Book: Children’s Literature: A Developmental Perspective
Travers, B. E., & Travers, J. F. (2008). Children’s literature: A developmental perspective. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470111048
- Part One. Introduction.
Chapter 1. Children, Literature, And Development: Interactions And Insights.
Pg 5
…if you’re going to help [children’with their book selections, you must probe more deeply.
If enjoyment, thoughts, and emotions are intertwined in a reader’s response, then your task becomes one of detecting why they enjoy, why they think, and how they feel about it.
We know now that children may not respond immediately to their reading. Thanks to the research of Albert Bandura (1997) on observation learning (often referred to as modeling), we understand that children may need time to wrestle with the meaning of what they’re reading and then act on what they’ve thought about.
[Louise] Rosenblatt, 1938, p.vi: Through books, readers may explore their own natures, become aware of potentialities for thought and feelings within themselves, acquire clearer perspectives, develop aims, and a sense of direction.
…efferent reading (reading for information) and/or aesthetic reading (reading that captures the feelings and experiences of the reader).
Pg 6
Children and Response Theory
We cannot emphasize enough how valuable it is for you as a teacher or librarian to adapt Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional theory reader response to your work with children’s literature. … Always remember that children bring to their reading the compilation of who they are biopsychosocially. … Only by children’s responses do you know when they have internalized the book so that it has become a positive experience for them.
Pg 7
Aesthetic Efferent Reading
When studying Rosenblatt’s transactional theory, we often encounter the words aesthetic and efferent. Both words connote differences in the way that children approach reading. Efferent reading is reading to seek information Aesthetic reading is reading for pleasure. Aesthetic reading is an excellent description of how children become involved in their picture books, their fantasies, their traditional literature, their poetry, and contemporary and historical fiction.
Pg 9
What is Development
It is no longer possible to talk about cognitive development, language development , and personality development as separate issues. Long lists of what children can do at various ages say nothing about how or why these behaviours have appeared to become integrated.
Pg 10 & 11
Strategies for integrating children’s literature with Erikson’s theory
Knowledge of Erikson’s psychosocial stages can be quite helpful to teachers, librarians, and parents as they work with children in the world of books.
- Basic trust versus mistrust (Birth to 1 1/2 years) … infants derive security and comfort from warm relations with their parents, which leads to a strengthening of the attachment process. – talk to infants and read them stories that illustrate the beauty and rhythm of language.
- Autonomy versus shame and doubt (1 1/2 to 3 years) … [children] begin to demonstrate independence. – identify stories that emphasize and increases a child’s spirit of initiative.
- Initiative versus guilt (the preschool years) … building on the ability to control themselves, children now demonstrate responsibility and a sense of purpose as they begin to acquire the ability to master such tasks as learning to read. – identify stories that emphasize and increases a child’s spirit of initiative.
- Industry versus inferiority (the early elementary and intermediate school years) … immersed in the task of acquiring the needed information and skills of their culture. They expand their horizons beyond the family and begin to explore the neighborhood and school communities to develop new relationships. – stories that engage their sense of industry. Themes of positive peer relationships, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire to achieve. … expand their interest in the world around them and become intrigued by adventure.
- Identify versus identity confusion (Adolescence) … …main task is to achieve a state of identify… uncertainty produces identity confusion, and a bewildered youth may withdraw, run away, or turn to drugs or sex. The challenges are new, the tasks are difficult, and the alternatives are often overwhelming. – see their own identity and relate to books such as Katherine Paterson’s Jacob Have I loved, in which Sara Louise analyzes her relationship with her twin sister and her entrance into the adolescent world. … young people continue to seek their identity as young adults.
Pg 12
Strategies for integrating children’s literature with Piaget’s theory
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development still hold considerable appeal to those seeking an overview of a child’s mental development.
- Preschool children are still cognitively egocentric. Guide them to stories whose main themes emphasize relationships, for example, children playing and working together.
- Since play is an important part of a preschool child’s life, select stories that portray children playing constructively: asking questions, using make-believe play to understand their world, and learning to follow rules.
- As children move into Piaget’s concrete operational period, suggest stories that show how their thinking can solve problems. Encourage children to read stories that show how they can mentally retrace their steps, how they should not be deceived by the appearance of things, and how they can combine ideas to solve problems.
- For those children sufficiently advanced to be identified at the formal operational level, abstract, logical thinking characterizes their behaviour.
- Part Two. Understanding Children’s Literature.
Chapter 3. Genres In Children’s Literature.
Pg 46
The Eight Genres
| Genre | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Picture book | Usually, the integration of words with illustrations; however some picture books are wordless |
| Traditional literature | Stories and songs emerging from an oral tradition whose authors are unknown |
| Fantasy | Journeys into other, imaginative worlds |
| Poetry and drama | Language used in a unique manner to express beauty and excitement |
| Contemporary realistic fiction | Stories that could be true in the here and now |
| Historical fiction | Stories that could have been true in the past |
| Biography and autobiography | True accounts of a person’s life, written about or by that person |
| Informational books (non-fiction) | Books containing verifiable facts |
Pg 48
The Format of the Picture Book
The toy books of the 19th century are now the variously engineered, interactive, press-the-button, open the flap, sing-along picture books of the 20th century.
- The pop-up book: intricately structured that very young children find them difficult to manage by themselves, due to their lack of fine motor skills
- the interactive book: intrigues young children.
- the wordless book: tels a story without a written word. Wordless books are an excellent source of information and entertainment for the child who cannot read; they are also absorbing for the child who cannot understand the language.
The alphabet book contains letters of the alphabet and pictures corresponding to each letter… range in complexity from the straightforward, to more cognitively complex books…
The counting book presents number concepts by matching each number with a picture of its equivalent number of objects… yet only when children have mastered the notion of ordination will they relate biopsychosocially to counting books.
The picture storybook … tells a story by integrating words with pictures. … Illustrators of picture books are often the first artists children know.
Picture books for older readers.
Because of the their developmental value, as well as their value as a strong source of information , coupled with their visual impact, many picture books are attracting an increasing number of older readers who have become accustomed to gaining their facts through the Internet.
The graphic novel – a recent addition to the picture book genre … originally a comic book, the graphic novel has assumed the form of a paperback book and can be divided into three categories.
Pg 57
Fantasy and the reluctant reader
Time travel books are especially popular with younger children (early elementary and intermediate school). These books prove invaluable to teachers who are searching for creative ways to encourage reluctant readers to connect with their social studies.
Chapter 4. Analyzing, Selecting, And Responding To Children’s Literature.
Pg 72
When children analyze a story whose hidden elements need to be discovered before it can be fully appreciated, they are using and developing their cognitive skills.
… meaning is basic to learning; this is the key to how children analyze their literature…
- Cognitive processes such as attention, memory, problem solving, and creativity steadily improve
- Children’s responses to literature become more focused
- Their emotional reactions are more intimately linked to what they are reading
- Chapter 5. The Craft Of Writing And Illustrating.
- Chapter 6. Diversity In Children’s Literature.
- Part Three. The Content Of Children’s Literature.
- Chapter 7. Literature For The Early Years (Birth To Two).
- Chapter 8. Literature For The Preschool Years (2-4).
- Chapter 9. Literature For The Early Elementary School Years (5-7).
- Chapter 10. Literature For The Intermediate Years (8-11).
- Chapter 11. Literature For The Middle School Years (11-14).
- Chapter 12. Literature For The High School Years (14-18).
- Part Four. Topics For Teachers And Librarians.
- Chapter 13. Science Literature Through The Grades: A Curricular Model.
- Chapter 14. Issues For Teachers And Librarians.