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Santa Monica Institute of Technology

Andrada Building,Cabili Avenue,Poblacion Iligan City
GE LIT 1 (Children’s and Adolescent Literature)

Tel.No.:221-2678
santamonicailigan@ymail.com

Bachelor of Elementary Education

COURSE CODE: GE LIT 1 ( Children’s and Adolescent Literature)
1st Semester of A.Y.2021
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Introduction
From the beginning of education in our country,children’s and
adolescent literature has always a place in the school
curriculum.Although the emphases in the literary experience of young
people at schol have changed from time to time,the basic commitment
to literature as a valuable ingredient to their education has remained.Except for the
textbooks for classroom training,children have not been exposed to a wealth of
challenging reading reading materials for their own pleasure.Textbooks are not
enough,books that young people can read for their enjoyment and profit are
needed.The world of books offer children rich opportunities for developing into
citizens and well-rounded personalities who will be assets to their family and
society.Through books,they may partly fulfill their basic emotional needs-as
indispensable condition for personality development.Literature is entertainment along
with radio,television,movies and picture magazines,sometime should be reserved for
reading.The reading of fine prose and poetry helps to take children away from the
urgencies and cares of living and refresh their spirit.Through literature the child
develops his tates in reading for pleasure.If he experiences satisfaction in other
stories.Satisfaction,happiness,contentment,fun,joy,positive release,pleasure:all of
these should accompany the literature period in the classroom.Children should be
properly motivated and guided to read good books.Oftentimes children don’t have
ti,e to read because they are laden heavily with homework and they hardly have
time to read for pleasure.Over-dependence on textbooks have forced children to
exist on a impoverished literary diet.

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module the students should be able to:
•Develop the skills to think critically about children’s and adolescent literature,and to
examine literary works in view of their culture,time period,author,or genre.

-Study literary criticisms and learn about book artists and children films.

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Discussion
GE LIT 1 (Children’s and Adolescent Literature)

Children’s Reading Interest

Children’s reading materials,when chosen in the light of their needs and interests,serve as
one of the essential factors in their development in the various phases of growth.Good
literature brings the child into contact with great minds and various forms of
experiences,increasing his knowledge of human nature and expanding world around
him.Literature does not only increase the child’s knowledge about life and living but can also
become a springboard for creative writing,dramatics,art and music.

Interest is an expression of an individual’s pattern of reaction or behavior toward himself,his

environment,his associates and the situations he may find himself.Interest develop from early
childhood and progresses onward as a result of experience.An interest can be interpreted as
motivating force that stimulates the individual to participate in one activity rather than in
another.

Needs has been defined as the “desire for what are called of considered necessities”.Need is
lack of these necessities.Needs are strong motivations that to be met.Needs have been
classified in several ways:physical,mental,emotional,social,moral and
spiritual,aesthetic,economic and recreational.Other educators and child psychologists
classify needs of children which are basically man’s needs as:need for material security,need
for emotional security,need for intellectual security,need for spiritual security,need to be
long,to be a part of a group,need for recreation or diversion,need for aesthetic satisfaction.

1. Need for Material Security

The child’s need of material security comes first and beginnings in his mother’s or
father’s arms.It extends gradually to include his regular routine of eating and sleeping ad
everything that gives him comfort and well-being.The old fairy tales were told by people who
didn’t have enough to eat or to keep them comfortable.So their stories were full of brightly
burning fires,tables filled with plenty of food,fine clothes and splendid palaces.

2. Need for Emotional Security

Every child feels the need to be loved and wanted.Stories about home life are popular
to children of all ages.Emotional security is a higher kind of security than material or
economic security.It has an inner an spiritual quality made of love,courage and happiness-
the fundamental factors of security which every child should have and build into his ideals of
family life.Such stories such as “Little House on the Prairie’’ and Louisa may Alcott’s “Little
Women”fill this need.

3. Need for Intellectual Security

The child needs to know accurately and surely.Nowadays parents and teachers realize
that the child with keen intelligent has also a wide intellectual curiosity about many
things.There are many readable,accurate and beautifully illustrated books about
birds,plants,domestic and wild animals,star and people,and about the applied sciences from
household gadgets to radio,television,jets and rockets that are available in book stores and
libraries.

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4. Need for Spiritual Security
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Spiritual security enables the individual to surmount dangers,overcome failures and

even tragedies.Spiritual security is a result of a strong religious belief.Spiritual security grows
out of a belief in God.There are books,such as “Little Women” and “Little House on the Prairie”
and other books that do not refer to specific religious groups or practices.Some old fairy tales
carry the message that decent and kind people will eventually overcome hardships and evils
if they face them with courage and perseverance.Wen children read the biographies of
heroes or saints of different religious beliefs,such as Saint Francis of Assisi,Father Daien and
many others,they will understand that emotional security is a driving force in the lives of men
and women.

5. The Need to Belong

Growing out of the need for security is the need to belong and to be an accepted
member of a group.A child starts by saying “My Mommy” or “My daddy”or “My Big Brother”
with great pride.These may be signs that he is beginning to identify himself with his family and
ten later on will identify himself with his gang,his school,his community,his town or city,and
then his country and perhaps with other world groups.It is important to give children books of
people of other lands,races or creeds that are honestly and appealingly presented.

6. The Need to Love and Be Loved

Every human being wants to love and be loved.It is in his family that the child learns his
first lessons in the loves of affectionate relationships.his sense of security develops from these
family patterns.Wen family relationships are normal and happy,a child starts his life with
healthy attitudes.If he feels he is loved and he knows that his love is accepted,he in turn will
learn to love other people outside his family.If he feels unloved and unwanted,he is suspicious
and antagonistic towards other people.Stories about good family relationships are helpful to
young people.Stories about animals defending or protecting their young are appealing.Fairy
tales about prince and princesses help little girls to think of themselves as a princess and little
boys as a prince.

7. The Need to Achieve,to Do,or To be Someone Worthy of Respect.

The child’s first heroes are his father who buys things for him and his mother who prepares
his food.Children enjoy the tales of adventures,mystery,and the career stories.Interest and
devotion to a worthy cause,untiring service to the needs of others leads children to rad about
he lives of people who had worthy achievements.Biographies help the child's need for
achievement and stirs him to emulation.

8. Need for Recreation

One of the ne4edws of the human being is rest or play as a part of he desire for
change,If we work and study hard,we need rest or play.Children need freedom from
pressures.They seek escape in books.Sensational comic books,useless materials of any
kind,may provide children with temporary release from their problems.Children need
literature that will take them away from the ill-effects of the increasing
social,political,economic and religious tensions and fears or our modern word.

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9. The Need for Aesthetic Satisfaction
The need to adorn,to make beautiful,and to enjoy beauty is another human need.an
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seeks aesthetic satisfaction in one form or another and at a various degrees of taste.Aesthetic
satisfaction comes to both the adult and the child,.Th development of the child’s aesthetic
taste depends not only upon his innate capabilities but also upon the material he is given and
upon how it is presented.Good literature can help children to understand and satisfy these
basic needs vicariously if not in reality.

The reading interests of children as shown by the results of several researchers give a
sequential development from one age level to the next.These developmental; preferences
provide a scientific basis in the preparation and selection of their reading materials.

- Before the age of two years

Reading interests arise from experiences that go back to early infancy.The beginning
of this early interests in books as observed in the child’s handling of books,his interest in
books,his interest in looking at pictures,his poses as though he is reading and making baby
sounds as he looks at the pictures and his desires for story,telling and being read to.Many
children enjoy being read to because of the different sounds of words they hear.

From three to six years

At this age group children show love for factual stories,rhymes,and jingles,stories with
attractive illustrations that an be discussed with an older person.Children are interested in
“what happened”, “what could happen” and fanciful stories.

Children from six to seven:

Children of six to seven do not read to well yet.Much of their literature is simple in
content and style and often they are read to them by adults.Children want stories about
children of their own kind.Thy like funny stories and animal tales.

Children eight and ten:

Children between the ages eight and ten begin to read for themselves.Their interest is in
folk and fairy tales.Along with these tales they love stories about real children.Boys and girls
have the same reading interests.

Children from eleven to twelve:

Girls show more interest in stories about home life and domestic happening,in romance
and in quiet social situations.Boys show greater interest in vigorous adventures and
aggressive action.Bright,average and slow pupils have nearly the same interests.Bright pupils
read more informational materials and non-fiction and show interest fro humor and
adventure.

High School age level:

Th older group of children show interest in history,biography,magazine articles dealing in
social; and natural environment.They enjoy humour and reading about hobbies,about
children and their own age group.They read stories that deal with situations that are not only
impossible but nonsensical and they also read books about travel,nature,history,description
about other lands and people.They prefer honest,factual materials in books dealing with
science.

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Selecting Books for Children
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Children are surrounded with literature of many kinds.They sample the literature of the times
from the singing commercials on radios and televisions to the comic books and comic strips
from newspapers.The six years of elementary school are the most crucial period of the child’s
life.This is the time when the child will establish reading habits that will prevail through high
school and adult life.

Criteria for Book Selection:

I. Fiction
1. Theme
The theme of a book reveals the author’s purpose in writing the story.It is the idea of the
story,the meaning behind the standing or theme of a book might desires,thoughts,feeling of
belonging to the teacher acceptance of self,the achievement through difficulty or
overcoming fear.The theme should be worth imparting to young people and should be based
upon justice and integrity.The theme or purpose of the books should be interwoven into the
structure of the book naturally through the events in the story and the development of the
characters.Children avoid preachy,moralizing books.

2. Plot
The plot is the plan of the story;it tells what the character do and happens to them.It is
the action of a story built around theme.The plot should develop through action and
incident,rather than through detailed descriptions or character delineation.Children crave
suspense and action in their stories.The plot should be credible and well-constructed.

3. Quality of Content
Aside from the plot,the quality of the content of the book must be examined.The story
must be worth telling or reading.IS the story appropriate to the experience and background
of the children for whom it is intended?

4. Characterization
The characters in the story whether they are people or animal should be convincingly
real and lifelike.The characters should be o depicted that everything they do,think,and say
will seem natural and say will seem natural and true.They should act and speak accordance
to their age,culture and educational background.There must be growth and development in
personality of the characters.This development of his character made clear as he solves his
problems.The change should be gradual and convincing rather than swift and unrealistic.

5. Style
The style of a book refers to the manner or the way the author has written I.Every author
has his own individual style.The writer must present the story clearly and in a simple manner
that is easily understandable.The dialogue should be natural and suited to the characters.It
should be well-written.

6. Format
The physical aspect of the book must also be considered.The binding should be durable
and practical,one which can withstand frequent use and handling.The quality of paper must
be considered.A dull-finished paper that is thick enough to prevent any penetration of ink is
very desirable.It should not be very white but creamy in color.typography is also

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important.The type should be large enough for easy reading by the age level for which it was
intended.Th space between the lines should be wide enough to make the text clear.The
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margins should be simple,usually anger at the bottom than at the top.All of these factors
should create an attractive appearance of the book.

7. Illustration
The illustrations for a picture book are as important as the text.Children prefer colored
pictures,but some of the mostly popular picture books and story books are black and
white.The illustration should be appropriate to the text.Children are fond of action in pictures
as well as in stories.A book is made more desirable to children by the presence of numerous
illustrations.Large pictures are preferred to small ones.beautiful illustrations and design
deepen and enrich the child’s enjoyment of a book.

Criteria for the Types of Books

II. Biographies
A biography should be true to all the facts known about the subject’s life.The hero of a
biography must be a real-life hero,with real-life faults,weaknesses and doubts.Biography for
children should be about heroes of action and deeds.Live about people from the Old
Testament can be told to children-lives of Moses,David,Jacob,Abraham,Joseph.The teacher
can introduce an episode or two from the lives of great men and women or a brief summary
of the whole life in connection with the celebration of certain national heroes or great men.

III. Informational Books

Books that are primarily concerned with facts should be accurate,easy to read and
understand,adequately treated,well-presented in such a way that it will be easy to find what
one is looking for.

IV. Reference Books

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias -as soon as children can read,they should have
reference books of their own.When they start asking questions,they should learn how to look
up information for themselves they derive great pleasure in adding new words to their
vocabulary-and not only the words they learn in their spelling lesson.

History of Children’s Literature

Before the invention in the fifteenth century of the printing press,which made books more
widely available,children listened to stories told by their elders.The stories were about the
adventures of the older people,about animals and imaginary characters.These stories were
passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation before they were collected for
printing.

Early Beginning:Anglo Saxon Period

AS far back as the Anglo-Saxon Period,monks and other learned men wrote “lesson
books”for children.These lesson books were designed for teaching.The first man to write
lesson books for children was Aldhelm(640-709),abbot of Malmesbury and bishop of
Shernone.HIs e Septenario.de Metis,Enigmatibus,ac Pedum Regulis contained the meaning
and use of the number seven in the bible,riddles,and puzzles in Latin which children were
asked to solve.

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The Medieval period
By the fifteenth century,books on manners and morals began to appear in England by
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1430.One of these was William Caxton’s Boke of Curtayse published about 1477.Another was
The Babies Boke which had the subtitle Manners and Meals in the Olden Times.his book
contained rules of behavior for boys who trained to become knights during the Age of
Chivalry.

ABC Books
In the sixteenth century,ABC books or primers appeared.They were so called because
they were used at the hour of prime as a book of private devotions in the Angelican
Church.Henry VII had ordered the printing of both Catholic and Protestant primers that
contained the alphabet ad Christian principles.Thus,the term primer came to be applied to all
the first books for children in school.

Hornbook
The hornbooks,which were not really books,appeared toward the end of the sixteenth
century.These were the fist books designed for children to handle.They were about 3 by 4 1/2
inches long and 12 inches wide.Capital letters followed by vowels and their combinations
with consonants were printed across the op.The Lord\s Prayer was printer at the bottom.The
paper used for this was covered with a transparent horn-hence the name “hornbook”- and
was held in place by metals like silver,brass and copper.These books could be hung around
the necks of children.The hornbooks were used to teach the alphabet and combination of
letters and to continue religious instructions.

Chapbooks
In the sixteenth century,printing became cheaper.Single sheets of paper printed on one
side only called broadsides were issued.These broadsides contained ballads of Robin Hood.In
1697 Charles Perrault,a Frenchamn,published his collection of tales entitled Comies de Ma
Mere L’ Oye or Tales of My Mother Goose.Translations of these tales were published
separately as chapbooks in England.These books were called chapbooks because they
were sold by itinerant peddlers called chapmen.

Puritan Period
In England and America,books for children were influenced by Puritan ideas.The books
stressed fear of God,religious instruction and preparation for death which the children did not
enjoy.Children read books that interested them although the books that interested them
al;though the books were for adults like John Bunyan's Pilgrim’s Progress (1678),Daniel Defoe’s
Robinson Crusoe(1714),Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels(1726),and Aesop’s Fables.Between
1683 and 1691,the New England Primer,a book made especially for the children of the
American colonies appeared.It was a small book,about 3 by 4 1/2 inches and had about 100
pages.It contained the alphabet,words and syllables for spelling lessons,the Lord’s
Prayer,catechism,hymns and verses,rhymes for each letter of the alphabet.

First Picture Book

In 1658,the first illustrated school book appeared.It was known as Orbis Sensualum or Orbis
Pictus(The World in Pictures).It was invented by Johann Amos Comenius,Bishop of Moravia
and an educator who believed in taching children by letting them see thing with their own
eyes.The book was originally written in Latin and German,but was later translated by Charles
Hooke in England in 1664.

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17th Century and 18th Century Books

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Books in the seventeenth century stressed religions and morals due to the rise of
Protestantism.In 1715,Dr Isaac Watts published Divine and Moral Songs for Children,a
companion volume to The New England Primer.Some writers consider Isaac Watts as the
starting point of the history of children's literature,and “The Cradle Hymn” as the first children’s
poem.
The battledore (1746-1770_ succeeded the hornbook.It was a 4 by 6 1/2 three-leaved
cardboard that folded like a pocketbook.It had the alphabet and easy-reading matter that
made it popular until 1840.

John Newberry Era

John Newberry(1713-1767) was a writer and publisher who first thought of publishing
books solely for children.He was called the “father of children’s literature for he conceived
the idea of publishing books for the enjoyment and entertainment of children.In 1744,he
published his Little Pretty Pocket Book,the first book that can be truly called a child’s book.He
also published a collection of nursery rhymes and called it Mother Goose Melody.An award
for the most distinguished children’s book-The Newberry Award-was named after him in 1922.

The Didactic Period

Jean Jacques Rousseau(1712-1778) was a French philosopher who started a new
philosophy in the education of children.His book Emile embodied the philosophy that
children be given freedom to develop their natural interests and learn from actual
experience.He advocated that children be taught about the real things and the world in
which thy live.Another writer of this period was Thomas day who published his History of
Sanford and Merton,a story about a good little boy and his teacher and both tried to reform a
bad boy.The Peter Parly books were informational books about countries of the world,about
the wonders of science and about historical figures.

Th Return of Fairy Tales Old and New

The influence of didacticism was unable to control permanently children’s love for fairy
tales.The publication of Grimm’ Fairy Tales revived the interest for the imaginative
stories.Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected the old German stories not fr the entertainment of
children but to record them scientifically for posterity.These stories were translated into English
in 1823 and were called Grimm’s Popular Stories.
Hans Christian Andersen published his Fairy Tales in 1846.He was regarded as the great
master of the literary fair tale.Among his tales were “Thumbelina”,”The Emperor’s New
Clothes”,and “The Nightingale”.
Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense marked the nee for laughter in the normal development of
children.
Lewis Carroll was a mathematics professor at the Oxford University who made up stories for
a little girl named Alice Lidell whom Lewis became very fond.Alice was so delighted with the
stories and she asked Lewis to write them down for her.He called his collections of stories
Alice in Wonderland.It was followed by Through the Looking Glass.

Realistic Literature
This period was marked with the appearance of stories of boys and girls in simple home
situations,stories of adventures,of brave men and women,history and growth of countries,the
wonders of nature and science.

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Development of Children’s Literature in the Philippines

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Early literature for children was in the form of lullabies that mothers hummed or chanted to
their children,songs for different occasions like planting songs,
verses,riddles,proverbs,dittie,nonsense rhymes and fairy tales.Baliwayway,an Ilongot
lullaby,shows how a father expresses his hopes,fears,ad doubts about his growing boy’s
future.Diwaya,an Ilocano lullaby,and Panghehele of the Tagalogs,expresses the mother’s
wishes to share the child’s glory and pride.There were tales of beasts,legends of strange
events and phenomena,origin of the first man and woman,stories about strange creatures like
the Pugot,the kapre and other fantastic tales.Thre were alo satories about mythical heroes
and heroines like Benardo Carpio,Lam-ang,Mariang Makiling and others.The early Filipinos
were fond of proverbs and riddles which embodied their own philosophy and unwritten code
of morality which they passed on to their children.Riddles were also forms of
entertainment.Sometimes the children themselves composed ditties and nonsense rhymes
while at play.
When the Spanish colonizers came to the islands,they not only brought Christianity and
their culture but also religious literature and instruction or children.In 1593,the first book for
children in the Philippines,Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Tagala y Espanola by Father
Domingo Nieva was published.The book was used by the elders for religious instruction and
prayers.Children never had the opportunity to handle the book themselves.Next came the
Caton or cartilla which contained the Roman alphabet and syllables.These were the Filipino
child’s first and only book for over 3 centuries.Children of the very few elite families had the
opportunity to attend schools and had some textbooks in grammar,arithmetic and logic.
In 1606,Memorias de la Vida en Lengua China was published.Pamphlets containing the
lives of saints,novenarios,prayers and sermons of the missionaries and parish priests were
circulated among converts.They were written in the principal dialects.The Pasion,the story of
he life and suffering of Jesus,has the widest popular appeal because of the verses in which it
was written.The religious poems and hymns became popular to children.Later,the children
wee exposed to metrical tales known as corridos,in which the characters were kings and
queens,knights,monsters,etc.Some of the corridos were Florante at Laura,etc.
Jose Rizal wrote some children’s stories like “Th Monkey and the Turtle” and translated
some fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen from Danish to Tagalog.When the Americans
came to the Philippines in 1900’s,they introduced books in English like Pilgrim’s
Progress,Mother Goose Rhymes,Alice in Wonderland,Aesop’s Fables,Rip Van Winkle which
were originally written for American children.These stories ere read by children who have
learned the English language in schools.The Filipino children,imbibed the attitudes,values
and philosophies that American children’s literature embodied.This America’s literature
became a part of th literature of Filipino children and American culture easily became our
culture too.
Literature books written by American authors,but prepared in the Philippines were
published by Ginn and Company.One of these was Hugo Miller’s Philippine Folklore
Stories(1904).In 1916,a representative of Ginn and Company,Mr.Hugo Miller,came to he
Philippines to encourage the writing of books.Camilo Osias was the first Filipino to write
textbooks.In te 1920’s,he published Philippine Readers.No Filipino child went through seven
years of elementary education without having read the series from Grade 1 to Grade 7.The
Philippine Readers contained native folktales,myths and legends,stories of aimasl familiar to
the Filipino child written in English.Another literature series published by Ginn and Company
was the Philippine high school Readers by Mendez.

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Maximo Ramos,one of those writers who recognized the importance of preserving the
literary heritage,especially for children,wrote Tales of Long Ago and Philippine Myths and
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Tales.
There were other writers who wrote folk literature in English and Tagalog like Manuel and
Loyd Arguilla and others.In 1940,the Philippine Book Company was founded.It began
publishing children’s books.In 1962,Bookmark Incorporated published the work of a group of
MAryknoll students.These were mostly picture books.In 1945,Bookman Incorporated
encouraged writes to translate some foreign children’s books like The Little Lame Prince and
Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam. Bookman also published children’s books like When I Was a Little
BOy by I.V. MAlari.
In 1946,NAtionl Bookstore engage in reprinting foreign books and in translating fairy tales in
Filipino like the ladybird Series.The publishing firm also published comics in Pilipino ans English
like Filipino Heroes Stories,Legend of the Philippines Series,and many other.
Alemar-Phoenix Publishing House published children’s books like:Myths and Legends of the
Early Filipinos by F.L. Jocano,Phlippine Folktales by Aquino,etc.
In 1962,Pamaa Incorporated started producing children's books.Among these are
Makisig;The Little Hero of MActan by Gemma Cruz,Ag Kaharian sa Tuktok ng Kawayan,etc.
New day Publishers owned by the Christian Literature f the Philippines published My Friends
and teh Haunte cave by Thelma Zuniega and A gift by Rosario Ratorta.

Exercise

1. Make a timeline about the history of children’s literature base on our modules.

2. Make a timeline of the development of Children’s Literature in the Philippines.

3.Look for a short story in Grade 1 and tell the plot of the story through uploading a
video( 3 to 5mins.) on our group page.Before telling the plot of the story state your
name and the the title of the story you have chosen.

3. Give a reaction about the history or development children’s literature in the Philippines.

4. What is the reason of be aware to the reading interests of children?

Resources

Children’s Literature Revised Edition by Salud M. Parayno

Georgion,Constantine,Children and Their Literature.Englewood Cliffs,New
Jersey:Prentice-HAll,1969

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