1.) The practice of juvenile literature exists not because children write for themselves, but because adults chose to write for children. In this sense, the motivations for writing juvenile literature are many and certainly worth examining. Writers often want their child readers to emulate certain cultural values or practices. Others want to suggest appropriate modes of behavior which may be attached to class, gender, ethnicity, or some other characteristic of social station. Many writers are exorcising their own concerns about childhood and the development of their own values in a time long past. Sometimes the writer wants to perpetuate those values and sometimes, the writer wants to burst the bubble (as it were) of past conceptions of childhood or even parenthood. In all of the above, the motivation is ideologically based and in every case that motivation is complicated, ambiguous, and sometimes unfocussed. Write an essay exploring the complexities of the "ideological project" in the work of a single author, or a single period of time. Consider the social and historical contingencies that shape the ideology(ies) of the work under consideration.

2.) We have discussed the "lexicon" of visual imagery in children’s books. Images inculcate a new "visual vocabulary" that results in expectations about the world that can only be derived from images themselves. The significance of visual imagery is evident in the very fact that most children’s books (up to a certain reading ages... and even beyond) are illustrated. Look at the work of two or more significant illustrators in an effort to explore the significance of illustrations whether in augmenting a text, in supplementing a text, or in serving as the "text." You may want to consider the transition for children readers to non-illustrated books and what that means in terms of the role and meaning of visual imagery.

3.) Adaptations of juvenile literature or of adult literature for juveniles have always been a part of the juvenile literature industry. Consider the nature of adaptation in terms of what is sustained from the original, what is held back, and what is newly created for the sake of the adaptation. The popularity of Disney adaptations has been particularly well explored, but is far from "tapped out." In addition, there exist many religious adaptations of traditional children’s literature texts that excise or alter certain portions. Prepare a careful analysis of an adaptation or a set of adaptations that examines basic questions such as: "Why adapt this text at this time?" to "What is accomplished --culturally, politically, or ideologically-- by the adaptation?"