ENGL 3333: Children's Literature — Texts and Contexts
Midterm Exam Study Guide

Fall 2011
wild thing

Date of Exam: Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 11:00 am - 12:50 pm

The core material of this course includes the assigned reading, lectures, and class discussions up to and including the date of 10/13/11, and students will be responsible for all of these on the midterm.

The Midterm Exam accounts for 15% of your total grade in this course, and is open book. This means that you can have with you the texts that we have read up to October 13th, including the printouts of the Grimms' "Cinderella," and the viewing guide to Disney's Cinderella.   You may write in the margins of these texts, and use small post-its (less than 2 inches) to mark important passages. You may not write on the backs of the printouts (you'll need to print out clean copies if you have already done so), nor may you use any other notes, texts, or electronic devices such as e-readers, laptops, etc. You will need to purchase and bring a bluebook to the exam.

Please write your exam in blue or black ink only, write clearly and legibly (I can't give credit for anything I'm not able read), and save at least five minutes to proofread your exam before turning it in.  All titles of works, character names and author's names must be spelled correctly to receive full credit.

The exam format will consist of three sections:
I. Objective—Multiple Choice—FIFTEEN total items. This section accounts for 30% of the Midterm Exam grade. The BEST CHOICE will be asked for.

II.  Short Answer:  This section accounts for 30% of the Midterm Exam grade, and will consist of FIVE statements or questions which you will be asked to complete with a few words, a name or term, or a short phrase.

III: Identification and Analysis: This section accounts for 40% of the Midterm Exam grade.  This section will consist of approximately ten significant quotes (one to two sentences) or images from the texts discussed in class, and will ask you to identify any FOUR of these by naming 1) the author's full name, 2) the complete title of the work, 3) the context of the quote (what is happening in this scene, who is speaking), and 4) a detailed (200-word) analysis of the quote's or image's significance to the work as a whole (how does this quote or image represent important symbols, themes, and/or conflicts within the book/film?).  Be sure to number the answers you choose so that they correspond to the numbers on the exam sheet.

Total points possible for the exam: 100 points.

BE SURE TO:

* * * * * *

The best way to study is to review your notes and skim the appropriate reading at the same time. As you skim, stop every now and then and imagine how you would identify and comment on the particular passage at which you have stopped. If you can study cooperatively with one or more other students in the class, you can share ideas about how to identify and comment on critical terms and key passages from the texts--and get multiple perspectives about how to recognize the works and and what is interesting in them.

Below is a summary of concepts, individuals, and texts covered by the midterm exam:

TERMS
Puritan theory of childhood
didactic
Newbery Medal
Caldecott Medal

picturebooks
recto / verso
spread
cross-writing
dual address / cross-writing
intertextuality
picturebook
mimesis
diegesis
polyglossic
picturebook types
anthropomorphic
Molly Bang's Visual Principles

fairy tales
fairy tale characteristics
fairy tale themes
types of adaptation: retelling, parody, revision, prequel, sequel
multi-plane camera
"Disnification"
allusion
adaptation
remediation

fantasy genre
fable characteristics
primary world
secondary world
types of character: flat, round, active, dynamic
means of character development: action, speech, appearance, other characters, narrator
post-conventional level of moral development
eucatastrophe

magical realism
postmodernism
fragmentation
metafiction
hybridity

PEOPLE
Johannes Gutenberg
William Caxton
John Locke
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
John Newbery
Jacob and William Grimm
Walt Disney
Maurice Sendak
Gail Carson Levine
E.B. White
J.K. Rowling
Louis Sachar

TEXTS

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Smoky Night by Eve Bunting

"Cinderella" by Jacob and William Grimm

Cinderella by Disney Studios

Ella Enchanted by Gale Carson Levine

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Holes by Louis Sachar