children’s literature works and theoretical perspectives, students will gain glimpses into the complex and often contradictory meanings attached to childhood and develop a deeper understanding of how books for children imagine what it means to be a child.
Prerequisites				self-directed learning in the course	Y

Relevance of Course Objectives and Core Learning Outcomes(%)			Teaching and Assessment Methods for Course Objectives
Course Objectives	Competency Indicators	Ratio(%)	Teaching Methods	Assessment Methods
Course Requirements: 1. Active class participation. 2. Attendance will be checked every week, since the instructor values students’ attendance very much. Any student who is more than 20 minutes late in joining class will be counted as absent. A missed consulting appointment also counts as an absence from class. If a student is absent from class more than three times throughout the semester, with or without sick notice or any other proof, s/he risks being excluded from and failing the course. If a student must miss a class, please notify the instructor by email in advance, and consult our class website for any missed materials. Bear in mind that the instructor is not on email 24/7, so your message may not receive an immediate response. The instructor does not accept text messages or phone calls, either. 3.Students are expected to be fully prepared to participate when class begins – that is, to have read and thought about whatever readings were assigned. Late submission of any assignment won’t be accepted for whatever reason. The instructor considers such lateness extremely disruptive to the class schedule and discussions, and is unfair to the other students who do participate and hand in work on time, so late submission will be penalized by receiving a “0” and will not be read or graded. Please note that excuses related to computer mishaps won’t be accepted either. Note also that homework that is copied from another source (including your classmate) will receive an “0”. 4.No make-up tests and/or exams would be allowed, for whatever reason.			topic Discussion/Production Exercises Discussion Lecturing	Written Presentation Attendance Oral Presentation Assignment Quiz Other
Course Content and Homework/Schedule/Tests Schedule
Week Course Content Week 1 Orientation to the course *Select a student assistant *Create a LINE group for the class *Students sign-up for weekly presentation, starting Week 2; two presenters/each week; multiple presentations per student throughout the semester, subject to change depending on enrollment Week 2 Hollindale, Peter. Signs of Childness in Children’s Literature. Thimble Press, 1997. Chapter 2 & pp. 80-81, 83 Week 3 Nodelman, Perry and Mavis Reimer. The Pleasures of Children’s literature (3rd ed.). Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Chapter 5 “Common Assumptions about Childhood” (pp. 79-89) and Chapter 9 “Children’s Literature as Repertoire” (pp. 184-215) Week 4 -BBC Mooninland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson -Jansson, Tove. Moomins and the Great Flood. 1945. Week 5 -Jansson, Tove. Comet in Mooninland. 1946/1951 (English). Chapter 1-4 Week 6 -Jacques, Zoe. “‘Tiny dots of cold green’: Pastoral Nostalgia and the State of Nature in Tove Jansson’ The Moonins and the Great Flood.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 38, no. 2, 2014, pp. 200-216. Week 7 Jansson, Tove. Comet in Mooninland. 1946/1951 (English). Chapter 5-8 Week 8 Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 1865. Chapter 1-4 Week 9 Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 1865. Chapter 5-8 Week 10 Jacques, Zoe. “Creature.” Children’s Literature and the Posthuman. Routledge, 2015, pp. 42-70. Week 11 TBA Week 12 Nodelman, Perry and Mavis Reimer. The Pleasures of Children’s literature (3rd ed.). Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Chapter 13 “Fairy Tales and Myths” (pp. 324-329) -Maurice, Lisa. “Children, Greece and Rome: Heroes and Eagles.” The Reception of Ancient Greece and Rome in Children’s Literature, edited by Lisa Maurice. Brill, 2015, pp. 1-14. -Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief, Hyperion, 2005. Chapter 1-4 Week 13 Dr. Nicole Daly’s talk: The Linguistic Landscapes of Picturebooks *One-on-one conference (part I) (after class hours) *One-page report on Dr. Day’s talk *12/5 (Sat.) Attend Taiwan Children’s Literature Research Association (TCLRA) conference “Mythology at Modern Disguise” at Tunghai University One-page report on attending the conference Week 14 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief Chapter 5-8 *One-on-one conference (part II) (after class hours) *Conference attendance report due *Dr. Day’s talk report due Week 15 Morey, Anne and Claudia Nelson. “‘God Buys Us Cheeseburgers’: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series and America’s Culture Wars.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 39, no. 3, 2015, pp. 235-253. *Report on Dr. Day’s talk due Week 16 Jacques, Zoe. “Water.” Children’s Literature and the Posthuman. Routledge, 2015, pp. 166-174. *Term paper due (by noon): hardcopy; no acceptance of electronic version self-directed learning    01.Participation in professional forums, lectures, and corporate sharing sessions related to industry-government-academia-research exchange activities. Attend (Taiwan Children’s Literature Research Association, TCLRA)conference “Mythology at Modern Disguise” at Tunghai University, December 5.
Evaluation
Grades will be computed according to the following formula: a.Attendance and Participation 10% b.In-class Quizzes 25% c.Presentations 30% (20-minute presentation for each presenter. Presenters need to prepare ppt) d.Term Paper and writing assignments 35% *Term Paper: 1,000-1,200 words in length, exclusive of discursive note and bibliographical information **All writing assignments: Times New Roman; 12 fonts; double-spacing
Textbook & other References
See the Weekly Schedule for details. The instructor will provide the texts and reading materials.
Teaching Aids & Teacher's Website
iLearning 3.0
Office Hours
By appointment
Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs(Link URL)
include experience courses：N

Please respect the intellectual property rights and use the materials legally.Please respect gender equality.
Update Date, year/month/day：2026/08/17 14:20:06	Printed Date, year/month/day：2026 / 8 / 18
The second-hand book website：http://www.myub.com.tw/