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This way of looking at stories was discussed by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces (1949).
What is the Hero's Journey? (or the mono-myth)
In Harry Potter, a major theme emerges about the singular hero. Harry cannot solve all his issues alone. He needs this.
What is friendship?
The Secret Garden takes Rousseau's lessons about this and applies them to Mary and Colin.
What is the central role of nature in physical and moral development?
These are two quasi-portals in Harry Potter.
What are Platform 9 and 3/4, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts Express...?
This is one major thing that a journey can represent in Children's Literature.
What is Coming of Age?
Place these texts in order of date (initial creation):
Aesop's Fables
John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Newbery's A Pretty Little Pocketbook
Aesop's Fables (6th c CE)
James Janeaway's A Token for Children (1671)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
John Newbery's A Pretty Little Pocketbook (1744)
In The Secret Garden, Mary learns that she cannot be happy unless she grows this with other people.
What are relationships?
Rousseau problematically suggested that girls are a bit more susceptible to lies and wickedness than boys. This text from 1749 shows girls pulling each other's hair and ripping each others clothes.
What is Sarah Fielding's The Governess?
Claudia and Jamie discover the angel drawing under this city name in Mrs. Frankweiler's mixed-up files. Jamie thinks it's a type of artificial sandwich meat.
What is Bologna?
Treasure Island sees Jim travel to this place (though the co-ordinates are secret)?
What is the Spanish Main?
This description can be applied to Sarah Fielding's The Governess because it has fairly obvious black and white moral lessons meant to improve a child reader's moral development.
What is didactic?
In Treasure Island, Jim learns from this character that adherence duty is an admirable trait for an officer. This lends to the models of masculinity in the novel.
Who is Captain Smollett?
Rousseau and Locke were notably against texts from these writers that showed death and purgatory for sinful children. An example is James Janeaway's A Token for Children (1671).
Who are Puritan writers?
In Bridge to Terabthia, Jesse goes on a special trip with Miss Edmunds and sees this notable object at a museum in the city.
What is the hunting/ buffalo diorama?
Many children's books offer these as a way to trace to journey that the child protagonist takes. And this map is one of the most famous, created by an author and his stepson (though the story varies).
What is a map?
Many children's novels do not necessarily start out as novels. Peter Pan began as a play, for example. Children's stories like Treasure Island and The Secret Garden share this publishing trajectory.
What is serialization?
John Newbery's text inspired the historical construction of childhood as a journey from this to this.
What is "instruction to delight"?
In Emile, Or On Education (1762), he suggested that children be exposed to this as their primary educator.
What is nature?
Ha's world changes dramatically in the course of one year. This 1975 battle in the Vietnam War is the main catalyst.
What is the Fall of Saigon?
In Thanhha Lai's poems, she stills the story of Ha's journey to safety and to understanding. However, Ha still faces this when she arrives at her school in the United States.
What is discrimination?
Perry Nodelman says that most picturebooks have an element of didacticism, but he also says that we can look at whether picturebooks are teaching children how to be adults or teaching them this way of being children.
What is naturalistic?
John Scieszka says that children know their way around good design because they are this.
What is visually literate?
Rousseau suggested children should not be forced to reason unlike Locke. This text might be called an example of what could go wrong with Rousseau's "natural" approach.
What is Peter and Wendy?
These spaces in children's literature are often shown as overwhelming, noisy, and adult. Children are often moving away from them. However, sometimes these spaces can offer learning and can let a character blend in with the crowd.
What are cities?
In The Mixed-Up Files, Claudia is searching for a sense of this more than any actual object or experience.
What is self?