Using two of our course texts, one from before and one after the midterm, produce an essay that explains how children’s literature can generate differing ideas about childhood.

To do this, you will need to select texts that differ from one another in their implications regarding what children are like, what they should read, and what children’s literature should do for them. Your paper should then include the following:

1. An overarching CLAIM that articulates and argues the distinct versions of childhood that are presented by each of your texts
2. Close reading and analysis that explains WHAT iterations you are focusing on, HOW they are constructed, and WHY this is important for understanding each narrative as a whole
3. A conclusion which discusses the importance of what you have analyzed in understanding each story, then broadening these implications to the larger functions and development of children’s literature, thinking especially about what it means that so many versions of what is appropriate for “children” exist
example of how the professor wants to claims and Evidence and Analysis from the two novels Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Giver

Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland understands the child as being problematically shaped by the education of her moment; in his portrayal of Alice Carroll suggests that the impressionability of children has subjected them to an educational system that is failing to produce knowledgeable adults. The Giver takes a similar approach to childhood, but rather than showing what is happening to children as a result of poor education, Lowry shows us a future in which educating children properly is the only hope for remedying a world of adults who have neglected the lessons that make them human. Both texts argue that children should be educated better, but Lowry’s young adult novel focuses on the future impact of failing to do so.