Sei's Reflection on Mem Fox (Ch. 4)
Radical Reflections
Reflection Chapter 4: A Fox in Possum’s Clothing
In chapter 4, Mem Fox writes about how her knowledge of the process of reading and some other experiences affect the way she writes for children. She goes on to explain with specific examples and excerpts from some of her children’s books about her techniques of how to teach a child to read-intentionally or unintentionally.
Fox begins with a brief explanation of the three cueing systems: Knowledge of the world (semantic); Knowledge of language (syntactic); and Knowledge of print (graphophonic). She then goes on to give examples of how she’s used these aspects in some of her past writing for children.
What interested me more than Mem Fox’s explanation of the 3 cueing systems and the other commonly known facts about the reading process (prior knowledge, rhythm and repetition, reading in chunks, etc), were the other things that she considered critical to the love of reading-loving relationships; fine writing; and stunning illustrations.
According to Fox, “the love of reading is closely connected to the love of a feeling of being read to by someone you love”. She goes on to explain that her books often target adults along with the children because her reading audience is often too young to read the books for themselves. This is to say that she’d like the parents who are reading these books to their children to remember bits and pieces of their own childhoods.
Although it is the emotional content that initially interests the reader, Fox states that heartache, joy, fear, humor, etc alone cannot keep the reader hooked. It is the fine writing that works hand-in-hand with the emotional aspect that creates a beautiful piece of literature. “It’s exquisitely constructed sentences; it’s carefully honed cadences; it’s the marvelous satisfaction of the sensual rhythm of perfect prose.”
It is the stunning illustrations of children’s books that lure the child into actually reading the book. No matter how beautiful the words and the sentiment, let’s face it, children would easily get bored without colorful and bright pictures that make the story come alive.
Reading this chapter really inspired me as both a reader and a writer. The ideal situation would be to master both crafts. Because they work hand-in-hand, I’d have to practice both to master the crafts. The motivation for this is so that I’d be a great teacher in the future. I’d want to be able to inspire my students to become avid readers and writers.
Reflection Chapter 4: A Fox in Possum’s Clothing
In chapter 4, Mem Fox writes about how her knowledge of the process of reading and some other experiences affect the way she writes for children. She goes on to explain with specific examples and excerpts from some of her children’s books about her techniques of how to teach a child to read-intentionally or unintentionally.
Fox begins with a brief explanation of the three cueing systems: Knowledge of the world (semantic); Knowledge of language (syntactic); and Knowledge of print (graphophonic). She then goes on to give examples of how she’s used these aspects in some of her past writing for children.
What interested me more than Mem Fox’s explanation of the 3 cueing systems and the other commonly known facts about the reading process (prior knowledge, rhythm and repetition, reading in chunks, etc), were the other things that she considered critical to the love of reading-loving relationships; fine writing; and stunning illustrations.
According to Fox, “the love of reading is closely connected to the love of a feeling of being read to by someone you love”. She goes on to explain that her books often target adults along with the children because her reading audience is often too young to read the books for themselves. This is to say that she’d like the parents who are reading these books to their children to remember bits and pieces of their own childhoods.
Although it is the emotional content that initially interests the reader, Fox states that heartache, joy, fear, humor, etc alone cannot keep the reader hooked. It is the fine writing that works hand-in-hand with the emotional aspect that creates a beautiful piece of literature. “It’s exquisitely constructed sentences; it’s carefully honed cadences; it’s the marvelous satisfaction of the sensual rhythm of perfect prose.”
It is the stunning illustrations of children’s books that lure the child into actually reading the book. No matter how beautiful the words and the sentiment, let’s face it, children would easily get bored without colorful and bright pictures that make the story come alive.
Reading this chapter really inspired me as both a reader and a writer. The ideal situation would be to master both crafts. Because they work hand-in-hand, I’d have to practice both to master the crafts. The motivation for this is so that I’d be a great teacher in the future. I’d want to be able to inspire my students to become avid readers and writers.
posted by Sei | 2:44 AM
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