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                 WORKS CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY

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                 WORKS CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY

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McKim, Audrey. Sun Hee and the Street Boy. Friendship Press, 1962.

McFarland, Laura, and Shelby G. Laird. "Parents' and Early Childhood Educators' Attitudes and Practices in Relation to Children's Outdoor Risky Play." Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 46, no. 2, 2018, pp. 159.

Myers, Christopher. Black Cat. Scholastic Press -New York, 1999.

Thompson, Kay, and Hilary Knight. Eloise. Simon and Schuster, 1955.

Stone, Michelle R., et al. "The Freedom to Explore: Examining the Influence of Independent Mobility on Weekday, Weekend and After-School Physical Activity Behaviour in Children Living in Urban and Inner-Suburban Neighbourhoods of Varying Socioeconomic Status." The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 11, no. 1, 2014, pp. 5

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Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.

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Christopher Myers. Page from Black Cat. 1999, Scholastic Press - New York, p. 12

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Christopher Myers. Page from Black Cat. 1999, Scholastic Press - New York, p. 1

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Kay Thompson, Hilary Knight. Eloise. 1955,  Simon and Schuster: Cover. Ryerson University Special Collections: Children’s Literature Archive.

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Video of a young Japanese girl grocery shopping on her own.

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Tiger, Agga, and Sun Hee sitting on a street corner in Seoul.

Audrey McKim. Illustration from Sun Hee and the Street Boy. 1962, Friendship Press - New York, p. 17. Ryerson University Special

Collections: Children’s Literature Archive.

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Video capturing how independent inner-city Japanese children are, as they travel around the city on their own.

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                  ELOISE - CONFINED AND IRRESPONSIBLE 

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                  ELOISE - CONFINED AND IRRESPONSIBLE 

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In comparison to Sun Hee and the Street Boy, we have Eloise by Kay Thompson. Eloise is a troublesome six-year-old New Yorker who lives in the Plaza Hotel. Eloise’s parents are never present throughout the entire book, which instead features other residents and staff of the hotel, as well as her Nanny. Though her Nanny is present, Eloise acts independently and is left to entertain herself, in which she chooses to wreak havoc everywhere she goes throughout the hotel.  In the book, Eloise is home and her freedom to roam is confined to the Plaza Hotel.

Eloise is very different from Sun Hee. She does not seem to have any responsibilities, is careless with her actions and does not think about how what she does affects others. Her world revolves around herself because she does not get that same exposure to the outside world that other children do. Sun Hee and the Street Boy features plenty of scenes of the main child characters being outside, -meanwhile, Eloise is confined to the Plaza Hotel. In Parents' and Early Childhood Educators' Attitudes and Practices in Relation to Children's Outdoor Risky Play, an article emphasizing how a child being able to play in their environment and engage in “risky” types of play, -such as playing sports and climbing trees- is essential to their cognitive development. Laura McFarland and Shelby G. Laird write, express how “risky play gives children opportunities to develop decision-making skills about what risks they are capable of taking” and how in doing so, “children learn to assess risks in particular situations, extend their limits and learn new life skills”. (McFarland & Laird, 160)

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                   BENEFITS OF ROAMING CHILDREN 

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                   BENEFITS OF ROAMING CHILDREN 

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Sun Hee is given the permission to roam the city of Seoul on her own. Whether it be to go to school or to pick up groceries for dinner, or to hang out with Tiger, she is able to experience and move along the city streets without parental supervision. Because of his situation, Tiger has the ability to venture off wherever he wants to. In The Freedom to Explore: Examining the Influence of Independent Mobility on Weekday, Weekend and After-School Physical Activity Behaviour in Children Living in Urban and Inner-Suburban Neighbourhoods of Varying Socioeconomic Status by Michelle R. Stone, a child’s freedom to roam independently in their city is coined as a “child’s independent mobility” (CIM). This article recites information that was conducted in a study on Canadian children, where their amount of independent mobility was recorded and compared in relation to their physical activity levels (PA). The study found that “[c]hildren who were granted at least some independent mobility (high CIM) had more positive PA profiles across the school week, during the after-school period, and over the weekend; they were also less sedentary”. (Stone, 3) This article supports that children benefit from having freedom in their outer environment, and that independence to travel in their community correlates to being more active.

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                    SUN HEE AND THE STREET BOY - RESPONSIBILITIES OF LOW-INCOME CITY CHILDREN

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                    SUN HEE AND THE STREET BOY - RESPONSIBILITIES OF LOW-INCOME CITY CHILDREN

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A commonality shared by many children growing up in low-income households is the fact that they can be subjected to having to take on more responsibilities from a younger age than those who grow up in wealthier households. Being a child who grew up under a young single-mother who made a very low amount of income at the time, I was taught to do what I can for myself -tasks that could be handled without my mother having to step in and closely supervise- in order to take some pressure off of her. These things included making my own school lunches, doing my own laundry, travelling on my own on public transit to get to and from school, having a specific set of daily chores, and most importantly, watching after my younger sister while our mother worked long shifts. Like many other low-income city families, we did not have the privilege of being able to afford a babysitter and my mother could not afford to work shorter hours in order to ensure that I got to and from school safely. Though some of these responsibilities may have been considered by others to be bit too much for me, I believe that they allowed me to develop strong a responsible personality and independence from a young age.

Life can become quite busy in the city. The combination of being from a low-income household while living in the inner city can add to a child having to take on more duties. Not every family has access to nannies, maids, daycare services and other aids to alleviate some of the weight of everyday responsibilities. This is why these children are made to take on certain roles that usually children of more wealth do not have to.

This can be seen in Audrey McKim’s Sun Hee and the Street Boy. This children’s chapter-book follows the life of Sun Hee, a young girl living in the city of Seoul, Korea. The story begins with Sun Hee taking her younger sister Agga to nursey school, before she makes her way to class. This is a daily responsibility of the nine-year-old girl. Sun Hee has to walk the city streets on her own with Agga in order to do this. This particular morning, some street boys approach the two girls, giving them trouble and stealing their lunches.

This is when they encounter one of the boys in the group, a homeless street boy named Tiger. who proves to be different from the rest and decides to help them by getting their lunches back. Through the rest of the story, the progression of their friendship is shown while also exploring the lives of the children and the tribulations that they face.

Sun Hee is represented as a very kind, responsible and loving young girl. She takes care of her younger sister, helps her mother and grandmother with chores and cooking, and shows great decision-making skills. She shows patience and sympathy towards Tiger, who is left homeless and on his own after his father died in the war. Throughout the book, he shows to have a great amount of street smarts and is a very independent twelve-year-old child. He becomes this way because of having to care and fend for himself all on his own. These skills were developed not despite, but because of his disadvantages, like many other poor city kids.

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                            RESEARCH FOCUS

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                            RESEARCH FOCUS

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The research question that I will be addressing through my exhibit is how the way that a child interacts with the city with the ability to roam, with the exposure to everything that urban life holds builds a different sense of character, responsibility and independence in the child that will better prepare them to transition into adulthood in comparison to those with stricter parents, and those that are more confined and sheltered in their environment. There will be a focus on how children of low-income families living in the city take on more responsibilities at a younger age in comparison to rich children due to the privilege of wealth, and how that allows the former to develop the nature and skills of independence.

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THE BLACK CAT - CITY THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

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THE BLACK CAT - CITY THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

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In Black Cat by Christopher Myers, the children’s picture-book looks at Harlem from a very innocent and curious perspective. Not from the eyes of a child, but through the eyes of a stray cat. The author’s poetic exchange along with the beautiful multimedia illustrations throughout the pages describes elements of the city in a very curious and childlike manner. This tone is expressed by the child-friendly poetic language written by the author. Through the cat's eyes, we are able to see things that a child would focus upon. In the way that children muse at everyday things that adults do not notice or care to pay any mind to. Things we see as common and thus insignificant; such as the details of public parks and the subway. The cat in this book wanders the streets aimlessly, encountering beautifully mundane places in the city.

Black Cat is an example of a book that was created for the inner-city child, and gives representation of their environment in a beautiful way that is not commonly done for areas like Harlem. This is a book that the urban child can read and relate to.

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Christopher Myers (a). Black Cat. 1999, Scholastic Press - New York: Cover.

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Audrey McKim (a). Sun Hee and the Street Boy. 1962, Friendship Press - New York: Cover. Ryerson University Special

Collections: Children’s Literature Archive.