Module: Here be Dragons Childrens & Young Adult Literature

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Here be Dragons Childrens & Young Adult Literature
Module Code	LIT1034 (ITS: EL305)
Faculty	English	School	Humanities & Social Sciences
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

This course looks at the development of children’s literature from the mid nineteenth century until the present, exploring what it reveals about shifting ideas of the child and childhood during the period under discussion. The first part of the course begins with an examination of how Romantic constructions of childhood influenced early and mid-Victorian writers for children, and moves then to a consideration of the factors that informed the increasing idealization of the child in the children’s literature of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The second part of the course introduces students to more recent works for children and young adults, exploring how these draw upon and/or subvert the models of childhood/adolescence that have gone before.

Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate an appreciation of the development of children’s literature from the mid nineteenth century until the present.
2. Understand some of the significant changes in the history of childhood as reflected in the literature of the period.
3. Recognise the impact of cultural constructions, such as of race and gender, on the development of children’s literature.
4. Identify and differentiate between different forms/genres of children’s literature.
5. Distinguish some of the key characteristics of, and respond critically to, children’s literature.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	21	Lectures
Tutorial	3	Tutorials
Independent Study	101	Independent Learning
Total Workload: 125

Section Breakdown
CRN	20656	Part of Term	Semester 2
Coursework	0%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	Y
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Jennifer Mooney	Module Teacher	Keith O'Sullivan, Lucy Stone

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Essay	Essay	25%	n/a
Formal Examination	Exam	75%	End-of-Semester

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Introduction:
Introducing Children’s Literature

Didactic Fiction:
Maria Edgeworth, selection from the 1840 edition of The Parent’s Assistant

Nonsense Writing:
Edward Lear’s Nonsense Verses (selection of works published between 1846 and 1871)

Fantasy (2):
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland;

P.L. Travers Mary Poppins

Stories for Boys:
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

Stories for Girls:
Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess

Childhood and Nostalgia:
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses

Idealizing the Child:
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan, or, The Boy Who Would not grow up (1904 play)

The Golden Age of Childhood:
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Animal Stories:
Michael Bond, A Bear Called Paddington,

Richard Adams, Watership Down

Writing for Young Adults (2):
Richard Cormier, The Chocolate War, Melvyn Burgess, Junk

Fantasy:
Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Brave New Worlds:
Meg Roscoff, How I Live Now, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

Indicative Reading List

Books:

M.O. Grenby and Andrea Immel (eds.): 2009, The Cambridge Companion to Children’s Literature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
Jackie C. Horne: 2011, History and the Construction of the Child in Early British Children’s Literature, Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey,
Peter Hunt: 2001, Children’s Literature, Oxford: Blackwell,
Mary Jane Kehily (ed.): 2008, An Introduction to Childhood Studies, Open University Press, Maidenhead,
Susan Lehr (ed.),: 2001, Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Construction of Gender in Children’s Literature, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH,
Kimberley Reynolds: 2011, Children’s Literature: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
• Kimberley Reynolds (ed): 2014, Modern Children’s Literature: An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, London and New York,
Jacqueline Rose: 0, The Case of Peter Pan, or the Impossibility of Children’s Fiction, revised edition, (1984; Houndsmills, Basingstoke, and London: Macmillan Press, 1992),

Articles:
None

Other Resources

None