Sea Sources. Bibliographic and Resource Material of Children's Literature of the Sea
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 220 268 SE 038 742 AUTHOR Bagnall, Norma TITLE Sea Sources. Bibliographic and Resource Material of Children's Literature of the Sea. INSTITUTION Texas A and M Univ., College Station. Sea Grant Coll. Program. SPONS AGENCY National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Rockville, Md. National Sea Grant Program. PUB DATE Feb 81 GRANT NA79AA-D-00127 NOTE 187p. AVAILABLE FROMSea Grant College Program, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843 ($4.00). EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Animals; *Childrens Literature; Elementary Education; *Elementary School Science; Environmenial Education; *Marine Biology; *Oceanography; Poetry; *Reading Materials; Resource Materials; Science Activities; Science Education; Seafarers; Short Stories IDENTIFIERS *Marine Education ABSTRACT Writers have often used the sea as background or as a theme in writing for children since it is a natural setting for adventure or exploration and has an attractiveness for all of us. Included in this bibliography is a representative listing of books related to the seas and inland waters, individual stories and poems which have a bearing on sea literature, and selected chapters from books which are not marine literature. Each entry includes title, author(s), publisher, number of pages, grade level, and a brief annotation. Some books with relatively little merit have been included (with appropriate notations) so teachers might examine them and discourage their use in the classroom. Entries are listed, alphabetically by title, under the following categories: (1) Information Books; (2) Biographies/Explorers; (3) Fiction/Adventure; (4) Picture Books; (5) Whales and Sea Mammals; (6) Folk/Fairy Tales; (7) Poetry and Song; (8) Activity/Experiments; and (9) Short Stories/Read-aloud Chapters. An author index is provided. (Author/JN) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** - t( Soa Sources by Norma Bagnall I, I rfib_ 41s60 44.-OPTHE if sea rta .yr- .( . b. s % U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION FOLicA TiuNAL REsOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERIC I krt. en? ropforlw ed as frorrho pOr 'On f 019 rozat,on '4 pr, rnlr,orrr t,ecf, made to rildrlow ropnpluc P') fT W lb, 40, ;Jr Merl do rm, nor or,,IrlIv ovosent offiraiNIE 000 or. or 001 -y "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL INMICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) " Bibliographic and Resource Material of Children's Literature of the Sea (". Additional copies may be ordered from: Matine Information Service Sea Grant College Program Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 3 $4.00 Sea Sources Bibliographic and Resource Material of Children's Literature of the Sea by Norma Bagnall Texas A&M University Sea Grant College Program Revised February 1981 Publication of this book was partially supported through Institutional Grant NA79AA-D-00127 to Texas A&M University by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Sea Grant, U.S. Department of Com- merce. Copyright 1981, Texas A&M University Sea Grant College Program. 4 Table of Contents Introduction 1 Information Books 5 Biographies/Explorers 47 Fiction/Adventure 57 Picture Books 127 Whales and Sea Mammals 147 Folk/Fairy Tales 153 Poetry and Song 157 Activity/Experiments 161 Short Stories/Read-aloud Chapters 163 Bibliography 167 Author Index 169 grstS Ilk 00 THE4% g SEA A 't Introduction lit, WhenEdward Lear wrotehis Book of Nonsense (1846), he talked about the Jumblies who "went to sea in a sieve," and about the owl and the pussy cat who "went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat." The Pelican Chorus, in that same book, is a lengthy poem about coastal birds, and the Pobble Who Has No Toes lost them when swimming the Bristol Channel. The English talk about the sea more naturally than Texans speak of oil wells or cattle, so it is not surprising that euen in an early British children's book of nonsense there would be repeated references to the sea. Far more surprising is that children would have a book of nonsense, for until that time children's books were produced for instructional purposes, not for amusement. Many gaue terrifying examples of what happened to young children who misbehaved, others gaue testimony of children who led exemplary liues and died you1.g. Since children's books were overwhelmingly moralistic until late in the 19th Century (and euen into the 20th), it is not surprising that children took ouer adult aduenture stones, stories not intended for children at all. Robinson Crusoe (1719), for example, was written for adults, the story was taken from an actual euent of a sailor marooned for ouer four years. In its original forrn, it included moral ruminations (even adults were subjected to preaching) which children skipped ouer in their reading to get to the aduenture. The editions we haue now are published for children, and the moralizing has been omitted. Robinson Crusoe serued as the model for later shipwreck stories, there were so many of them that they were giuen the generic name Robinsonades, most of them were heauily moralistic. Mercifully, most of them haue been lost or forgotten, but some of the best, like Swiss Family Robinson and Treasure Island, continue, like Robinson Crusoe, to be read by children. Through the succeeding years writers haue often taken the sea as back- ground or theme in writing for children. It is a natural setting for aduenture or exploration, and it has an attractiueness for all of us for seueral reasons. It contains the intrigue of mystery, hints of the unknown and the lure of uisiting distant places. In our own time we haue become aware that the waters of the world are in hmited supply and that much of our technology has been working against keeping that precious resource clean, pure and auailable for future generations. 6 2 One of the pnmary reasons for creating the national SeaGrant Program was to educate people about the importance of the marine environment,both for their survival and for the future. The Texas A&M Unwersity Sea Grant College Program becameinvolved in educciang young children to marine awareness several years agoSince we are inland, Texas A&M seemed to be an obvious place to try toeducate through means other than actually experiencingthe beaches or water An ideal way to educate through vicarious means is through literature, that is, tofind and read to children the best stories of the sea. In this way, even inland children canbecome acquainted with the mysteries and splendor of the world's waters. Part of the original study considered whether there were enough stories about the sea being written jor children to coristitute a genuine sourceof information. The first edition ofSea Sources(1979) cataloged over 300 juvenile books of the sea, far more than we had supposedexisted when we began the study. This revision annotates as well as catalogsthe entries, and broadens the scope to include literature about inland waters as well asthe sea or beaches. Both Sea Grant and marine education also include ourinland water- ways. In the beginning it seemed feasible to catalog all available children's literature of the sea, we did not reckon on the power of the sea and the hold it has had on our writers through the ages. This bibliography of storiesand information books numbers over 700 volumes and it is not complete Even as we wnte this, publishers are producing morebooks for children which include the seas in the telling, books which are worthy of inclusion. W hut is included in the bibliography is a representative listing of booksof the seas and inland waters. If teachers have no other listing than this one,they will be able to entice children into reading more literature of the seathan they had ever considered possible. It is hoped that this material also will lureteachers and children into their own libraries where they may findadditional volumes to investigate. The books are sub-divided into picture books, information books,folk tales, etc., in an attempt to make this bibliographyhelpful to teachers and librarians who are working with particular interests or specific groupsof children In addition to the books of the sea, there is a sampling of individual storiesand poems which have a bearing on sealiterature. This is intended to be only a sample, it is hoped that it will point teachers in a direction for more stories For example, several folktales of the sea are listed in the bibliographieswhich are taken from collections of general folktules. Teachers will find that in anyculture that is closely associated with the seas there will be tales of the sea inthat folk literature. Also included are selected chapters from some very good bookswhich are not marine literature. The harrowingadventures of Stuart Little (E B White, Stuart Little)as he sails a perilous sea in CentralPark, avoiding shipwreck and facing up to dastardly foes, and the exciting experience of Hitty(Rachel Field, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years)when she undergoes a fire at sea and a subsequent shipwreck, make exciting read-aloud stories in the classroom,and they are worthy of inclusion with tales of the sea. 7 3 Poetry has recewed relatively little attention in this volume, primarily because it is widely scattered and generally available. A number of excellent poetry anthologies for children are available, and virtually every one of these has fine poems of the sea. Teachers might want to begin by considering "I Saw A Ship A-Sailing" which is included in several Mother Goose collections. After that they might consider looking at some of the work of Walter de la Mare, Robert Louis Stevenson and David McCord to get an idea of the range and depth of the poetry available.