Course Descriptions

Undergraduate/Graduate Courses

• English 501, Literature for Children. A. Allison. MW 2-3:15 p.m.

  Here’s a chance to reconsider the books you read as a child, or perhaps to read them for the first time and to consider them as you would other works of literature: as meaningful expressions of artistry, as emotional and intellectual experiences, and as social messages. Each book is multi-layered, open to diverse interpretations including post-colonial, historical, aesthetic, feminist, and thematic. As we discuss the many genres of children’s literature, we’ll be reading picture books by M. Sendak and S. Silverstein, rich fantasies such as S. Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories and R. Dahl’s The Witches, classics like H. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, contemporary novels such as M. Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and S. Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, and genre benders like R. Hoban’s The Mouse and His Child and K. Hesse’s Witness. Requirements: uizzes, 2 pp. study questions, a midterm, and a final.

• ENGL 502 ADOLESCENCE IN LITERATURE. P. Serrato. T,TH 12:30-1:45 p.m. & 3:30-4:45 p.m.

  This semester we will explore the portrayal of adolescence in an array of texts culled from a variety of genres. Texts likely to be covered include: Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers. Francisco Jiménez, Breaking Through. Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening: A Play. Juan Felipe Herrera, Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box. Laura Whitcomb, A Certain Slant of Light. Carolyn Keene, The Secret of the Old Clock. (Facsimile of original 1930 edition). James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. M.T. Anderson, Feed. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. American Graffiti. Welcome Back, Kotter. Freaks and Geeks. Elizabeth Welburn, “In Such a State of Ink: Adolescents in the Novels of Charles Dickens” [Literature Compass 3.2 (Mar 2006). 218-229] REQUIREMENTS: will include a midterm exam, a final exam, a final paper, and a lot of in-class writing that will require you to keep up with the assigned reading.For a finalized syllabus, or to make a request for a particular text not on the list above, feel free to email the instructor at pserrato@mail.sdsu.edu.

Graduate Courses

• English 700, Major American Children’s Authors. A. Allison. Mondays 3:30-6:10 p.m.

  Did you know L. Frank Baum wrote not just The Wizard of Oz but fourteen books about Oz? Or that the philosophical cross-over author Russell Hoban also writes picture books? Or that Newbery-winning author Karen Hesse’s books include novels about the Dust Bowl, the KKK in Vermont in the 1920’s, the Aleutian Islands, and dolphins in Florida? Whether you’ve read these books already or will be reading them for the first time, this semester offers you intensive study of three distinguished contributors to American children’s literature.Requirements: two research papers and class presentations. Reading: The Land of Oz, The Mouse and His Child, Witness, Ozma of Oz, Riddley Walker, Out of the Dust, The Road to Oz, A Bargain for Frances, Music for Dolphins
  The Emerald City of Oz, The Little Brute Family, Aleutian Sparrow.

• ENGL 606D SEMINAR: CHICANA/O CHILDREN’S LITERATURE. W 7:00-9:40 p.m. P. SERRATO
  
  In this course we will undertake an ambitious exploration of the genre of Chicana/o Children’s Literature. After first tracing the emergence of the genre back to works written by Maria Christina Mena Chambers in the 1940s and 1950s, we will examine the proliferation of texts published in the 1970s amidst the Chicano Movement. In the course of our engagement with works such as Elia Robledo Durán’s Joaquín, niño de Aztlán (1972), Graciela Carrillo’s El frijol mágico (1974), and Nepthtalí de León’s I Will Catch the Sun (1973), we will explore how and why the genre of children’s literaturequickly came to constitute a crucial medium for Chicano and Chicana cultural workers. After interpreting and analyzing the fruit of this first real explosion of Chicana/o children’s literature, we will move on to the 1990s, which witnessed the second great explosion. As we explore works by Juan Felipe Herrera, Gloria Anzaldúa, Pat Mora, Luis Rodríguez, Amada Irma Pérez, Francisco Jiménez, and many, many others (including Gary Soto, too, I guess), we will unpack the methods used by these authors to engage with and respond to an array of social concerns. Ultimately, as we wrap the semester with literature produced in the early years of the 21st century, we will consider the next steps authors are taking or should be taking toward moving beyond social matters and identity politics. To inform our work with the numerous picture books and novels that will constitute our primary texts, we will read an array of secondary critical and theoretical pieces on subjects such as the Chicano Movement, movements within Chicana/o literature, and the genre of children’s literature in general. REQUIREMENTS: will include a presentation, an annotated bibliography, enthusiastic involvement in class discussions, and a final paper.