[01:05.72]STEPHANIE:Hello, Trevor.
[01:07.36]TREVOR:Hello, Stephanie. You said you wanted to talk about the course I'm taking on literature for children.
[01:12.96]STEPHANIE:That's right. I'm thinking of doing it next year, but I'd like to find out more about it first.
[01:19.04]TREVOR:OK, well, as you probably know, it's a one-year course.
[01:22.78]It's divided into six modules, and you have to take all of them.
[01:27.13]One of the most interesting ones, for me, at least, was about the purpose of children's literature.
[01:32.82]STEPHANIE:You mean, whether it should just entertain children or should be educational, as well.
[01:38.80]TREVOR:Right, and whether the teaching should be factual - giving them information about the world 一 or ethical, teaching them values.
[01:46.78]What's fascinating is that the writer isn't necessarily conscious of the message they're conveying.
[01:53.02]For instance, a story might show a child who has a problem as a result of not doing what an adult has told them to do, implying that children should always obey adults.
[02:03.53]STEPHANIE:I see what you mean.
[02:05.55]TREVOR:That module made me realise how important stories are 一 they can have a significant effect on children as they grow up.
[02:13.55]Actually, it inspired me to have a go at it myself, just for my own interest.
[02:18.77]I know I can't compete with the really popular stories, like the Harry Potter books -they're very good, and even young kids like my seven-year-old niece love reading them.
[02:28.93]STEPHANIE:Mm. I'm very interested in illustrations in stories. Is that covered in the course?
[02:35.97]TREVOR:Yes, there's a module on pictures, and how they're sometimes central to the story.
[02:41.85]STEPHANIE:That's good. I remember some frightening ones I saw as a child and I can still see them vividly in my mind, years later!
[02:51.08]Pictures can be so powerful, just as powerful as words.
[02:56.02]I've always enjoyed drawing, so that's the field I want to go into when I finish the course.
[03:02.39]I bet that module will be really helpful.
[03:04.98]TREVOR:I'm sure it will. We also studied comics in that module, but I'm not convinced of their value, not compared with books.
[03:13.37]One of the great things about words is that you use your imagination, but with a comic you don't have to.
[03:20.52]STEPHANIE:But children are so used to visual input 一 on TV, video games, and so on.
[03:27.15]There are plenty of kids who wouldn't even try to read a book, so I think comics can serve a really useful purpose.
[03:35.11]TREVOR:You mean, it's better to read a comic than not to read at all?
[03:39.84]Yes, I suppose you're right. I just think it's sad when children don't read books.
[03:45.07]STEPHANIE:What about books for girls and books for boys? Does the course go into that?
[03:51.20]TREVOR:Yes, there's a module on it.
[03:53.15]For years, lots of stories, in English, at least, assumed that boys went out and did adventurous things and girls stayed at home and played with dolls.
[04:03.64]I was amazed how many books were targeted at just one sex or the other.
[04:08.94]Of course this reflects society as it is when the books are written.
[04:13.43]STEPHANIE:That's true. So it sounds as though you think it's a good course.
[04:17.99]TREVOR:Definitely.
[05:01.49]TREVOR:Have you been reading lots of children's stories, to help you decide whether to take the course?
[05:06.37]STEPHANIE:Yeah. I've gone as far back as the late seventeenth century, though I know there were earlier children's stories.
[05:14.29]TREVOR:So does that mean you've read Perrault's fairy tales?
[05:17.11]Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and so on.
[05:19.55]STEPHANIE:Yes. They must be important, because no stories of that type had been written before, these were the first.
[05:27.33]Then there's The Swiss Family Robinson.
[05:29.96]TREVOR:I haven't read that.
[05:31.24]STEPHANIE:The English name makes it sound as though Robinson is the family's surname, but a more accurate translation would be The Swiss Robinsons, because it's about a Swiss family who are shipwrecked, like Robinson Crusoe in the novel of a century earlier.
[05:48.55]TREVOR:Well I never knew that!
[05:50.10]STEPHANIE:Have you read Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King?
[05:53.66]TREVOR:Wasn't that the basis for Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker?
[05:57.24]STEPHANIE:That's right. It has some quite bizarre elements.
[06:02.23]TREVOR:I hope you've read Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince.
[06:05.35]It's probably my favourite children's story of all time.
[06:08.77]STEPHANIE:Mine too! And it's so surprising, because Wilde is best known for his plays, and most of them are very witty, but The Happy Prince is really moving.
[06:21.17]I struggled with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings 一 three long books, and I gave up after one.
[06:29.34]TREVOR:It's extremely popular, though.
[06:31.17]STEPHANIE:Yeah, but whereas something like The Happy Prince just carried me along with it, The Lord of the Rings took more effort than was I prepared to give it.
[06:40.20]TREVOR:I didn't find that - I love it.
[06:42.57]STEPHANIE:Another one I've read is War Horse.
[06:46.09]TREVOR:Oh yes. It's about the First World War, isn't it?
[06:49.61]Hardly what you'd expect for a children's story.
[06:52.61]STEPHANIE:Exactly, but it's been very successful. Have you read any...
