Connections Across Literature

Female Protagonist

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Dorothy) , Peter Pan (Wendy), The Secret Garden (Mary), The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (Lucy)

Fantastic Protagonist

The Hobbit (Hobbit), The Wind in the Willows (Mr Mole, Mr Toad)

Frequent Adaptation, Revisited Across Time 

(the story remains prevalent to all generations)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hobbit

Detailed and Frequent Illustrations

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows

Travel Narrative

All novels analyzed

Themes of Growing up/ Loss of Innocence

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter Pan 

Theme of "Change for the Better"

The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows

Theme of the divide between Fantasy and Reality

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Poetry and Song 

All novels analyzed

Overall Ratings by Category

In my "Methods" post I explicated that I would be considering four criteria when reading and the examining the novel. I chose to summarize and analyzed the overall plot, consider the Timelessness, examine the text features, and research adaptations.

Here is an overview:

Numbers have been procured based on inquiry posts. See individual posts for clarity.

Scales:
Overall Plot/ Summary: 1- Disjointed, boring, not engaging, 5- Strong writing, clear focus, engaging
Timelessness: 1- Book is dated, many references of the past, 5- Extends across time
Text Features: 1-Limited or negative features, 5- Many and positive cognitive text features
Adaptation: 1-Limited Adaptation, popular culture understanding, 5- very prevalent

Example: Title: Overall Plot, Timelessness, Text Features, Adaptation

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: 3, 3, 5, 5
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 3, 5, 5, 5
Peter Pan: 3, 4,4, 5
The Hobbit: 4, 5, 3, 5
The Secret Garden: 2, 3, 2, 3
The Wind in the Willows: 4, 5, 5, 3
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: 5, 4, 3, 4

Books Eliminated from Inquiry

In my original rational for inquiry I found 10 Children's Classics that I found worthy of revisiting. I obtained copies of all of the pieces of literature and informally evaluated them before reading.

The novels collected for this inquiry

At first I wanted to eliminate The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In all the other texts, the protagonist was either a young girl or a fantasy creature (Hobbits/ Middle Earth dwellers and talking animals). Although I support a range of protagonists to be evaluated in the classroom, I wanted to make comparisons across similar texts, I felt that all texts except Sherlock Homes and Tom Sawyer, would be well compared against one another. 

Next, using Scholastic.com I evaluated the Lexile, suggesting reading level, and suggested interest level for all 10 of the novels.

ex. Title: Lexile (L), Reading Level (RL) by grade, Interest Level by grade

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: L560, RL 5.9, Interest: 3-5
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: L1000, RL 6.9, Interest: 6-8
• Peter Pan: L920, RL 6.1, Interest 4-7
• The Hobbit: L1000, RL 6, Interest 6-12
• The Secret Garden: L350, RL 2.8, Interest 3-5
• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: L940, RL 6.1, Interest 3-5
• The Wind in the Willows: L1140, RL 8.3, Interest 3-5
• Little Women: L1300, Rl 7.9, Interest 9-12
• Sherlock Holmes: L1090, RL 6.9, Interest 9-12
• Tom Sawyer: L950, RL 5.9, Interest 6-8

Comparing these numbers I initially recognized that The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Little Women had an interest level at 9-12, which is at least 3 years above the target audience for which I was analyzing the books for.

Next I saw that the highest Lexiles were Little Women and The Wind in the Willows. With two ratings above the range I was considering, I decided that Little Women was not the right choice for this inquiry although it is a worthy novel to be examined in other contexts. Although The Wind in the Willows has a higher Lexile that I would have preferred, the copious amount of illustrations are strong aids to the text making it more accessible to its suggested audience, grades 3-5.

I recognize that illustration, even if minimal, in children's literature is essential for its audience. In the copies of Sherlock Holmes and Tom Sawyer that I had obtained, there were no illustrations. In The Secret Garden there were also no illustration, but this novel was one in which had the lowest Lexile and reading levels. I considered The Secret Garden important to keep as it would be a good novel to begin an introduction of classics with a younger target child.

In conclusion, I deiced to eliminate  Little Women, The Adventures of Tom Sayer, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from the inquiry.

Personal Awards for Classics

After reading all of the inquiry books for this project, I have decided my own personal ranking of the books. (In order from most favorite to least favorite)

1. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

2. K. Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

3. L.F. Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

4. J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

5. L. Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

6. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

7. F. H. Burnett, The Secret Garden

Best Illustrations:

The Wind in the Willows (Illustrated Edition)

runner up: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Best Plot/Storyline:

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Most complex (storyline, text features, vocabulary):

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

C.S. Lewis

Book 2 of 6 Narnia Chronicles

Summary:

Four siblings are sent to live with an old professor in the British countryside during World War II. While there, the children must occupy their time playing and exploring around the house. One day the youngest, Lucy, goes to explore an old wardrobe filled with old coats, and she stumbles into another world. It is a fantasy world set in winter, called Narnia. When she returns, hours later, it is as if no time had passed. Her siblings do not believe her for until one day, when they are hiding from the house mistress, and find themselves back in the wardrobe, and back in Narnia. There, they are discovered to be the "Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve" thought to fulfill a prophecy. The White Witch wants to have them dead, but the plot thickens which Aslan, the Lion, returns to Narnia. Aslan sacrifices himself for the safety of the children, but just as the reader thinks that all hope is lost, the Lion is resurrected and goes on to save the victims of the White Witch and end her reign forever. Afterwards, the four siblings are crowned kings and queens of Narnia. They spend many years there are eventually forget they had ever been anywhere else at all. One day, as the siblings are riding horses through the woods they discover the old lamppost near the entrance of the wardrobe. Lucy vaguely remembers their past life and the child reenter through the coats, out of the wardrobe, and back into the house of the professor, only to find that real-world time had never changed at all.

The series need not be started with book one, but book two will invite a reader to pick up the other books.

Timelessness:

Above all books encountered for this inquiry project, I would rank this book as the best option to bring to a young reader. I absolutely loved this book, and read it cover to cover in only a couple hours. C.S. Lewis' writing style conveys humor, emotion, and vivid characterizations and setting. Theme and allegory are carefully woven from preexisting stories, making the novel surprising yet acceptable. The novel is easy enough that it shouldn't require too many supports for any late elementary or middle school reader. Teacher support might be useful in helping students draw conclusions and hypothesis from the open ending of the novel. Although set in the past, the entire setting of a fantasy world keeps the novel from becoming outdated. Language use is fair and the only time that language use is too formal is when the children are revisited as kings and queens. In this setting the children speak in a fancy way, but this is done merely to show that they have fit into the roles of royal leaders.

My Copy

Text Features:

The edition I read from was a small old paper book I found in a used bookstore. Its dimensions were only about 4 inches across and 8 long. There were 186 pages, and 17 chapters. The text was small, but 1.5 spaced. At the start of each chapter was a chapter heading illustration depicting the most important scene of the chapter. Language use was fair, detail was useful to the reader but not over flourished. There were a couple instances of song and poetry found in the novel, as in other children's classics of its time. 

C.S. Lewis' note to Lucy, his Goddaughter, of whom the main character is named after

Example of chapter header illustrations

Adaptation:

What is beyond the door of the wardrobe?

2005 film adaptation

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Summary: 
Mary Lennox, is a young girl of a wealthy white family living in India. Her family is a bit unorthodox as she is rarely cared for by her parents. She is followed around and waited on hand and foot by Indian native servants. The entire household, including her parents as well as the staff fall sick with Cholera, and pass away. Mary remains forgotten, until she is at last found alone on the grounds of the home. She is sent to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven, outside of London. At her arrival she is warned to stick to the outdoors and her room. Although the estate is large with "a hundred rooms" she is not to explore or attempt to go to them. She creates a disposition for Mr. Craven (who she meets for the first time half way through the novel) of being ill, mean, and mysterious. Thus her arrival and start of her stay at the estate leaves her in a sour mood. Soon things begin to change. She hears of a secret garden that has not been entered for years. Apparently it was locked 10 years ago when Mr. Craven's wife died, and the key was buried. Mary becomes intrigued by the mysterious garden and goes to investigate. She kinds the key and makes several friends along the way. More important than the garden are the other secrets she uncovers along her journey. Her experiences change her from the self-centered, sickly, child she one was to becoming a cheerful, helpful, and caring young lady.

Text Features:
The Secret Garden is 278 pages and 27 chapters long. Although the grade level equivalent (6.8) is similar to several of the other books examined for this study, it is a bit more difficult to get through. This copy of The Secret garden had no illustrations, big or small. Text was only single spaced, and dialogue was less frequent than in other novel examined, but the margins were fairly big.

Timelessness:
An immediate feature that dates this book is the representation of life in India (the natives, slang for natives, and other references to the culture). For example she calls her Indian servant Pigs, showing a divide of race and socioeconomic class. Finally the reference to Cholera, an uncommon disease in the present day society, is mentioned without much description of what the disease is. A young reader would most likely have limited background knowledge of this disease.  Otherwise, the novel is simple enough to still be relevant today. Most of the setting of the novel take place outside in the gardens, a timeless setting. More so, these setting could be problematic. Teacher supports for understand this novel might have to include an understanding of flower types. What do these flowers look like? How big are they? What climate supports them? What is the growing season? Some of these details of the novel are overlooked. It was surprising to me as a reader that Mary suddenly understood the names of the flowers and how to take care of them despite having no previous experience with gardens or taking care of anything (including herself).

This book is a worthwhile addition to a childhood classics collection today, but I would consider it to be not as strong as the other texts I have looked at in this study.

Adaptation of Secret Garden

The Secret Garden: Frances Hodgson Burnett

 Most popular adaptations of The Secret Garden include play and film adaptations.

Film Adaptations

Film Adaptation

Statue representation of Mary Lennox in Central Park

Recreations of The Secret Garden in garden plants and structures in real-life gardens.