Course Objectives

Students will:

·         Read intensely and focus on the text and their informed responses to it.

·         Recognize and identify the ways that life stories are turned into narrative biography for young people.

·         Eamine the uses of historical perspective, research, and interview.

·         Study the ways diarists and autobiographers shape their perceptions of their own lives, what they include, and what they omit.

Organization of the Course

Unit 1 - Introduction: The Telling, by Ursula K. Le Guin

Unit 2 - Economy of storyline: famous women in picture books
You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! by Shana Corey
Emily, by Michael Bedard, illus by Barbara Cooney
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, Pam Munoz Ryan

Unit 3 - Economy of storyline; not-so-famous women and men in picture books
Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley, both by Don Brown

Unit 4 - Artists' lives in picture books
My Name is Georgia, by Jeanette Winter

A Boy Named Giotto, by Paolo Guarnieri
Michelangelo, by Diane Stanley
First Painter, by Kathryn Lasky

Unit 5 - Musicians' lives in picture books
Mysterious Thelonius, by Chris Raschka
Shake Rag: from the Life of Elvis Presley, by Amy Littlesugar
Purple Mountain Majesties: Katharine Bates and ?America the Beautiful? by Barbara Younger

Unit 6. Authors writing their own lives
Jerry Spinelli, Knots in my YoYo String
Tomie dePaola, 26 Fairmont Avenue, Here We All Are, and On My Way
Cynthia Rylant, But I'll Be Back Again

Unit 7 - Autobiography
Rosa Parks: My Story
Ruby Bridges; Through My Eyes

Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-Li Jiang

Unit 8 - Engaging formats
Savion: My Life in Tap, by Savion Glover and Bruce Weber
Cool Melons Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa, by Matthew Gollub

Unit 9 - Collective biographies, and a diary
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and what the neighbors thought), by Kathleen Krull (and others in this series:  Lives of the Presidents, Lives of the Musicians, etc.)
Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power, by Milton Meltzer
The Diary of LaToya Hunter: My first year in junior high

Unit 10 - Serious scholarship but very accessible
Clara Schuman Piano Virtuoso, by Susanna Reich
Pick & Shovel Poet: the journeys of Pascal D'Angelo, by Jim Murphy

Unit 11 - Especially for boys
I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler, by Ted Lewin

Life and Death of Crazy Horse, by Russell Freedman

Unit 12 - Choose your own biography.

Unit 13 - Class projects presented and discussed

Major Assignments

(1)  Read all of the books to be discussed, including the books of your choosing, as outlined in this syllabus below.

(2)  The heart of this course is the books read, together and separately, and regular, thoughtful, and informed participation in the threaded discussions.  The key is to keep up with the books we are reading and the resources linked to each class unit.  A large proportion of the grade for this course is based on participation in the discussion:  your comments on what you have read;  your sustained responses to other students' comments;  your questions and suggestions of further reading and resources;  your engagement with the ideas raised for consideration by yourself and others.  Use of the Journal feature of the class software is optional.

(3)  During a unit in the latter half of the semester you will read a biography of your own choosing, to read and discuss with the class. Several students may choose the same title and work on it collaboratively. The final assignment is to create a Web page, booktalk, list of links, booklist handout, or any other agreed-upon item that is based on your work in this course and could be used in your library, classroom, or work with children.

Assessment

Participation in threaded discussion - 70%

Creation of web page, booktalk, or other creation - 30%

Required Texts

There is no textbook for this course. Students are required to read all of the books we discuss, as listed in the syllabus.  There will be opportunity, in several units, for students to read and analyze books of their own choosing.  Various other readings and examination of web sites will be assigned.

Bedard, Michael, Emily, illus by Barbara Cooney, Doubleday, 1992.

Bridges, Ruby, Ruby Bridges; Through My Eyes, Scholastic, 1999.

Brown, Don, Rare Treasure: Mary Anning, Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Brown, Don, Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley, Houghton Mifflin 2000.

Corey, Shana, You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer!, illus by Chelsey McLaren, Scholastic, 2000.

dePaola, Tomie, 26 Fairmont Avenue, Putnam, 1999ff.

Freedman, Russell, Life and Death of Crazy Horse, illus by Amos Bad Heart Bull, Holiday House, 1996.

Gollub, Matthew, Cool Melons Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa, illus by Kazuko G. Stone, Lee & Low, 1998.

Glover, Savion, and Bruce Weber, Savion: My Life in Tap, Morrow, 2000.

Guarnieri, A Boy Named Giotto, illus by Bimba Landmann, transl. by Jonathan Galassi, FS&G, 1999.

Hunter, LaToya, The Diary of LaToya Hunter: My first year in junior high. Vintage, 1993.

Jiang, Ji-Li, Red Scarf Girl, HarperTrophy, 1997.

Krull, Kathleen, and Kathryn Hewitt, illus, Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and what the neighbors thought). Harcourt, 2000.

Lasky, Kathryn, First Painter, illus by Rocco Baviera, DK Inc., 2000.

Lewin, Ted, I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler, Orchard, 1993.

Littlesugar, Amy, Shake Rag: from the Life of Elvis Presley, illus by Floyd Cooper, Philomel Penguin Putnam, 1998.

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs, Snowflake Bentley, illus by Mary Azarian, Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Le Guin, Ursula, The Telling, Harcourt, 2000.

Meltzer, Milton, Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power, Dutton, 1998.

Murphy, Jim, Pick & Shovel Poet: the journeys of Pascal D'Angelo, Clarion, 2000.

Parks, Rosa, Rosa Parks: My Story, with Jim Haskins, Puffin, 1992.

Raschka, Chris, Mysterious Thelonius, Orchard, 1997.

Reich, Susanna, Clara Schuman Piano Virtuoso, Clarion, 1999.

Ryan, Pam Munoz, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, illus by Brian Selznick, Scholastic, 1999.

Rylant, Cynthia, But I'll Be Back Again, Orchard, 1989.

Spinelli, Jerry, Knots in my YoYo String, Knopf, 1998.

Stanley, Diane, Michelangelo, HarperCollins, 2000.

Winter, Jeanette, My Name is Georgia, Silver Whistle/Harcourt, 1998.

Younger, Barbara, Purple Mountain Majesties: Katharine Bates and ?America the Beautiful," illus by Stacey Schuett, Dutton, 1998.