Why is 'Children's Literature' a separate class?

[MamaBearTeacher]

Many colleges/universities have a Children's lit class in their English departments. Why are good children's books always put all together in one class? Why are they not put in with other courses ie. 18th Century Literature (if they happen to be from the 18th century)?

 

Just a thought I had today.

[Dmmetler]

Because it's generally a class on selecting literature that is appropriate for various ages/stages of children, designed for teachers, librarians, and would-be children's authors. I loved the class in grad school, but it was easily the toughest lit class I'd ever taken because of the sheet amount of reading and analysis (admittedly, I did it in a summer session, so having 10 books to read and do a written analysis on overnight wasn't that uncommon).

[clemota]

:iagree:   I took it as an undergrad.  There was more reading and lit analysis in that class than in any of my other literature classes.  The discussions weren't limited to general lit analysis - it also included the history of children's lit (progressing from morality tales to the modern fiction we have today) as well as some general child psychology (i.e."What makes Winnie the Pooh so appealing to children?")

 

Easily one of the best classes I had.

 

ETA: It was taught by the head librarian from the campus library.  It was listed as an English department class, but perhaps the background of the teacher was what made the class so different.

[regentrude]

Why are good children's books always put all together in one class? Why are they not put in with other courses ie. 18th Century Literature (if they happen to be from the 18th century)?

 

There are many classes that group good books not according to time period, but according to genre or theme or some other overarching commonality: fantasy literature, science fiction, crime and detective fiction - or children's literature.

I don't know that "always" is true either, as I have seen children's literature covered in other courses as well (DD's fantasy lit class covered Narnia and Wizard of Oz, among many other selections)