Department of English

The first books children read give them precious gifts: meaning, voice, language, and treasured on-ramps into ancient wisdom and new worlds. It's what Teddy Roosevelt, Maurice Sendak, and Frederick Douglass have in common: reading, they say, saved their lives! Your own childhood books comprise our reading list. We will share, read, and analyze the stories that formed you as readers. Then you will write four engaging stories for young readers at kindergarten, elementary, middle-school, and YA levels. Enchantment, demons, young world-changers, yaaaaas! Also the realest real people you know or research or make up. Authentic (and deep emotional) Intelligence in characters, narration, and structure touching a reader's imagination: that's the real magic. You will play with building blocks of genres for children, including picture books, graphic novels, stories in verse, nonsense, and suspense. Then, we will take those stories out to schools in West Philadelphia to workshop, stretch, and refine with young readers. The stories will charm and challenge; readers will return the favor. It's a revision process that makes stories wonderfully fun to read. We create community—and even stealth culture change. Student writers come into class wondering whether they’re good enough. Of course you are. The real question is: Are you hungry? This class is cross-listed with Africana Studies and is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course.