A Research on the George Washington’s Biography for Children in Taiwan

• Main Authors: YANG, SIOU-YUAN, 楊琇媛
• Other Authors: LIAO, CHO-CHENG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/87x569

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 語文與創作學系碩士班 === 106 === George Washington, an American founding father, is an influence in the world, and his contribution during the War of Independence is seen as the paragon for defending democracy and freedom. The integrity George Washington displayed, years ago, keeps him relevant today and a role model in life. The biographies of George Washington, in children’s editions, are well written and expected to inspire and educate young readers through his life stories. However, excessive worship and admiration of George Washington’s life, through stories, have created the anecdotes and legends that have been derivative and spread widely. Therefore, the biographies of George Washington, in children’s editions, often use the stories that were not correct or supposititious, and failed to pass the consistent historical facts of George Washington to young readers. This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, which includes the research motives and objectives, as well as the scope of the study and research methods. In addition, is the review and discussion of the literature, such as children’s literature theories, biography theories and the thesis which related to this study. The second chapter, discusses the very first children’s version of George Washington biography, which was published by the Eastern Publishing Co., Ltd. in Taiwan. The historical material, and the way this version was edited, had a great influence on the later children’s editions of George Washington biography, which can be described as Taiwan’s own version of George Washington’s life stories. Chapter three and four are mainly sorted by time order, which collect and explore the full-length and short-length stories of George Washington biography in children’s editions, analyzing the narrative contexts and the layout of the contents in each version. Regardless of the old or new versions, or whether they are affected by the version that is published by the Eastern Publishing Co., Ltd. or not, it can’t be a good children’s version of George Washington’s biography if the material is not factual according to history or accurately depicting the character. Chapter five concludes and summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of George Washington biography in children’s edition in Taiwan. Hopefully, it will be useful references for the future editors, authors and parents who want to choose a good version of George Washington biography for their children.