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Owner: Cara Elizabeth Furman
Owner Email: cara.furman@hunter.cuny.edu
Paper Title: Facing Medusa: Approaches to Trauma in Children's Literature
Session Title: Care, Trauma, and Philosophy in Teaching and Teacher Education
Paper Type: Roundtable Presentation
Presentation Date: 4/17/2020
Presentation Location: Online
Descriptors: Children's Literature/Media, Narrative, Social and Emotional Learning
Methodology: Conceptual/Theoretical
Author(s): Cara Elizabeth Furman, University of Maine at Farmington
Unit: SIG-Philosophical Studies in Education
Abstract: Children must be sensitive to the traumas of others and be able to process traumas they experience and hear about. Children’s literature provides narratives for learning about and making sense of trauma and serve as a popular resource among early childhood educators. In this paper, I refer to a number of well-regarded recently published children’s books and argue they are a limited resource when drawn on exclusively. Drawing on narrative theory, I argue that these texts require additional adult processing support or the use of alternative texts. In making this argument, I couple a close reading of the texts with narrative theory as well as writings on the pedagogical value of narrative from psychology and teacher-research.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/1581302