What do school stories teach us? In this course, we will analyze a wide range of youth literature set in and around schools, from amusingly fanciful picture books to powerfully moving young adult novels. In the process, we will consider questions such as: What techniques do children’s authors and artists use to engage the attention of readers? Do they represent the process of schooling as disciplinary, liberating, or something in between? And how does the representation of schooling change over time, as more stories are written by and about members of historically oppressed groups—stories in which characters navigate their way through, around, or away from educational systems and spaces not originally built for them? Texts we will read in this course include Sarah Fielding’s The Governess (1749), June Jordan’s His Own Where (1971), Ruby Bridges’ Through My Eyes (1999), Meg Medina’s Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (2013), and—welcome to Boston!—Sam Graham-Felsen’s Green (2018).
