Children’s Literature (MA) / Writing for Children (MFA)
Faculty
Susan Bloom, Professor Emerita
Megan Lambert, Senior Lecturer
Cathryn Mercier, Professor, Children's Literature
Description
Cultivate a unique place in the landscape of children’s and young adult literature. Synthesize contemporary literary theory and your creative practice.
Highlight critical analysis – including gender studies, ideology, narrative theory – to position your own voice as a writer for today’s young readers. Draw on an interdisciplinary curriculum that integrates art, history, education, sociology, psychology and media studies as illuminating perspectives. Test your creative mettle across genre – from picturebooks and beginning readers for the youngest audience to contemporary realistic fiction and fantasy for young adults.
Immerse yourself in The Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons to discuss craft and criticism with critics, editors, authors, and illustrators at the summer institute. Attend events with The Horn Book and Children’s Books Boston. Indulge in the Boston Book Festival, PEN-New England, Grub Street, and the active writing community of Boston.
Learning Outcomes
Students leave Master of Arts (MA) in Children’s Literature with an extensive theoretical context and a broad knowledge of contemporary literature for children and young adults. In graduating, they have:
- Developed a critical voice and demonstrated the capacity for original argument;
- Analyzed literature for children and young adults;
- Assessed and interpreted scholarship in the field of children’s and young adult literature;
- Applied critical perspectives across genres in children’s and young adult literature;
- Understood historical works, contexts, and influences in the field;
- Valued the diversities of human experiences (re)presented in literature for children and young adults and in the scholarship in the field; and
- Demonstrated individual and collaborative leadership.
Students leave Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children with an extensive theoretical context and a broad knowledge of contemporary literature for children and young adults. In graduating, they have
- Developed a critical voice and demonstrated the capacity for original argument;
- Analyzed literature for children and young adults;
- Assessed and interpreted scholarship in the field of children’s and young adult literature;
- Applied critical perspectives across genres in children’s and young adult literature;
- Understood historical works, contexts, and influences in the field;
- Valued the diversities of human experiences (re)presented in literature for children and young adults and in the scholarship in the field;
- Demonstrated individual and collaborative leadership;
- Experimented with writing across genres;
- Evaluated and provided meaningful feedback on manuscripts-in-development; and
- Completed two original creative projects.
Requirements for entry into program
Admission requires a baccalaureate degree preferably with a major in English and American and/or comparative literature from an accredited institution. However, the program is also open to students with majors in elementary or secondary education, fine arts, or social sciences who have done substantial work in English.
Costs
Including financing and fellowships / assistantships
$1035 per credit hour
Activity Fee $52 per semester
Delivery Mode or Modes Available (full-time, part-time, locations, technologies, etc.)
In collaboration with The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Simmons offers all four graduate programs in Children's Literature onsite at The Carle. This includes our M.A. in Children's Literature, M.F.A. in Writing for Children, M.A. in Children's Literature/M.F.A. dual degree, and M.A. in Children's Literature/M.S. in Library Science dual degree offered in collaboration with Simmons's School of Library and Information Science program at Mount Holyoke.
Degree requirements
Fifty-six credits are required for the degrees.
Core, Pre-requisite, and elective course requirements and progression, etc.
This 56 credit program requires the following courses:
Electives:
History Elective
| CHL 411/ENGL 511 | Victorian Children's Literature | 4 |
| CHL 418 | Australian Children's Literature | 4 |
| CHL 419 | | |
| CHL 424 | Nonsense Literature for Children:_Structured Absurdity, Subversion, &_Certain Creatures of the Sea | 2 |
| CHL 427 | Special Topics: Folk & Fairy Tales | 2 |
| CHL 428 | Myth Patterns /Chl | 4 |
General Electives
| CHL 404A | Children's Poetry on Trial : You'll Be_Judge, You'll Be Jury | 2 |
| CHL 413 | Contemporary Realistic Fiction | 4 |
| CHL 414 | Fantasy and Science Fiction | 4 |
| CHL 419B | Genre Study: Humor | 2 |
| CHL 436A | Nonfiction: Narrative | 2 |
| CHL 436B | Nonfiction: Expository | 2 |
| CHL 513 | Survey Lit for Chl & Yng Adlts | 4 |
| | Summer Symposium and Institute | |
Capstone, placement, internship, practicum, etc.
Our students take advantage of internships in Boston and beyond, building their skills and resumes and learning from mentors in their fields. Students have interned at publishing houses such as Delacorte, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Charlesbridge, Candlewick, Scholastic, Penguin, David Godine, and St. Martin's; at a variety of literary agencies in Boston and New York; and at advocacy groups, such as Reach Out and Read and the Boston Book Festival. Some students also seek professional internships with local schools and libraries.
Concentrations, specializations, etc.
Licensure, certification, etc.
Dual (and other) degree options
For related dual degree programs:
Children's Literature (MA)/Library Services To Children (MS)
Children's Literature (MA)/Teaching (MAT)
Other program information