A brief tale shared in poetic rhyming fashion by Marie G. Lepkowski, Ann M. Hannon, and Margaret B. Hannon, Puffy and the Formidable Foe seeks to impart valuable life lessons to young readers. Puffy, a curious cat, ventures out into the world looking for excitement and encounters a strange yet familiar creature with whom he must contend. Puffy’s lesson is threefold and the authors hope the intended audience will learn from Puffy’s experience right along with him. While it is easy to lilt through the pages in sing-songy fashion, the rhyming scheme is one of only a few redeeming features of this story. This style would otherwise be a wonderful way to captivate very young audiences and it is clear that the under-five-years-old cohort is the target demographic, but nearly everything else about this book is far too abstract for a child of this age group to comfortably grasp, despite its ironic one-dimensionality as far as action and effect are concerned. …show more content…
There isn’t a satisfying sense of cohesion. In a more abstract way, however, the rat could be taken as a symbol for trouble, which Puffy did, in fact, encounter. This had the potential to work, but not for such a young audience who would have little ability to make such abstract leaps. Another abstraction concerning “messing up [one’s] hair” further points to a more savvy audience. But, it is unlikely that the simplicity and style of writing, coupled with the coloring page at the end of the book, will interest older
Little Red Riding Hood, by Paul Galdone, is a children’s book that inspires and is meant to remind the audience to follow directions. It inspires the audience by combining fable characters to real world experiences such as children talking to strangers and listening to your parents and being more careful when going places you are not as familiar with. While some of the dialogue of Little Red Riding Hood, by Paul Galdone could be more in the intended audiences reading level, it's interesting storyline, visual elements, and focus on the value of following directions make this book more than worthy of inclusion on list of the “Top 100 Children’s Books”.
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
Studies In Short Fiction 22. (1985): 437-442. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson. Web. The Web.
Throughout the past fifty years, Maurice Sendak has been a challenging and inventive voice for children’s literature. His work will continue to be entertaining and educational for young children and adults alike for many years to come. Sendak has won many awards for his work in children’s literature; however, much controversy surrounds his work. Sendak’s books have had grotesque characters, kids becoming “wild things”, kids get stolen by goblins, kids are eaten by lions, and some kids are naked. Through all the controversy that has surrounded Sendak’s books, he has risen to success.
Robert Browning's poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child's Story" details the strange occurence in a town called Hamelin. This poem is a retelling of a popular piece of folklore about the real town of Hamelin in which children did actually disappear. Browning credits that disappearance to the character of the Pied Piper -- a figure wronged and who retaliates by taking children. In this essay, I aim to explore the depiction of the Pied Piper. He is a character that works on both the levels of child and adult. I believe that Browning is intentional with his descriptions of characters throughout, and I first want to detail Browning's descriptions of the adults and children in order to better understand how the Piper overlaps both classes. Then, I will determine the ways in which the Piper acts out traits of children and adults. Finally, I will conclude with a brief reference to the poem's function as a whole and its relation to the Pied Piper depicted in the piece.
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
Zipes, Jack. Fairy tales and the art of subversion the classical genre for children and the process
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Often, a piece of literature will remind us of events or people in our own lives. “Gryphon,” did exactly that for me. This short story by Charles Baxter was told in great detail and had a large emphasis on characterization. Specifically, Baxter goes into great detail on the substitute Miss Ferenczi through the eyes of a young fourth-grade boy. In this story, Baxter was able to clearly get across the type of individual that Miss Ferenczi is and how she views the world. The theme, tone, setting, use of symbols, and characters are greatly expressed throughout this short story due to Charles Baxter’s exquisite use of detail. We all are likely to have experienced someone who is quite interesting like Miss Ferenczi and gives us a new perspective
People are privileged to live in an advanced stage of development known as civilization. In a civilization, one’s life is bound by rules that are meant to tame its savage natures. A humans possesses better qualities because the laws that we must follow instill order and stability within society. This observation, made by William Golding, dictates itself as one of the most important themes of Lord of the Flies. The novel demonstrates the great need for civilization ion in life because without it, people revert back to animalistic natures.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a peculiar story about boys stranded on an island, and the plot and characters relate to many prevailing events and problems. A specific problem that is currently occurring is the mutual hatred and enmity between North Korea and South Korea. This is a current event, but the North and South’s hostility has been ongoing since 1945, when Korea was split into North and South, Communist and Capitalist. When the 38th parallel(Border between North and South Korea) was created, Kim Il-Sung ruled the North, and Syngman Rhee ruled the South. As of now, a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong-un rules the north, and an optimistic president who wants to see change was recently elected in the South, named Moon Jae-in. In Golding’s book, Ralph is a character who aimed to keep everyone alive and to stay together. Jack on the other hand, wanted to have fun and hunt, and although he also wanted to be rescued, he made no effort to help. In this sense, North Korea is a clear representation of the character Jack and his quest for power, and opposingly, South Korea is a representation of Ralph and his strive for order, democracy, and civilization.
The first third of the book reflects McCourt’s youth through slow passage of time, large amounts of detail, lack of emphasis on important events, and irregular sentence/paragraph structure. Young children like Frank absorb their surroundings more than any other time in their life. They are self-aware, yet often do not understand the significance of events around them. As McCourt writes, “Dad frightens me with his och, och, och, and Mam frightens me wit her small bird sounds and I don’t know what to do though I wonder if anyone will light the fire in the grate so that we can have te and bread because it’s a long time since we had the porridge,” (74).
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
Wilson, M. & Clark, R. (n.d.). Analyzing the Short Story. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.limcollege.edu/Analyzing_the_Short_Story.pdf [Accessed: 12 Apr 2014].
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.