Children Literature

Reading a children’s book now that I’m not a child has made me realize the underlying meanings of the story and how they are “secretly” portraying messages to the youth. It reminds me of when we discussed Aladdin in class and how someone can interpret so much from a work that was meant for a child. One thing I notice about the first book we read was that it played on the notion of sounds a lot. For example, the sound of the child’s own name became a sort of music. Color was obviously also used a lot but I feel that’s apparent in almost every children’s work.

The chores that the child did throughout the story, such as lugging around eight gallon barrels of oil, seemed like chores that should have been completed by someone of a much older age, however the age of the child is never specified so I just I can’t accurately make that assumption.

The idea of the secret throughout the story kept the reader’s attention. What could this secret be? Once you found out the secret it was sort of unsatisfying until you put yourself in the child’s shoes. Writing his own name seemed like the biggest accomplishment he has ever performed. We learn to write our names in pre-school/kindergarten; however for the child in the story, it was so out of his routine.

The publisher and the author of both books are Americans. When looking at the pictures in the story, you have to wonder if the pictures are accurate to life in modern day Cairo or if the view we received was a tourist edition. I might be jumping out of the box by saying this, but is this a depiction of Arab Land?

The books had two very separate realities depicted. The second story was a observation of a war torn society and the views of the little boy. In class a good comparison was made between the little boy’s sand castle and what was once his home.

I thought it was a good idea for the group to introduce Middle Eastern children’s literature to the class. It helps us look at the society as a whole, children included.