Youngstown State University

Department/Program:
English

Institution Address:
Department of English
Youngstown State University
Youngstown
OH
44555-3415
USA

Degree(s) Granted:
M.A. (graduate certificate in Children’s literature)

Faculty involved in the program:
Gary Salvner, gsalvner@cc.ysu.edu

Courses offered:
English 6918: Studies in Children’s Literature
Topics vary from year to year. Most recent course offering:
What is the difference between a good realistic story for children and a work of children’s fantasy? Just as important, what do realistic stories and fantasy literature have in common? In this course we’ll examine recent works of children’s realism and fantasy, with the aim of understanding their appeal for young readers and analyzing the literary elements that distinguish each work. Reading requirements will include a large number of picture books and short fiction works for children. Writing requirements likely will include several short response/analysis papers and a longer research project.

English 6919: Studies in Young Adult Literature
Topics vary from year to year. Most recent course offering:
You will be expected to read the books on the English Festival booklist, and to study current methods and theories about using young adult literature in the classroom that inquire into the Festival’s role in shaping students’ reading and writing practice. You will also be expected to produce several short analysis papers, and one end-of-term research project.

English 6927: Historical Survey of Literature for Young People
The history of children’s literature is in many ways the history of the way past societies have constructed and understood childhood, from the didacticism of the Puritans to the “clouds of glory” fantasy of the Romantics to the beginnings of contemporary gritty realism with A Catcher in the Rye in the 1950s. We will read, discuss, and write about a number of seminal texts in the development of children’s literature in order to examine the ways culture and literature intersect. In addition, a clearer understanding of the history of children’s literature should help with our understanding of contemporary texts for children.
Requirements will likely include two short response papers, a longer paper, and an oral report.

For more information:
http://www.as.ysu.edu/%7Eenglish/masteng.htm