The course objectives are to introduce students to a variety of 
literary works written with children in mind or traditionally 
considered to be children's literary works; to teach students 
about changing conceptions of childhood and its relation to 
adult experience; to situate individual literary works within 
larger social and cultural contexts; to develop students' 
critical skills through the analysis of individual literary 
works; and to improve students' communication skills through 
expository writing assignments.

Students' performance is assessed through regular writing 
assignments and a final examination.

The course is organized around a series of readings in 
children's literature.  Topics considered include genre (folk 
fairy tale, literary tale, short story), popular sources of 
children's literature (e.g., folklore, myth, nonsense verse, 
surrealism) and frequent motifs (cruelty, orphanhood, violence, 
fantasy, magic, etc.).  The following is a sample syllabus of 
readings for a single semester:

Propp.  "Folklore and Literature"
Bettelheim.  "The Struggle for Meaning"
"Little Red Riding Hood"
"Snow White"
"Cinderella"
"Hansel and Gretel"
Hans Christian Andersen.  Selected Fairy Tales
Oscar Wilde.  Selected Fairy Tales
J.M. Barrie.  Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Tove Jansson.  Tales from Moominvalley
Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  The Little Prince
I.B. Singer. A Day of Pleasure
Janusz Korczak. King Matt the First
Janusz Korczak. Loving Every Child
Astrid Lindgren. Emil and the Great Escape