Syllabus in progress: Victorian Childhood

In the fall, I'm teaching a new course on (mostly) Victorian fictions of childhood (and what we would now call young adulthood, for that matter).  It's not a children's literature course, although there are certainly plenty of examples of Victorian children's literature on the list.  I'm still playing around with the various electronic readings, although some of the books are set (thanks to the rule that we need to order books months in advance...).  The syllabus is more thematic than chronological.  I suspect that I'll move Little Henry and His Bearer down to the end with Kim.  

CLUSTER ONE 

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist 

Frances Trollope, The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong 

CLUSTER TWO

Mary Martha Sherwood, Little Henry and His Bearer

Mrs. Molesworth, Ministering Children (excerpts)

Hesba Stretton, Jessica's First Prayer

CLUSTER THREE

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Mary Martha Sherwood, The History of the Fairchild Family (excerpts)

CLUSTER FOUR

Frederic W. Farrar, Eric; Or, Little by Little (excerpts)

Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days 

CLUSTER FIVE

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Selections from Auerbach and Knoepflmacher, Forbidden Journeys

CLUSTER SIX

Rudyard Kipling, Kim