CCOG for ENG 216 Winter 2025


Course Number:
ENG 216
Course Title:
Teen and Children's Literature
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Explores a wide range of literature written for children and teens and introduces the history of this literature focusing on American and British writing as well as international and multicultural traditions. Examines the differences between literature for children and teens and literature for adults, the relationship between text and illustrations, and other issues and controversies concerning children's literature such as the didactic use of text and censorship. Prerequisites: (WR 115 and RD 115) or IRW 115 or equivalent placement. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

  • Analyze and critique children’s and teen’s literature, reading familiar works with a fresh perspective and utilizing critiques and perspectives when communicating with others.
  • Examine the ways in which literature for teens and children is generally created in a cultural and historic context that has influenced trends and uses of this literature in the past.
  • Apply cultural and historic context to current uses and trends in order to further understand the influences these factors have on current publishing practices in these genres today.
  • Write clearly about ideas and issues related to literature written for teens and children, identifying the variety of genres and historic trends as well as controversies surrounding these genres such as didactic applications and censorship.

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

English and Writing courses align with the PCC General Education philosophy by providing an appreciation of writing and literature from global and personal perspectives. Students in English courses engage the imagination, critical inquiry and self‐reflection, and in the process of doing so, cultivate a more complex understanding of their own culture(s), linguistic/communication practices, and perspectives in relation to others. Because the literary arts lie at the heart of most human cultures, they are essential for understanding each other and navigating our differences. In literature classes, students explore significant texts from diverse cultures and periods in history. Students look closely at texts from a range of genres, articulating the way elements of writing, content, form, and style are interrelated, and considering how values and interpretations have changed over time and through different theoretical lenses. Students engage texts through critical analysis and creative response, learning to use evidence to support their interpretations and to navigate critical conversations. Students explore literature both as an art form designed to provoke thought and challenge social norms, and as an expression of human experience. Writing and Literature courses foster a stronger sense of engagement with history, culture, and society. Writing and Literature students develop an awareness of themselves as readers and writers in a global world, and an enlarged understanding of the relationships between language, identity, ideas, scholarship, communication, and transformation.

Course Activities and Design

Class time consists of large and small group discussion, lecture, individual and group presentations, film clips, audio recordings, and author interviews. Students will read, discuss, and respond in writing to course materials.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment tools may include reading responses, study questions, informal quizzes, tests, midterm and final exams, individual and group projects, in-class and out-of-class writing, and formal academic essays.

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Theme, setting, plot, characters, point of view, style, audience, symbolism, use of literary devices, tone/voice, imagery, form/structure, historic context, censorship, genres of teen and children’s literature including alphabets, chapbooks, legends, fairytales, verse, fantasy, religious stories, school stories, comics, graphic novels, domestic stories, adventure, and science fiction, the relationship of illustrations to text, didacticism and its influence on literature for children through the ages.