Picture Books in Children’s Culture – HUMA/CCY 3691A, Winter 2025

10-page Analytical Writing Exercise or Creative Options

Weight: (30%)

Length: Option#1: 10 page essay typed, doubled-spaced in MLA format, plus Works Cited list.

Option #2: 20-page picture book AND 5-page essay in proper MLA format, plus Works Cited list.

Option #3: 25-page picture book or comic book summarizing the course, using words and images to explain and exemplify the techniques and central concepts ofthe course.

Due: Tuesday, August 5th on or before 11:59 p.m. Toronto time.

Assignment Instructions for Option #1: Applying important ideas from at least FOUR secondary readings in the course, analyze one of the final four picture books/graphic novels from our class. As before, your paper should spend time on close reading/viewing of the words & images and discuss several techniques that the author(s) & illustrator(s) have used, supported by the secondary authors. Your analysis should use those observations to make an argument related to one or more of the big ideas (or “The Big Questions”) that we’ve discussed over the term.

What To Do:

1.   Choose one of the following primary texts: Adora and the Distance, Rabbit Chase, and I Want My Hat Back.

2.   Your introductory paragraph should identify the book, the author, the illustrators, and

any other relevant contributors to the text. It might also contain a brief description of the types of image in the book, name the secondary writers whose work you will be using and citing to support your analysis, or summarize the plot of the tale in one to two sentences. It MUST contain a thesis statement (that is, the main argument towards which your paragraphs will build.)

3.   For your body paragraphs, choose important and/or representative pages or panels – you won’t likely have room to discuss every page, image, or set of words. Still, your paper should demonstrate a high level of familiarity with the text, describing your chosen sections in clear, careful detail and explaining why they are important (that is, are they part ofa pattern that repeats in this book? Do they suddenly break a pattern that’s been set up previously? Etc.). Include the words in quotation marks when & if you discuss them. Consider capitals, font, and placement of the words.

4.   Your secondary sources should be used to support your discussion of technique AND to support your analysis about the implicit & explicit messages in the primary texts. You may use more than four of these sources, but you must use at least four in the body paragraphs. Please use direct quotes for most of the secondary sources.

5.   Yes: Paragraphs, plural. A standard page in MLA style. has two or two and a half paragraphs on a page, and each paragraph looks at a slightly different aspect of the material.

6.   You may discuss the whole primary text, including any paratextual material, in your paper.

7.   You may include very short excerpts from non-class sources to support your ideas, but think carefully about doing so – is Shmoop’s plot summary really going to be better than your own explanation? Does that anonymous web page say dumb things about young people that we’ve already debunked? (If so, maybe just feel quietly superior to that page, and don’t use it…) You may also make brief connections to other picture books that we’ve covered in class, as well as any other intertextual references (such as books/films/songs/etc.,). In all of these cases, you must cite them correctly and completely in MLA style.

8.   Include a Works Cited list that is complete & correct in MLA format.

9.   Try to keep in mind my feedback from the earlier assignments, if you got feedback, as

well as our class discussions, so that you’re not repeating mistakes. Consider making an appointment with the Writing Centre: it’s free to students, and if you tell them what kind of feedback you’ve received or what you’re struggling with, they can be very helpful.

10. Consider making an appointment for my office hours to have me look over your draft or discuss your ideas. I love helping students express themselves & demonstrate their understanding of a course!

What Not To Do:

1.   Do not make this a 5-paragraph essay. See the note above on paragraphs.

2.   Don’t just say, “she’s angry”. Tell me how you know: close description pays attention to details and doesn’t assume that I can guess what you’re thinking.

3.   Avoid historical claims: “women never had any rights” or “children have always been able to read” are not only inaccurate but also unprovable without waaaay more space and research than you have time for.

4.   Don’t try to “prove” something about “real children” using the books that are aimed at them. Similarly, avoid generalizations about what child readers can or cannot understand, given that the legal definition of a child is any human being from birth to age 18...

5.   Avoid general opinion claims. “Making it relevant”, “to entertain”, and “to keep it

interesting” are weak statements reasons because they’re all opinion – presumably most books intend to entertain and be interesting (and some to teach as well).

6.   Don’t confuse the scholars’ ideas/explanations with their examples.

7.   Don’t overdo the “I” statements: “I think” and “in my opinion” aren’t necessary. You are writing, so it must be your thoughts and opinions – but those opinions should be informed by our course discussions & scholarly readings.

8.   Don’t use so many scholarly quotes that you have no room for your own ideas.

9.   Don’t go above eleven pages. I will stop reading. Try to stick to ten.

10. Don’t send me a draft by email and ask for email feedback – make an appointment to meet me on Zoom, and THEN send the material so that I can look it over & discuss it with you in real time.

Assignment Instructions for Option #2: Applying important ideas from at least FOUR secondary readings in the course, create a picture book or comic book. Then write a short essay explaining which techniques you used & why, the explicit messages, and the implicit ideologies.

What To Do:

1.   Be creative! Write & illustrate a story or a non-fiction work of 20 pages.

2.   Think about your intended audience: are they young children? Pre-teens? Teens? (If they’re quite young, think about that dual audience…)

3.   Think about the point you want to make, or the thing you want your audience to see clearly at the end of your book.

4.   Think about the kinds of assumptions/viewpoints you want to encourage or challenge implicitly (that is, not saying it right out, but still putting the message out there).

5.   Be consistent about the style. – don’t use abstract symbols made by markers on one page & collage on the next and semi-realistic cartoon styles on the next.

6.   Use at least four artistic techniques (colour, line, interplay of words & images, font, size/position, panels, bleeds, etc., etc.,) to create particular effects (drawing the eye in a direction, for example, or indicating motion, or disrupting racial stereotypes…)

7.   Include a cover with a title & paratextual material, including your name as you would want it published. Number your pages.

8.   Write a five-page essay in proper MLA format analysing your own book using the scholarly & secondary readings from the course to discuss both technique & ideology on some of the most important pages. (Yes, that means you need a thesis statement, body paragraphs, etc., just as you have in the other essays this term.) Consider getting help from the Writing Centre or making an appointment with me for office hours.

9.   TELL me what you’ve done, and on what page – don’t ask me to play “find the example” .

10. You must directly quote (and cite) the ideas of at least four secondary writers. Do NOT confuse ideas with examples. You need a Works Cited list.

11. Your paper should also connect your book briefly to at least a couple of primary texts in  this course. This shows your sense of context: where does your work fit into the material created for young people?

12. Save the book and the essay as a PDF and upload it to Turnitin, or submit the essay to Turnitin & submit the book to me as a physical object. (Since I will not be answering my door at 11:59 on Friday night, this option likely means you need to turn the book in on the last Tuesday of class to receive feedback…)

What Not To Do:

1.   Do not make your 5-page paper a 5-paragraph essay. See the note in Option #1 about paragraphs.

2.   In fact, see the whole section in Option #1 about what to do and not to do, and adjust for the required page length. You can use “I” here, but “I chose this style. because” is much  stronger than “In my opinion children are …”

3.   Do not choose this option if you hate trying to make art or are going to excuse a lack of effort by saying “I can’t draw”. Consider the different types of images we looked at: many of them were not highly realistic, but they conveyed lots of information.

4.   Do not create a picture book that encourages hateful or stereotypical viewpoints. (DO feel free to call out and criticize racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, and more!)

5.   Do not claim that your work offers the “first ever” queer fairy tale or indigenous

superhero or Muslim queen or asexual narrator or gender-fluid dragon slayer or neurodivergent love story. You’d be amazed – and maybe kinda happy – at what’s out there, though there’s certainly not enough diversity, and your story can add to that. (You can certainly claim that your book fits into a growing body of work aimed at a diverse audience and encouraging progressive views of the world & of young people. If your work does that, obvs.)

Assignment Instructions for Option #3: Create a picture book or comic book of 25 pages that summarizes the big questions & ideas from our course. Your images & words should work together to explain and demonstrate important concepts from the secondary readings, applying them in examples to the primary readings.

What To Do:

1.   Be creative! Write & illustrate a book of 25 pages. You can make it a work of fiction or  non-fiction, as you choose. Include a cover with a title & paratextual material, including your name as you would want it published. Number your pages.

2.   Think about your intended audience: it’s mostly me, so you need to show that you understand the material we read/viewed this term; however, you might also imagine this book as a set of study notes for someone getting ready for a test, or as an explanation for someone who is thinking of joining the class next term.

3.   Plan to provide an overarching argument or central set of concepts. Think about how you’re going to organize this book.

4.   Use as many different styles and techniques as needed to show that you “get” the course concepts. If you only talk about lines and colour, it will seem like you missed a lot of the readings.

5.   Refer to & cite both primary & secondary sources – please use direct quotes for the secondary sources. You need a Works Cited list at the end of your book.

6.   Feel free to talk about non-class texts briefly (just be sure to cite them), but focus on course material.

7.   Consider making an office hours Zoom appointment with me if you’re nervous about your ideas.

8.   Save the book as a PDF and upload it to Turnitin, or submit the book to me as a physical object. (Since I will not be answering my door at 11:59 on Friday night, this option likely means you need to turn the book in on the last Tuesday of class to receive feedback…)

What Not To Do:

1.   Do not write an essay. Use the words & images together to explain the course concepts.

2.   Don’t overdo the “I” statements: “I think” and “in my opinion” aren’t necessary. (See more pointers in Option #1.)

3.   Do not choose this option if you hate trying to make art or are going to excuse a lack of effort by saying “I can’t draw”. Consider the different types of images we looked at: many of them were not highly realistic, but they conveyed lots of information.

4.   Don’t aim this one AT children: this assignment is thinking about the material we give young people, but it’s not intended for them. Use the vocabulary we’ve built in the class.

5.   Don’t go totally formal and incomprehensible, though: remember that the idea is to

show that you understand the course, so your writing should be really clear to help you get that across.

6.   Don’t forget to have fun!

GRADES:

Grades for the essays are assigned based on the following criteria:

1.   Does the paper fulfill the requirements of the assignment? (Number of pages, MLA format, number of scholars, etc.)

2.   Is there a clear, easy-to-understand thesis statement? Does it answer the question?

3.   Does the paper demonstrate a clear understanding of the story’s plot and messages? Does it contain strong descriptions with relevant details?

4.   Does the paper move beyond that description to offer a logical analysis? Is that analysis supported by the details provided in your description and by the work of the secondary  texts?

5.   Does the analysis incorporate the required scholars accurately and effectively? That is, does it demonstrate a strong grasp of the theoretical material from our course?

6.   Does the analysis reflect the claim made in the thesis statement?

7.   Is the paper using clear vocabulary? (Remember our discussion about synonyms & the dreaded thesaurus function…)

8.   Are paragraphs used properly? Is the paper proofread for spelling, punctuation, and

good grammar? (Does it show evidence that you’ve taken into account my earlier feedback on writing skills?)

9.   Does the Works Cited list contain the book that is being analyzed and all other sources that you used for ideas or help, or about which you wrote in the paper?

Grades for the creative portions are assigned based on the following criteria:

1.   Does the book fulfill the requirements of the assignment? (Number of pages, number of techniques, creative title, etc.)

2.   Is there a clear narrative and/or flow to the book? Does it offer a logical progression?

3.   Does the book clearly have an intended audience? Can I tell that through the images, vocabulary, and subject matter?

4.   Does the book show evidence of artistic effort? (It doesn’t have to be perfect or

beautiful, etc., but it shouldn’t look like a game of Pictionary…) Do the pictures show care in creating the images, choosing the colours, deciding on styles?

5.   Do the words show evidence of proofreading, care in choosing the words, and thought in terms of size, font, colour, and placement?

6.   Do the words and the images work together to convey ideas and information? That is, if

I had only the words, would I be missing ideas or information by not having the pictures?

7.   Does the book demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical material in the way it uses techniques?

Please keep in mind the late policy for this course, but also be aware of the final deadline for the semester. As well, as I’ve said above, be VERY careful to properly cite ALL material which you have used in any way, whether that material is scholarly or not. Academic honesty is a serious matter. Finally, if you want more information on my grading practices, see the Notes of Grading and Evaluation, available through eClass.