Writing for Young Readers

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	WRTNG-UG1350
Section	001
Instructor	June Foley
Days	Wed
Time	3:30 PM - 6:10 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

This course guides students in writing fiction for readers age ten through adolescence. While writing, workshopping, and revising, students consider both theoretical and practical issues of writing for young people. We explore the history of children's literature and examine the academic journal Children's Literature , the newsletter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the American Library Association's Newbery Awards and various bestseller lists. We also read and write in response to exemplary works in a variety of forms: Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik (a comic, episodic novel for tweens); Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the  Dog in the Nighttime  (a "crossover" book for adolescents and adults), Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (a fictionalized memoir), Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (the first volume of the dystopic trilogy), David Levithan’s Love Is the Highest  Law  (a post-9/11 narrative from three points of view), and (former Gallatin teacher) E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (a realistic novel). Students read their work aloud in a workshop format. The course culminates in each student’s writing 20 pages of a work for young readers, along with an outline and a query letter for agents or editors. A guest speaker or two—writer and/or editor—will visit.

Course Type

Advanced Writing Courses (WRTNG-UG)