A study of the concept of childhood in John Burningham’s works—Taking a part of books works as Examples

• Main Authors: HUNG, TZU-HAN, 洪子涵
• Other Authors: WANG, YU-HUI
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/g4r468

碩士 === 國立臺東大學 === 兒童文學研究所 === 103 === First,the objective of this study researched the concept of childhood from adult, the view was first described by Philippe Arie in his book “L'enfant et la vie familial sous l'Ancien Régime” . In history, the concept of childhood were originated from three aspects：Christianity、thought of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau, making which introduced the assumption of children essence in adults' concept of childhood. As the society evolved, this gradually developed "childhood" and also led to the generation of children's literature. However, this kind of childhood concept is originated from adults. Regarding this, Perry Nodelman, known as the reviewer and creator children's literature, proposed that children's literature may embed "adult colonial children" concept in it from the "ideological" point of view. John Burningham is a famous British picture book author, often referred to as a creator on the same side as children. Based on the concept of childhood, this essay studies and examine some of his work: “Where is Julius?”, “Whadayamean”, “Come Away from the Water, Shirley”, “Time to Get Out of the Bath”, “Mr. Gumpy‘s outing” and “Granpa”. In these works, we found John Burningham used some approaches to avoid the "adult colonial children" from Perry Nodelman, including the inconsistent story line in “Where is Julius?”,“Whadayamean”, and “Mr. Gumpy‘s outing” , different meanings in pictures and words in “Come Away from the Water, Shirley”, “Time to Get Out of the Bath”, and gradually changed pictures in “Granpa”. And maybe we can say, when an adult recognizes a children book because of his/her concept of childhood, his/her concept of childhood will also be strengthened. And only by getting rid of the ideology concept could adults improve the relationship with children.