history – The Children's Literature Podcast

131 – “Bingen on the Rhine” in Anne of Green Gables

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Anne of Green Gables features a LOT of poetry. The book is set in the 1880’s, and back then teenagers would carefully select poems to recite to one another in the way that teenagers a few decades ago used to select songs to include in a mix tape.

“Bingen on the Rhine” is a beautiful poem by Caroline Norton, a writer and women’s rights campaigner who is so fascinating in her own right that her story could fill a hundred books. Gilbert Blythe chose to recite her poem in front of Anne Shirley – and every other kid at school – because it was one of the only ways he had to express to her his deep regret at having offended her, and his deep hope that she might one day forgive him.

Activity: Caroline Norton

Caroline Norton was a very important figure in the early battle for women’s legal rights. She was trapped in an unhappy marriage to a cruel and controlling man, who confiscated the money she earned from her writing and kept her own children away from her. She worked hard to raise this issue with the British parliament, which eventually passed laws that granted women the same legal rights as men when it came to property ownership, divorce, and child custody.

Students can research Caroline Norton’s life and the important social and legal reforms she worked so hard to achieve. It’s especially important for them to understand how these early efforts made the later campaign for women’s suffrage possible.

Activity: Memorize and Recite a Poem

Students can select a poem to research, memorize, and perform for others. The poem could be serious or humorous. It could tell a story or be more abstract. Poems should be selected to convey a special meaning to the audience. After the performance, have students ask audience members if they can guess the reason the poem was selected.

124 – Interview with Ronni Diamondstein

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In this interview, author Ronni Diamondstein discusses her new book, Jackie and the Books She Loved. This story, which was beautifully illustrated by Bats Langley, tells of the love that Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis had for books. From early childhood she was an avid reader. She would grow up to be a journalist, help her husband John F. Kennedy with writing his own book, and eventually build a career as a book editor.

Jackie edited many different kinds of books, from serious works of philosophy to the biographies of pop stars. But she also edited children’s books, including:

At the Zoo by Paul Simon
The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales by Boris Zvorykin
The Three Golden Keys by Peter Sís
Amy The Dancing Bear by Carly Simon

76 – Animal Farm

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Animal Farm by George Orwell offers something to virtually every academic discipline. Teenagers will be delighted to engage with it so long as it’s presented in an interesting and appealing way. In this episode, I give some ideas for how this book can be taught in different kinds of academic classes.

Also in this episode, I mentioned this heartwarming story I found about a town in Wałbrzych, Poland that is using handmade dolls representing Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables in order to raise awareness about the need for more foster families. I’d love to find more information about this story, but I don’t speak Polish, so if any listeners can help me understand some of the Polish-language reporting on this sweet story, I sure would be grateful!

Activity: Passive Voice

Teachers usually tell students never to use passive voice, and as a general rule this is good advice. Passive voice is when a sentence puts more focus on the person or object experiencing an action, rather than the person or object doing the action. A sentence written with active voice would be “The animals sang a revolutionary song called Beasts of England.” That same sentence in passive voice was “A revolutionary song called Beasts of England was sung by the animals.” Active voice tends to result in clearer, shorter, more easily understood sentences. Passive voice can sometimes make it unclear who performed an action.

But sometimes, passive voice can be used creatively for the sake of humor or to encourage the reader to figure out certain things independently. George Orwell uses passive voice in Animal Farm to draw attention to times when the pigs behave in a selfish or corrupt manner. These sentences often begin with “it was noticed” or “it was felt.”

Have students track times when passive voice is used in Animal Farm. Ask them to rewrite these sentences in direct voice, so that the styles can be compared. Then discuss how the passively construction sentences are more funny and thought-provoking, which shows that passive voice can sometimes be used, but only for a good reason.

Activity: Who Should Be Allowed to Vote?

In Animal Farm, the pigs steadily convince the other animals to stop making any decisions for themselves because they might sometimes choose poorly. The pigs take all leadership power for themselves, shutting out any non-pigs from the government of Animal Farm.

After reading this portion of the story, encourage students to consider the following questions. Answers may be given as written responses, discussed in small groups, or talked about as a class.

Who should be allowed to vote?
Should someone be allowed to vote if they can’t understand what the consequences will be?
Should children be allowed to vote?
What about those with mental disabilities?
Should there be things people have to do to gain voting rights, such as passing a civics test or performing some service to the community or nation?
Under what circumstances should someone have their voting rights taken away?

Activity: Political Slogans

In Animal Farm, the animals come up with a list of principles for their philosophy of Animalism, using the slogan “four legs good, two legs bad.” The pigs gradually begin breaking the principles until they change this slogan to “four legs good, two legs better.” The sheep are easily persuaded to bleat these slogans in a very pointed metaphor.

Have students research political slogans. Some are fairly honest and straightforward, like “I Like Ike.” Some summarize a political position such as “No Taxation Without Representation” or “No Nukes.” Others are more threatening, such as “Eat the Rich” or those which claim a country should belong only to a certain ethnic group. Each student in a class can research a different political slogan, focusing on the historical setting of the slogan’s creation and the message that it was meant to send. Students could also share their feelings about the slogan’s effectiveness and the implications of the policies the slogan advocates for.

71 – Sue Townsend

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Sue Townsend is Leicestershire’s most beloved author. While she primarily wrote for adults, she has been a major influence on other local children’s writers and her first three novels about the angsty, acne-plagued Adrian Mole remain beloved by teens and adults alike after 40 years in print. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, and The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole provide a spectacular view of the messy life of a teenager growing up in Britain in the 80’s.

The novels about Adrian Mole’s teen years are a good lesson in the history and politics of this period, offering a chance for kids to understand the different points of view on the issue of government assistance and social programs for those farther down the economic ladder. They also provide a great opportunity to spark conversations about how teenagers should deal with the increasingly adult problems they will have in their lives, sometimes sooner than they would wish.

Activity: Who Should Help Adrian?

Adrian Mole is a disadvantaged teenager. His parents have a volatile relationship, and for a while his mother moves away. Both parents have short-term relationships wiht other people, creating an even more unstable home environment for Adrian. Both parents smoke and drink heavily and depend on government handouts to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Issues such as welfare benefits, socialized health care, and who deserves help from society can quickly become abstract or even contentious, but teens can begin exploring these ideas in an age-appropriate way by keeping the focus on Adrian and his life. Students can explore the following questions in a classroom conversation or in an essay.

When parents fail to take care of their kids properly, what is the point at which help should be offered by outside groups such as churches, schools, or social workers?
Adrian had his first hangover at age 14. What public health information can you find out about the dangers of heavy drinking at such a young age? What do you think is a good way to talk to teenagers about the risks that come from drinking alcohol?
Adrian’s father loses his job and becomes too depressed to look for work, instead sleeping late and watching television during the day and depending upon government benefits to pay the bills. Without welfare payments to Mr. Mole, Adrian will not have enough to eat or a home to live in. Do you feel Mr. Mole should continue to receive money from the government?
If disadvantaged children do not receive help to ensure that they have homes, food, healthcare, and an education, it is more likely that they will work in lower-paying jobs, have poorer health, and be more likely to engage in criminal behavior. What are ways that disadvantaged children can be helped? How should the costs of such help be paid for? Who should decide what help a child’s family should receive?

44 – Who was Aesop?

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Aesop wrote over 700 fables . . . or did he? This ancient Greek writer’s work is at the foundation of literature, but who was he? Did he even exist? There are many different versions of his biography, because Aesop is one of those figures who comes from the blurry edges of the past where history vanishes into legend. All versions credit him with being an intelligent storyteller who traveled widely, dispensing moral wisdom with his pithy, entertaining stories. Although he met an untimely end, his work has become timeless, influencing global literature for over 2600 years.

Activity: Semihistorical Figures

History is the study of what happened in the past. Historiography is the study of how history is written down. Not all works of history are equally valuable. Some have false or missing information, and some are written by people who are trying to push a certain point of view. And then there are some people who get written into history who probably shouldn’t be in the story at all, because there isn’t any firm evidence about their lives or deeds.

Students can research one of the following semihistorical figures. These people often feature in old histories or in legends and works of fiction, but there is no hard evidence proving that they actually lived:

- - Ragnar Lothbrok
  - Mulan
  - Pythagoras
  - King Arthur
  - The Queen of Sheba
  - Robin Hood
  - Homer
  - John Henry
  - Lycurgus
  - Sun Tzu

This printable worksheet can help students answer questions about a semihistorical figure:

- - When was this person was supposed to have lived?
  - What is the person famous for?
  - What sources mention this person?
  - Does anything about the person’s life story seem unlikely to be true?
  - Do you think this person really existed? Why or why not?

23 – Island of the Blue Dolphins: Lost but not Forgotten

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This is the first of two episodes about the Newbery Award winning novel Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. This book is a work of speculative historical fiction that imagines what the life of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas might have been like. It is not and never could have been a work that reported history accurately, because the history can never truly be known. But O’Dell did his best to research what he could, and his novel ignited interest in researching the life of the Lone Woman that still burns bright today. Because of Island of the Blue Dolphins, not only is the Lone Woman not forgotten, but she and her lost culture have be the subjects of some of the best historical and archaeological research in the world.

This episode summarizes the most accurate information currently available about the life of the Lone Woman. Whenever Island of the Blue Dolphins is taught, kids want to know how much of the story is real. There are a lot of scraps of information you can find online, and very little of it is accurate. We now know that the stories recorded in the nineteenth century ranged from mostly true to flat out fabrications by people who never even met the Lone Woman of San Nicolas. Parents and teachers can use this episode to help them feel confident about answering kids’ questions about what we do and don’t know about the Lone Woman, or Karana as she’s called in the novel. The next episode will focus on the fictional story in Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Reliable Sources for learning about the true history of the woman that inspired Island of the Blue Dolphins

Channel Islands National Park guide to Island of the Blue Dolphins

Channel Islands National Park YouTube Channel

Islapedia

Articles written by the following people about San Nicolas Island and the Lost Woman of San Nicolas are very reliable:

- John R. Johnson, an anthropologist with expertise on the languages and cultures of coastal and island tribes of Southern California
- Susan L. Morris, a researcher who examines original documents such as maps, letters, shipping documents, company records, and newspapers to re-create an accurate timeline for the period of the Lone Woman’s life.
- Steven J. Schwartz an archaeologist who worked for the US Navy doing excavations on San Nicolas island
- René L. Vellanoweth, an anthropologist at California State University who has also led expeditions to sites on San Nicolas island
- Carol Peterson, the education coordinator for Channel Islands National Park

Activity: What is a Reliable Source?

Talk with students about the definition of the word reliable: “consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted.” When doing research for school work, students should only use sources that are reliable.

Reliable sources:

- Are written by someone who is an expert about the topic
- Have information that is accurate and up to date
- Do not express opinions without strong evidence behind them
- Do not try to persuade the reader to agree
- Are published by well-respected groups or people who have a good record of sharing accurate information

On a piece of paper or whiteboard, make two columns, one titled “reliable” and the other “unreliable.” Ask students to suggest sources of information that are reliable. They should come up with ideas like museums, scientists, researchers, teachers, librarians, experts, academic books, and so on. Ask students to also suggest sources which are unreliable sources of facts. They should list things like articles without an author, gossip, rumors, advertisements, political arguments, old and out of date documents, or sources which promote a belief at the expense of facts. Discuss how students can recognize the difference between reliable and unreliable sources.

19 – Tricky Topics in Children’s Literature: Alcohol

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This is the first of three episodes about three tricky topics in Children’s Literature – alcohol, disease, and death. I’m not doing this to be edgy – I feel that these are important subjects and parents and teachers need a plan for when they come up. And they do, especially in books from more than fifty years ago. Alcohol in particular comes up in books written before laws establishing a minimum age for drinking were set about a hundred years ago. But although the use of alcohol in children’s fiction may seem jarring to our modern-day understanding of science and health medicine, the issue of teenagers using poor judgment when it comes to powerful substances is timeless.

This episode takes a close look at incidents from Little Women and Anne of Green Gables involving children drinking alcohol. Some understanding of the historical use of alcohol as medicine, the temperance movement, and the establishment of minimum drinking age laws about 100 years ago is needed to properly frame the context of these scenes. But the issues around underage drinking that parents and children must discuss haven’t actually changed that much. These scenes would not likely be published in a new book today, but they shouldn’t be censored or glossed over. In fact, they provide a good opportunity for a conversation about the tricky topic of alcohol.

Activity: Discussion Questions for Chapter 26 of Anne of Green Gables – “Diana is Invited to Tea with Tragic Results”

Chapter 26 of Anne of Green Gables can be read and understood on its own if you don’t have time to read the entire novel. After reading the chapter, ask students to consider the following questions. They can be answered in a one-on-one conversation, in a small group, or with the entire class. They could also be answered in writing. If it would be productive and not contentious, students with differing opinions could respectfully debate their answers.

Download a worksheet of these questions to use in class here

1. Is there anything Marilla could have done to prevent Anne from finding and mistakenly serving the wine instead of the non-alcoholic raspberry cordial?

2. What did Anne do correctly after Diana said she didn’t feel well?

3. Was Marilla too critical of Diana for drinking three glasses so quickly? Why or why not?

4. What do you think about Marilla’s reaction to the incident?

5. What do you think about Mrs. Barry’s reaction to the incident?

6. What would you do if one of your friends became intoxicated from alcohol, began to feel unwell, and no adults were around? Would you worry about how your parents or your friend’s parents would react?

Music in this episode

“Rare old Mountain Dew” by Edward Harrigan and David Braham

7 – How the Brothers Grimm Saved Folk Culture

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Everyone has heard of the Brothers Grimm but usually the only fact people know about these men is that they were the authors of a book of fairy tales. And even this is only partly true. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected folk tales, and then they edited them into Kinder- und Hausmärchen, or Children’s and Household Tales, which became the heart of the fairy tale canon.

The Brothers Grimm were dedicated to preserving folklore at a time when war, economic change, and the loss of large, multigenerational families were destroying folk traditions. It would be nice to say that dictators with imperial ambitions no longer posed a threat to the unique cultures of smaller neighbors, but unfortunately the plight of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is alarmingly relevant given the present-day war in Ukraine.

Activity: Collect and Preserve Folktales

Within your family, school, or community, have children think of sources for local legends and stories. Are there famous local sites? Notable citizens from the past? Family bedtime stories or songs? Have children record these bits of folklore. Then, decide who will edit and arrange the works. Consider which items have most value to preserving the folk memories of your family and community. Once the stories are assembled, share them in a way that gives free access to as many people as possible and encourages others to make new creative works based on this folklore.

I have written down and recorded a folktale from my own family. It’s called “Ricky the Racer” and was made up by my grandfather back in the 1950’s. This story has now been in my family for four generations as I am now telling it to my own children. You can listen to “Ricky the Racer” and learn the folk history of this tale here.