Children’s literature is a relatively young mode of artistic expression: It is approximately 250 years old. In the course, we will examine the social and cultural conditions that led to the ripening of this unique inter-generational channel of expression. We shall trace the poetic transformations it has undergone in the past two centuries, in the context of changes in Western culture in general and child culture in specific.

The course will review various disciplines that engage with children’s literature: Education, which approaches children’s literature as a pedagogical and academic tool, focusing on the texts’ “messages” and “values”; Literature, which usually examines the relations between “adult” literary texts and those written for children; Psychology, which often examines the mental processes of young and old readers who read and write children’s literature; Cultural Studies and Sociology, that scrutinize children’s books as a reflection of inter-generational relations and an indications of various cultural and social phenomena. The cultural aspects will receive a special emphasis as the changing position of children’s literature in culture, and particularly child culture, will be examined.

 During the course, we will read studies on children’s literature and child culture from various methodic perspectives, and will be introduced to a large variety of children’s books from Israel and around the world.