Photo Credit: weheartit.com

Summer 2020

The British Children’s Literature study abroad course (ED 307 or ED 407), taught by Drs. Kelli Esteves and Catherine Pangan, is for undergraduate and graduate students at Butler University. It is open to all majors.

The study abroad element of the course will be held at various sites throughout Great Britain and in classrooms at Harlaxton College – our home base for the trip and setting for the 2020 Secret Garden film.

In his book on literary tourism, Mark I. West writes “If you love children’s books then to breathe the air that the authors breathed or to see the countryside or the houses they have transformed into fiction, is an extension of that love.” Our own literary pilgrimage will take us around the vast and diverse landscapes that have inspired classic and contemporary children’s book creators. In London, we will imagine how JM Barrie could conjure Peter Pan in Kensington Garden and experience world-class theatre inspired by children’s literature. We will go on a walking tour of Oxford, visiting sites associated with Lewis Carroll, CS Lewis, and JRR Tolkien. The geographical context of the Lake District will help us understand the inspiration and determination of Beatrix Potter and how her contributions to the children’s literature canon created a shift in the cultural understanding of childhood. The study tour take us to Edinburgh, Scotland where we will envision Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventures of Treasure Island, written in 1883, and JK Rowling, over a century later, crafting stories that would eventually become the best-selling book series in history.

If you love children’s books and have a spirit of adventure, sign up today!

Click here for the photo gallery.

Click here to read quotes from previous trip participants.

Click here to read an article by Lucy Allan ’19.

Scroll through the posts below to read book reviews and trip highlights from 2015, 2016, and 2018 students.

Cheers!