Donkey Kong in Little Bear country: A first grader's composing developmentin the media spotlight

Young children may make extensive use of media texts (e.g., movies, cartoon s, songs) in their storytelling and play. Their experience with such texts may become evident as children learn to use and produce written texts. Thro ugh their writing, media material, such as the video creature Donkey Kong, may mingle with school material such as the literary creature Little Bear. In this article, I examine how media use informs child composing by drawing on data collected in an ethnographic project in an urban first grade. I fo cus on the influence of visual media involving animation. By untangling the complexities of 1 child's case history, I illustrate how the media figure into the most basic processes of writing development, processes of differen tiation of, translation across, and reframing within symbolic forms and soc ial practices. I conclude with a consideration of the teaching challenges p osed, and opportunities offered, by the children's media use.