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Once upon a time, we were all intrigued by Grimm's Fairy Tales and experienced our fill of Walt Disney stories. Although young adult and children's literature has always been available, it has recently become more abundant in university course offerings.
Many proponents of children and young adult literature claim it is imperative that these resources be examined as influences on values and ideologies in developing young adults.
Beginning with last year's graduation class, new requirements were implemented for students in the Lynch School of Education (LSOE) concentrating in both education and English.
One of these requirements is a course in adolescent/young adult literature, and is cross-listed in both LSOE and the English department.
Since this area of study has now been made into a requirement, the demand for the course has surpassed the capacity that is currently being offered.
Currently, LSOE offers Survey of Children's Literature to fulfill this requirement. This course is an overview of children's literature including picture books, poetry, realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, traditional literature, and non-fiction.
Bonnie Rudner has worked to expand upon the current course offerings focusing on children's literature.
Rudner has been working in the English department for the past 25 years. In this time, she has taught a multitude of courses ranging from children's literature to fairy tales to heroines. This fall, students can expect to hear about Studies in Children's Literature: Disney and the Wondertale.
Although originally concentrating in Victorian women and Shakespearean studies, she began teaching young adult literature by chance when she took over a course for another professor.
Of all of her classes, she considers Reading and Teaching Young Adult and Adolescent Literature to be the most influential.
"The times are so different from when we were kids ... the nature of the young adult has changed dramatically in recent years, and I think many young adults and children are in desperate need of a hero and a role model," she said.
Her course explores the emergence of the young adult market and the four major categories of fiction written for young adults: realism, fantasy, historical fiction, and nature writing. There is also a strong focus on the hero/heroine in pieces of fiction, and the traits and ethics each display.
Suzanne Chase, LSOE '06, who is working towards a degree in secondary education and English, says that she thinks taking a course like Reading and Teaching Young Adult Fiction is "an important subject to learn as a future educator, since many of this young adult literature explores the scenarios and larger issues that students are and will be dealing with. Taking a class devoted to young adults makes it easier to talk about these literary topics, and relates the isolated incidents in the text to real world issues."
Although this is one of the required courses in the education and English concentration, the subject is gaining popularity in many other majors.
Upperclassmen have begun taking courses like this to fulfill elective requirements and for personal enjoyment. Getting up for a 9 a.m. course every Tuesday and Thursday morning as a senior, like Laura Kenyon, A&S '05, did, shows how popular this class can be.
"This is a great class to take as a senior, although the time is a little early ... we got to read some familiar middle school texts and talk about issues that are present but were way over everyone's heads when we read it back then," says Kenyon, who is an English and communications double major.
Many students claim that the new understanding of children's text that comes with being more mature is why re-reading them is so important. With an emphasis on the heroism in society, many students may obtain some insight into cultural issues and gain a perspective that they did not have when they read these novels for the first time.
"It really makes me think about gender roles, and how there is a real lack of female heroines in society. Many of the females that I considered to be heroines are only portrayed in subservient roles and allow the man to experience all of the action," says Kenyon.
Children's and young adult literature seems to be slowly emerging in the Boston College community, while an institution like Simmons College in Boston currently offers a B.A. in children's literature.
While the English department at BC and LSOE are stepping up to the plate, the sociology department does not yet offer any courses in this area.
"Given the importance of childhood in society and the changing dynamics of child socialization in an age of intense childhood consumerism and amplified technological communications on the part of children, this will soon change," says Stephen Pfohl, professor and chair of the sociology department.
Sociology students can look forward to the possibility of classes with new assistant professor.Shawn McGuffey, whose areas of specialization include sociology of childhood.
In addition, Juliet Schor, professor and author of Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, also plans to offer a course on this topic in the near future.
With children's and young adult literature becoming a new frontier for humanities scholars and educators alike, maybe we will all be able to live happily ever after.
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