93575 - Workshop on Children Literature (G.D)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop, the student: - knows how to apply what was covered in the integrated course within a simulated learning environment; - knows how to reflect critically in a group on the proposed topics.

Course contents

The workshop explores the "Fabulous Wardrobe" of children's literature.

It invites participants to reflect on how fashion, costume, and clothing are represented, narrated, and experienced in childhood through an international collection of picturebooks.

Combining theoretical perspectives with practical activities, the workshop encourages reflection on how the material dimension of childhood encompasses forms, figures, and narratives that take shape in books and garments, in memories and fabrics, in relationships and threads, and in the interplay between words and images.

The workshop includes group activities, autobiographical writing exercises, discussions, and shared readings drawn from a wide international repertoire of picturebooks.

Readings/Bibliography

The main text is:

Marcella Terrusi, Il guardaroba favoloso. Moda e costume nella letteratura per l'infanzia. Carocci, 2025

Basic Bibliography:

The student will refer to one of the chapters of the book (from 2° on)

Suggested:

the reading of the complete book. 

For more: 

Rivista Zonemoda Journal Focus Moda e Infanzia a cura di Roberto Farné e Marcella Terrusi consultabile qui: https://zmj.unibo.it/issue/view/739

Marcella Terrusi, Rivista Infanzia n. 1/2024 Il filo del racconto, le trame, le narrazioni in educazione. Un laboratorio ispirato alla musa Clio.

Teaching methods

The workshop-type lesson incorporates theoretical and empirical aspects, stimulates discussion and comparison, and invites participation in group work with the shared readings of picture books.

Assessment methods

An original written essay, comprising a minimum of 5,000 characters, is required, focusing on the student’s personal engagement with the laboratory experience. The essay should articulate a critical and reflective pathway through a selection of three to five picture books, offering a poetic-pedagogical analysis informed by the theoretical framework presented in at least one chapter of the core reference text listed in the required bibliography. The essay may also begin with, or be structured around, a childhood memory—whether autobiographical or fictional—that serves as a narrative or thematic anchor. It is possible - and suggested - to include pictures - or antological extracts - in it.

The assessment of the workshop, the methods of which will be explained during the first session, will result in either “fail” (in which case the workshop must be taken again the following year) or “pass” with a score of -1/0/+1. This score will be added to or subtracted from the final grade (in thirtieths) obtained in the oral exam.

The workshop is not graded in thirtieths, except for those students coming from other degree programs who have already been awarded the 8 CFU for the Children’s Literature exam and only need to make up 1 CFU from the workshop: for them, the grade will be in thirtieths and will correspond to the grade of the entire exam.

THE USE OF AI for writing the assessment is not permitted.

Teaching tools

Video projection of books.
Picture books in the classroom

Office hours

See the website of Marcella Terrusi