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Simmons College Summer Courses at the Eric Carle Museum

Simmons College and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art have announced their 2015 summer course offerings. Courses may be counted towards the Children’s Literature MA at Simmons College and are open to matriculated as well as non-degree students. Classes are held at the Eric Carle Picture Book Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Special Topics: Folk & Fairy Tales
Mondays, 3:30 – 7:30 pm, June 1-22, 2015

Instructor: Lauren Elizabeth Rizzuto

This course acts as an entry point to one of the most fevered debates of children’s literature: are fairy tales for children? To move toward an answer, students will examine the complicated and evolving histories of both collected and individual stories, in both traditional art forms (e.g., fiction, poetry, picturebooks, film, music) and material culture (Halloween costumes, theme parks, and even cocktails). Which stories do we remember, and why? How do we make meaning of their earlier forms, as well as their contemporary re-visionings? And, finally, how do we define the relationship between “folk” and “fairy,” literature and the child?

Creators & Aesthetics: Eric Carle – NEW!
Saturdays, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm, June 6-27, 2015

Instructor: H. Nichols B. Clark, Curator Emeritus, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

This course provides a rare opportunity to examine the entire body of Eric Carle’s work as a fine artist, with particular emphasis on his ground-breaking work as a picturebook artist. The course will develop critical writing about picturebooks through a contextualized study of Eric Carle’s work as well as corollary readings of literary art and historical materials. The course will explore the artist’s evolution, style, influences, achievement, medium, and aesthetics. Students will complete studio work and final projects grounded in their professional interests. In addition, the course will seek to understand Carle’s legacy as the founder of the first museum devoted to picturebook art.

To learn more about these programs, visit the Simmons website, email gsa@simmons.edu, or register for an Information Session. The next information session will be held at The Carle on Saturday, April 25, 10:00 – 11:30 am .

For registration information, please contact cathryn.mercier@simmons.edu.


About the Simmons Graduate Programs in Children’s Literature

The satellite program, begun in the fall of 2008, includes four different tracks for students: an M.F.A. in Children’s Writing, an M.A. in Children’s Literature, a dual M.F.A. in Writing for Children/M.A. in Children’s Literature degree, and a dual M.A. in Children’s Literature/M.S. in Library Science in collaboration with the Library Science program at Mount Holyoke in South Hadley. This partnership builds upon The Center for the Study of Children’s Literature (CSCL) at Simmons College, which opened in 1977 with funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Simmons College administers the nation’s first Master of Arts in Children’s Literature as well as a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Writing for Children. The programs provide a rigorous, disciplined study of children’s books for those who are — or who intend to be — involved in teaching, library services, publishing, writing, or related fields. To develop a critical vocabulary essential for appraising text and illustration, students apply a high level of scholarly analysis to children’s literature ranging from folklore and mythology to contemporary realistic fiction and nonfiction. With an emphasis on historical and critical analysis—including feminist, ideological, and multicultural perspectives—the interdisciplinary curriculum draws upon art, history, education, sociology, psychology and media studies.

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