From: Perry Nodelman <perry_nodelman>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:02:14 -0500

On 25-Jul-09, at 1:04 PM, MQuattle at aol.com wrote:

> another aspect of the "hidden adult" may involve
> structure. In other words, how we construct our stories, compose
> our sen
> tences, choose active over passive sentences, etc. . . . . As an
> adult, I've read
> children's books published in other countries (and even those
> published here
> from different eras) and thought, "Hmmm, that probably would not fly
> in
> U.S.; it 'constructs' a childhood different from what we tend to
> want to see
> here."
>
I think this is absolutely true, and a significant idea worthy of much further thought. I begin to explore some of the most conventional types of language use and plot structure and character development in The Hidden Adult--but I'm sure there's a lot more to be learned about all this--about conventional structures, and about the implications of those structures in terms of the kinds of worlds they help construct for young readers. You can see them operating interestingly, for instance, in a lot of non-fiction for young readers, where they help shape a world quite different from and less complex than the reality they claim to be factually representing.

Perry

  _____________ Perry Nodelman http://pernodel.wordpress.com/

Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
Received on Sat 25 Jul 2009 09:02:14 PM CDT