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1. BEED 15: Teaching English in Elementary Grades Through Literature
Lesson 1 INTRODUCTION TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Literature
Literature comes from the Latin word “LITERA” which literally means an acquaintance
with letters. It is a body of literary productions, either oral, written or visual, containing
imaginative language that realistically portrays thoughts, emotions, and experiences of the
human condition.
Literature is a product of particular culture that concertizes man’s array of values,
emotions, actions and ideas. It is therefore a creation of human experience that tells about
people and their world.
Literature is an art that reflects the works of imagination, aesthetics, and creative writing
which are distinguished for the beauty of style or expression as in fiction, poetry, essay,
drama, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge.
Children’s Literature
● It is tricky to define what constitutes children’s literature because not all books that children
read were intended to be for children. Books about children might not necessarily be
written for them. However, the content of children’s literature is limited by children’s
experience and understanding. Its uniqueness lies in the audience that it addresses, and
authors of children’s books are circumscribed by the experiences of childhood which are
vast and complex. (Kiefer, 2010)
● Children’s literature is good quality trade books for children from birth to adolescence,
covering topics of relevance and interests to children of those ages, through prose and
poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
● Reading materials such as storybooks, poems, and short stories which have been chosen
by adults and classified as suitable for young readers. Characteristics of children’s
literature are (1) simplistic, (2) straightforward, (3) Repetitious, and(4)Happy ending.
Values of Children’s Literature
1. Personal Values
• Enjoyment
• Imagination
• Vicarious Experience
• Insight Into Human Behavior
• Universality of Experience
2. Educational Values
• Literature in the Home
- oral language
- vocabulary development
• Literature in the School
- reading aloud and learning to read
- developing a sense of book language
- developing fluency and understanding
- literature and writing
- literature across the curriculum
In general, personal and academic value of literature to children enables them to:
• Learn how the personalities of different characters deal with situations and
intermingle with each other
• Broaden our understanding of human nature and human condition • Encourages
open-minded and flexible thinking• Stimulates the mind, imagination and creativity

2. • Increases vocabulary and language skills
What Literature do?
● Experiencing literature as a transactional process The shaping of the reader’s
experiences, ideas, thoughts by the text by limiting, selecting and ordering the ideas to
conform the text is known as transactional experience. – When someone reads a text, the
text will stimulate the reader’s mind to extract past experiences, thoughts, and ideas. – The
text serves as an outline to select the thoughts or ideas derived by the reader to match with
the text itself. – The overall event where the reader’s mind is being stimulated by the text to
get ideas, thoughts or experiences is called transactional experience.
According to Louise Rosenblatt, the transaction will only occur when the text is read as
aesthetic (read the text for pleasure and full with emotions) rather than efferent (focus on the
information written by the authors).
● Experiencing literature as a transitional process Transition is the movement and
adaptation to change, rather than are turn to pre-existing state. “Every transition begins with
an ending” – people have to let goof familiar ways of being in the world that defines who they
are. Students change their interest in different genres when their language skills are more
developed. (change to more sophisticated and complex structure)
Genres of Children’s Literature
What makes a good children’s book?
Evaluation Criteria based on the following elements:
• Plot
• Setting
• Theme
• Characterization
• Style
• Point of View

3. Read and reflect on the given example of literature below for our recitation later:
"A Story is a Doorway" ~ by Richard Peck
A story is a doorway
That opens on a wider place.
A story is a mirror
To reflect the reader's face.
A story is a question
You hadn't thought to ponder,
A story is a pathway,
Inviting your to wander.
A story is a window,
A story is a key,
A story is a lighthouse,
Beaming out to sea.
A story's a beginning,
A story is an end,
And in the story's middle,
You just might find a friend.
(*cited in Lynch-Brown & Tomlinson, 2005, Essentials of Children’s Literature, p. 2)
Instructor: Ms. JANICE C. PASCUAL | A.Y. 2022 -2023