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“
Children's literature --
not for children onl
"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of
water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill
came tumbling after."
Nursery rhymes, nonsense verses, poetry and
limericks were not the usual subjects discussed in
English classes at ACU, but to Wilma Marshall and
her students in Literature for Children and Transi-
tional Reading they were a familiar topic.
Mrs. Marshall, an assistant professor of English,
taught students how to teach literature to children,
and her approach to the subject was unique.
Assignments for the class varied from designing a
cover for a children's book to reading a favorite
childhood story to the class.
And an unsuspecting student might have been
surprised as she recited nursery rhymes, nonsense
verses and poetry with ease. Her excitement was ob-
vious as she introduced subjects like Zeus and the
gods or the work of Maurice Sendak, a popular
children's author and illustrator. And students
realized she was fond of the topic.
Throughout the course she often said, "You've
got to understand why childrenis literature is impor-
tant and where its origins lie if you,re going to teach
the subjectf,
She said it was important to understand children
and the ways that literature could work for them.
Mrs. Marshall received her undergraduate degree
from ACU and has done graduate and postgraduate
work at several universities in Texas and one in Kan-
sas. Although her degree was in English, she did
part of her graduate work solely on the subject of
children's literature.
She said children's literature sometimes is
misunderstood. 'gSome people don't take literature
for children seriously because they feel they have
outgrown the subjectf' she said. S'And they must
understand there are differences between literature
for children and literature for adults."
She also said that once students were aware of
those differences, they could begin to appreciate the
value of children's literature.
The class was interesting, not only because of the
subject material, but because of Mrs. Marshall's
class presentations, her sense of humor and her en-
l90 Faculty Feature
joyment of the topic.
It was not unusual to spend the entire class period
reading childrenis books and then talking about
which was the favorite and why. Her collection of
children's books was extensive, and she often
brought with her carts of books from her personal
collection so members of the class could look
through the books and become familiar with the
authors and artists and their individual trademarks.
In most of the class lectures, Mrs. Marshall em-
phasized the importance of knowing where the
nursery rhymes and poetry originated, and for what
purpose they were introduced into the existing
society.
For example, some of the most popular nursery
rhymes that originated in England were composed
for adult audiences and had two meanings - one for
the adults of that time-period and one for todayis
children. She also said that some of the favorite
pieces of literature for children had political over-
tones during their time period.
She spent several class periods talking about a trip
to Europe where she was able to visit many of the
countries where much of the literature for children
has come from. And she had a slide presentation ac-
companying each lecture, although she laughingly
prefaced each presentation with an apology for her
photographic abilities.
Mrs. Marshall went on the tour with a chi1dren's
literature group during the summer of 1980. It was a
month-long study tour arranged by a professor from
Fort Hayes State University in Kansas.
The tour included stops in 77 cities throughout
countries such as Luxembourg, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, Ireland, England and Iceland, she said.
"The trip was one of the most outstanding things
of my life other than my marriage and family, of
coursef' she said. "It was a frightening experience at
the beginning of the tour because I did not know
anyone in the group. I was the Texas girl who had
never been past California or Illinois." - Suzetta
Nutt
Opposite page: Wilma M arshall
”