Currents in Literacy

Teaching Literature: When Less is More

By May Reinhardt

Rachel, a sixth grader, sees a copy of Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth on the desk and reacts enthusiastically. "I love that book," she exclaims. However, her smile fades as she adds, "Well, I used to love that book, but the teacher made us do all those worksheets on it."

Rachel's commentary about her classroom experience with the novel is a cautionary tale that goes directly to the heart of fundamental problems related to literature teaching. First, there is the central question of what to do. Because there is no known single methodology for teaching literature effectively, educators continuously look for strategies to make the best connections between reader and text. However, as Rachel's experience points out, there are other equally important questions to ask about the quantity and amount of literature instruction -- how much and for how long?

Clearly, it is possible that too much time can be spent "covering" a book instead of uncovering it. Some instructional plans involve so many peripheral classroom activities that the essence of the book gets lost. Readers are drawn away from deeper engagement with a book when time is spent doing marginal workbook and basal reader type activities. While the overriding goal of literature instruction is to engage students in reflective, in-depth experiences with what is read, the question of how to do it without destroying the joy of reading needs more attention. There are some basic approaches to literature teaching that can help focus literature instruction more sharply and discourage spending too much time on the extensive and often meaningless activities that publishers and commercial vendors provide for many children's literature titles.

To begin planning literature-centered activities, teachers will want to be clear about three key elements: What the book is about, what its strengths are, and ultimately, how books connect to each other. By using the three focal points as guides to the key elements of a book, teachers can be more precise about instructional goals and better able to plan activities to engage readers in the literary qualities of the book. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the possibilities for teaching about a literary work, teachers can be more selective in finding ways that are likely to help readers explore its significant qualities.

Knowing What the Book is About

To ask what a book is about is the most fundamental question to pose about a literary work; understanding the themes and life views authors present is a primary guide for how to proceed with instruction. Awareness of what a book is about will focus on the major meaning of a book and, in turn, lead to fruitful classroom explorations. Without this basic understanding, there is a danger that instructional strategies will wander in many purposeless directions that have little to do with the sum, substance, or spirit of the work.

The meaning of a book is played out in its themes. While literature for children and young adults contains a full spectrum of themes, many of the themes have to do with issues of growing up, finding identity, and self-understanding. Numerous works deal with overcoming fears, coping with jealousy and sibling rivalry, with perceiving the joys and problems of friendship, as well as facing the existence of good and evil in the world.

A clear concept of the main idea of a work helps direct the discovery of how a book theme is developed. It serves as the basis for eliciting student responses, structuring book discussions, and for subsequent re-examinations of the text. It does not mean that children need to define book themes or that teachers should teach themes directly, but awareness of what the book is about will guide instructional strategies to go deeper into the meaning of the book rather than detracting from its primary importance

For instance, Charlotte's Web has an obvious theme within it of friendship, the friendship between Charlotte and Wilbur. An instructional focus on the friendship theme in the book will direct discussions to the two characters and draw attention to the ways in which their friendship develops throughout the text. By examining Wilbur's first words and Charlotte's first words, by looking at their first and last conversations, readers can delve further into the significance of the story. Probing what the book is really about prevents taking sidetracks to too many activities that don't have much relevance to the spirit of the book. Instructional strategies for Charlotte's Web have been known to include activities such as research about spiders, making barn models, and painting murals. While it is possible for children to learn from these kinds of extension activities, it is questionable whether or not the time and effort they require add to a deeper understanding of the book.

Many literary works such as Charlotte's Web, Tuck Everlasting, Lyddie, Abels Island, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, and The Giver are thematically rich and multi-layered. These books provide abundant opportunities for discussion, textual examination, writing, creative drama, and other expressive responses. Other genres such as adventure stories, mysteries, humorous tales, and historical fiction may not present opportunities for exploring theme. What these books represent are opportunities for entertainment, instruction, or as recommended titles for independent reading. In these cases, teachers must decide whether a book requires any instruction at all, or whether it is a work that can stand on its own. For example, Strega Nona is a delightful Italian folk tale about Big Anthony who gets into trouble when he can't stop the magic pasta pot from overflowing onto village streets. It is typical of the kind of book which can be read and enjoyed without doing much in the way of follow-up activities. Yet one of the suggested classroom projects for the book is to have children make pasta from scratch (Huck, 1993). One needs to question if deeper literary understandings emerge from such an "activity" or if it is worth the instructional time spent doing it. Perhaps something as simple as going on to read more books by its author, Tomie De Paola, would be a more beneficial experience for children.

A sensitive understanding of a book's themes, life views, and what it uncovers about the human experience should be a primary guide for teachers as they make choices about the ways to help readers make the most meaningful connections to the book.

Determining the Strengths of the Book

While knowing what a book is about can lead to productive avenues for instruction, a second way is to identify book strengths. The strengths can be found by determining which literary elements are most outstanding in a book. They are usually components such as characterization, plot structure, setting, or use of language. Although some books have several strengths, pinpointing one or two salient features for instruction will lead to a deeper investigation of a book's true literary qualities.

Outstanding characterization is found in many children's books. Even within the narrow range of the thirty-two page picture book format, characterization can be an outstanding trait. Well-known examples include Amos and Boris, Miss Rumphius, and Stevie. Longer novels of the caliber of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Lyddie, and Out of the Dust offer readers a full assembly of exceptionally well-drawn major and minor characters. When characterization is such an outstanding quality in a book, it should be a signal for planning instruction. After discussions of readers' responses to book characters, teachers can follow through on character study by revisiting the text to uncover how the author reveals and develops characters, and how the individuality of each character is shaped.

Characters can sometimes be understood more fully in relationship to plot. The plot, or the time and place of a story is often an outstanding book strength. In addition to creating the right mood for a story, the setting can act like another character in the story. This is particularly evident in works in which the main character is in conflict with an environment. In Hatchet, young Brian fights to survive alone in the Canadian wilderness after surviving a plane crash. The young heroines in Julie and the Wolves and Island of the Blue Dolphins are continuously challenged by the forces of nature for their lives.

While plot can act as an antagonist, it can also be a symbolic site. In Bridge to Terabithia, Terabithia is a special place of escape for Jess and Leslie. There are also the imaginative worlds of Prydain, Narnia, Earthsea, and others in works of modern fantasy. Other places that have special symbolic significance in children's literature are gardens. In The Secret Garden and Tom's Midnight Garden, the garden settings are the places where miraculous or fantastical events can happen. In other genres of literature, setting is used in different ways: in historical fiction, the setting serves as the historical time frame; whereas in mysteries and realistic fiction the setting plays a major role in creating the mood of the story. For example, there is the urban background for Scorpions, a work camp in Holes, the two "seas" in Sara, Plain and Tall, and the eerie Scottish locale of A Stranger Came Ashore.

The ways in which an author uses language is another feature of a literary work. Books such as Charlotte's Web, Tuck Everlasting, and Sara, Plain and Tall are remarkable examples of books that are linguistically rich. Selecting one of these works to use with young readers calls for careful analyses of text to explore and enjoy the literary skills of the authors -- especially how imagery, simile, and metaphor enhance the meaning of the work. Playful and clever uses of language can be found in the pun-filled Phantom Tollbooth and the Harry Potter series.

Language use may not be a strength in all books. Nevertheless, there are other styles writers use for other purposes. For instance, in developing authentic child characters like Leigh Botts in Dear Mr. Henshaw or in recounting Brian's stream of consciousness thinking in Hatchet, the authors create distinctive voices. The wide range of literary styles represented in children's literature points out the importance of wide reading in works by different authors across genres.

Awareness of book language extends to thinking about book titles and character names. For instance, who is The Giver? What does Jacob Have I Loved mean? Why is the hatchet in the story also in the title Hatchet? Is Maniac Magi really maniacal? Discussions of these questions can lead to important discoveries about the themes of the books. Authors select titles carefully and they choose names for characters that reflect their personalities. Readers of Matilda make no mistake in knowing that Miss Honey can be trusted, but Miss Trunchbull is someone to look out for. Instructional strategies that examine the language strengths in books will increase children's understandings of the many ways the style of the language contributes to the purpose or theme of the book.

Connecting Books to Other Books

Another advantage to exploring book strengths is that during the process, unique and distinguishing characteristics of an author's style can be discovered. This gives readers the opportunity to discover favorite writers and to begin to read more of an author's works. Reading several books by a single writer is one of several ways to make connections among books. It is important for young readers to understand that while each book is unique, it is also part of a broader literary landscape. An increased awareness of the interconnectedness of literary works gives readers wider perspectives about literature, and the experience of reading a single book can actually be heightened when it is linked to other books that share common traits.

Individual books are connected to other works in several ways -- by ideas or themes, through similar characters, or by shared settings, and story structures. To begin, teachers can plan to read several books that explore a common theme, then compare and contrast how the theme is developed in the different books. Illuminating discoveries can be made in the process. For example, friendship, a prevailing theme in many children's books, is explored differently in Charlotte's Web, Amos and Boris, Frog and Toad Are Friends, and The Whipping Boy, to name a few. Other links to the friendship theme will also mean the opportunity to read other genres. There are poems such as Langston Hughes's "I Had a Friend," or historical fiction works like Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say.

Other common themes address childhood issues and concerns. The question of how children can face life challenges while alone is portrayed in Maniac Magee, Call it Courage, My Side of the Mountain, Slakes Limbo and many of the classic "survival" tales. There are also works that deal with the effects of developmental differences such as Summer of the Swans, and Mine for Keeps. Racial and cultural differences are addressed in books like Felita, Child of the Owl, Molly's Pilgrim, In the Year of the Boar, and Jackie Robinson. On the lighter side, a perennially appealing theme for children deals with characters in books who get into trouble such as Peter Rabbit, Queenie Peavy, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and Where the Wild Things Are. By contrast, there is the irresistible Ramona who always intends to do the right thing but ends up getting into trouble anyhow.

Characters can be compared and contrasted along different dimensions, but one of the most meaningful ways to examine characterization across literary works may be to compare concepts of the hero figure in literature. Exploring the hero concept is an opportunity to probe the meaning of what "hero" means. A comparative study offers a generous, comprehensive choice of reading across several genres. Myths, legends, folklore, poetry, biography, historical fiction, modern fantasy, and modern realism all contain different kinds of heroes. There are classic heroes like Odysseus, Jason, and King Arthur, the Native American Ampao, and the reluctant hero Bilbo of The Hobbit. The notion of hero includes characters who as common people live heroic lives. There are Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, and the hard working mill girl Lyddie who struggles to save an entire family. The image of hero is stretched even further in stories about the heroic opposite, or the anti-hero. In the folklore of most cultures there are traditional fool characters like Singer's Shlemiel or clever tricksters like Iktomi and Coyote. Modern versions of the anti-hero can be found in the lovable but hapless Big Anthony and Amelia Bedelia.

Joseph Campbell (1968) describes how the hero tale follows a specific structural form. Hero stories begin with the hero or heroine going forth and encountering a series of adventures, fighting adversaries, and having met all challenges successfully, finally returning home safely, often transformed in some way. Although the plot structures of many children's books are episodic, numerous story structures follow this home-adventure-home cycle. (Sloan, 1978). Peter Rabbit; Babar; Grandfather's Journey; The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; and Holes are only some of the many stories written as hero cycles. Being aware of this plot pattern helps children see the overall structure of a story, understand the actions of the character more clearly and, at the same time, connect stories to other similarly patterned or contrasting tales.

Encouraging children to explore a broad literary map leads to wider and deeper literary experiences, the primary goal of literature instruction. Making connections among books is one of the routes teachers can choose to take in planning the kind of literature instruction that is likely to generate enthusiasm for reading and provide children with fundamental literary concepts. In the end, there are no foolproof recipes or formulas for teaching literature well, but instruction that focuses on the essential questions about a book's meaning, its strengths, and its literary connections are ways to select the most effective teaching strategies. By staying focused on these elements, teachers will spend less time and effort doing unnecessary amounts of book "activities" and children will engage in more authentic literary experiences.

References

Campbell, J. (1968). The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Davis, G. (1978). The Child as Critic: Children's Literature in the Elementary School. New York: Columbia University Press

Huck, C. (1993). Children's Literature in the Elementary School. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

May Carson Reinhardt, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Lesley University where she teaches courses in children's literature and in the teaching of writing. She is also the director of the Middle School Program.