
Event Details
Fri, November 15, 2019 to Sat, November 16, 2019
9:30 – 17:30
Villa La Pietra
VILLA LA PIETRA
Via Bolognese, 120
50139 Florence, Italy
This symposium brings together scholars interested in children’s literature and history with writers, doctors, and other practitioners who work with issues of children’s literacy, health, education, and well-being.
We believe that by looking at the content of children’s literature, the ways that children learn to read and incorporate literature into their lives, and the intersections between children’s reading and pediatric issues of health and development– all seen in the broader context of history and society– we can create meaningful interdisciplinary conversations and spark new dialogues and collaborations.
Friday, November 15
9:30-10:00 AM Coffee
10:00-10:15 AM Opening of Conference
Welcome: Perri Klass and Larry Wolff, Co-Directors, NYU Florence
10:15 AM -12:00 PM SESSION ONE
Literacy and Child Development as Personal and Political Issues
Junko Yokota, Professor Emerita of Reading and Language, National Louis University, Chicago
What you Read Matters: Food for Young Minds and Souls
Marnie Campagnaro, Researcher in History and Theory of Children’s Literature, University of Padua
Visionary Objects and Children’s Literature: Developing Visual and Aesthetic Alphabetization through Picturebooks
William Harris, Child Advocate; Founder, KidsPAC Political Action Committee
Politics and Possibilities—Context and Relationships
Dipesh Navsaria, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Touch, Teaching, and Therapies: Trust and the Role of Texts in Children’s Relationships with Adults
Lunch 12:00-1:30 PM
(tour of Villa La Pietra collection: 12:30-1:30 PM)
1:30-3:15 PM SESSION TWO
Cultural and Political Issues of Childhood in Italy
Giorgio Tamburlini, Pediatrician and Epidemiologist; Director, Centro per la Salute del Bambino Onlus, Trieste
Shared Reading as a Door to Working with At-Risk Families: The ‘Villaggio per Crescere’ Project
Lisa Cesarani, Modern Literature; Assistant Director of Academic Affairs, NYU Florence
Dear Diary: Examining the Trope of the Diary as it appears in De Amicis’ Cuore and Vamba’s Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca
Erika Bernacchi, Anthropology and Women’s Studies; Researcher, Istituto degli Innocenti, Florence
Gender Stereotypes in Italian School Texts and New Gender Representations in Children’s Literature
Maria Truglio, Department of Italian; Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Penn State University
‘Two Grams of Melancholy’: Recipes for Proper Italian Boys, 1870-1922
Coffee Break 3:15-3:30 PM
3:30-5:30 PM SESSION THREE
Marginality and Displacement in History and Literature
Maria Tatar, Departments of Germanic Languages and Literatures; and Folklore and Mythology, Harvard University
Yours, Mine, Ours? The Brothers Grimm and African American Folklore
Stefania Manetti, Pediatrician, Campania; National Board, Nati per Leggere
Nati per Leggere: Experiences with Literacy Promotion and Disadvantaged Populations in Italy
Tara Zahra, Department of History, University of Chicago
How Runaway Children Have Made the Modern Family
Giorgia Grilli, Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna
Subversive Mary Poppins in Children’s Literature
Larry Wolff, Department of History, NYU
Children and Fairy Tales on the Operatic Margins
RECEPTION 5:30-6:30 PM
Saturday, November 16
9:30-10:00 AM Coffee
10:00-11:45 AM SESSION FOUR
Children’s Literature: Difficult Issues in Complex Social Contexts
Kenneth Kidd, Department of English; Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, University of Florida
Children’s Literature as Critical Thought
Robie Harris, Children’s Book Author
‘Writing Honest’: Creating Books for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Children
Nia Heard-Garris, Pediatrician & Researcher, Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
The Role of Children’s Literature in Addressing Difficult yet Important Topics: Racism, Parental Incarceration, and Gender Identity
Perri Klass, Departments of Journalism and Pediatrics, NYU
‘Every One had Scarlet Fever’: Illness, Death, and Near-Misses in Classic Children’s Books
11:45 AM -12:30 PM Concluding Discussion
12:30-1:30 PM Lunch