The Value of Children’s Literature
By
Martha Crippen
Giving
children access to all varieties of literature is extremely important for their
success. Educators, parents, and community members should help students
develop a love and passion for reading. Not only is reading literature
important in developing cognitive skills to be able to succeed in a school or
work setting, but it is valuable for other reasons as well. Although there are
countless values in exposing children to literature, Donna Norton (2010)
identifies the value of literature for young people in her book Through
the Eyes of a Child. Children’s
literature is important because it provides students with opportunities to
respond to literature; it gives students appreciation about their own cultural
heritage as well as those of others; it helps students develop emotional
intelligence and creativity; it nurtures growth and development of the
student’s personality and social skills; and it transmits important literature
and themes from one generation to the next.
The first
value to note is that children’s literature provides students with the
opportunity to respond to literature and develop their own opinions about the
topic. This strengthens the cognitive developmental domain as it encourages
deeper thought about literature. Quality literature does not tell the reader
everything he/she needs to know; it allows for some difference in opinion. One
reader may take something completely different away from the piece of
literature than the next reader, based on the two personal viewpoints and
experiences. Students can learn to evaluate and analyze literature, as well as
summarize and hypothesize about the topic. Norton says that for children,
“wordless picture books are excellent stimuli for oral and written language”
(2010, p. 9). Students reading wordless books like A
Ball for Daisy (Raschka, 2011), The
Yellow Umbrella (Liu, 1987), or The Red Book (Lehmann, 2004) will be
able to analyze the illustrations and develop their own dialogue for the story.
This strengthens students’ cognitive functions in being able to form opinions
on their own and to express themselves through language in summarizing the plot
of a wordless book.
Second,
children’s literature provides an avenue for students to learn about their own
cultural heritage and the cultures of other people. It is crucial for children
to learn these values because, “developing positive attitudes toward our own
culture and the cultures of others is necessary for both social and personal
development” (Norton, 2010, p. 3). In saying this, however, when teaching
students about the cultural heritage of others, one should be very careful in
selecting which books to recommend to young readers. There are many stories,
some folktales, which contain blatant stereotypes and inaccuracies about
certain cultural groups. This includes books such as Brother
Eagle, Sister Sky (Jeffers, 1991), or The
Rough-Face Girl (Martin, 1992). Both of these stories
depict Native Americans in a misguided way and contain misinterpretations of
what actually occurred in history. For example, the Iroquois tribe in The
Rough-Face Girl (Martin,
1992) historically lived in longhouses, but the illustrator depicts these
Native Americans as living in teepees. This is a clichéd view, and it can be
very damaging in perpetuating stereotypes if we as adults are not cautious in
the books we have in our classroom and home libraries. However, there are some
children’s books that are more accurate in teaching the cultural differences of
others. A story called “Eric” from Tales from Outer Suburbia (Tan, 2009) is a touching story about
a family who takes in a foreign exchange student and must learn about their
guest and accept the differences between their cultures. It has a positive
message about encouraging acceptance of the cultural differences between
people, which is something that we want to help nurture in our students.
Another book that helps discuss culture is Going Home (Bunting, 1996), which is the story of
a Mexican immigrant family with the children who were born in the U.S. There is
a difference in what “home” is for the parents and the children, and when they
take a trip to Mexico, the children realize how important their parent’s
culture and homeland is for them. Many books are available that depict culture
as an important piece of society that is to be treasured and valued, and those
books can have great value for students.
Third,
children’s literature helps students develop emotional intelligence. Stories
have the power to promote emotional and moral development. Children’s
literature “contains numerous moments of crisis, when characters make moral
decisions and contemplate the reasons for their decisions,” an important skill
for children to see modeled (Norton, 2010, p. 34). Guji
Guji (Chen, 2004), for
example, is a
story about a crocodile who is adopted into a family of ducks. Ultimately he
must choose between betraying his adopted family and going back to his own
“species,” and he decides to remain true to his beliefs and not betray his
family. The Scar (Moundlic, 2007) is an effective book
to read with students in order to teach them about responding to grief, as it
is about a boy whose mother dies. This requires a complex level of emotional
intelligence, as many young children do not understand death. The topic of
death would be more appropriate for an older grade level, but it is an
important topic to discuss with students. Another book that encourages
emotional intelligence is Selma (Bauer,
2002), which discusses what it takes for a young sheep to be happy. It is a
philosophical story within a picture book, and challenges students to think
about what happiness really is. The Big Box (Morrison, 1999) is a story about
children who have their freedom taken away by being put into a box and the
deeper problems that exist with not being given one’s freedom. Children’s
literature encourages students to think deeper about their own feelings.
Children’s
literature also encourages creativity. Norton stresses “the role that
literature plays in nurturing and expanding the imagination” (2010, p. 4). The House in the Night(Swanson,
2008) depicts the creativity that a young girl has in her dreams at night, as
she flies about the dark neighborhood on the wings of a bird. The
Amazing Pop-up Music Book(Petty, 1999), Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin (Moss, 1995), and Look
Closer: Art Masterpieces Through The Ages (Desnoettes, 2006) are
imaginative and original books that encourage students to learn about music and
art, and they are engaging in their design and interactivity. Children’s
literature promotes the development of students’ internal imaginations.
Children’s
literature is of value because it fosters personality and social development.
Children are very impressionable during the formative years, and children’s
literature can help them develop into caring, intelligent, and friendly people.
Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget says that when students move from the
pre-operational to the operational stage of cognitive development, they become
less egocentric. Whereas students in preschool and kindergarten may be entirely
focused on themselves, as students grow older they begin to take into account
the feelings and viewpoints of others. Being able to understand other people’s
viewpoints and to not be selfish are important skills that adults must nurture
in children, as Norton says that “acceptable relationships require an
understanding of the feelings and viewpoints of others” (2010, p. 27).
Children’s literature can foster social development by encouraging students to
accept other people and their differences. Books like And
Tango Makes Three (Parnell & Richardson, 2005), Molly’s
Family (Garden,
2004), Heather Has Two Mommies (Newman & Souza, 1989) andDaddy’s Roommate (Wilhoite, 2000) present
situations that might encourage students to become more open-minded to
different types of families and understand that love is the most important
thing in a family. Children’s literature can also encourage students to develop
relationships with people, encouraging social contact. An atypical friendship
is depicted in Loop the Loop (Dugan,
1992), where a
young child and an elderly person become good friends and share the common joy
of playing with yo-yo’s. In A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever (Frazee, 2008), the boys learn to
think of the needs of others when they build a diorama for the grandpa who is
fascinated with penguins. Literature encourages students to be considerate and
friendly people, and these traits may be consistent with developing students
into quality citizens.
Finally,
children’s literature is of value because it is a timeless tradition, one in
which “books are the major means of transmitting our literary heritage from one
generation to the next” (Norton, 2010, p. 3). Classic stories like Dr. Seuss’ And
to Think That I Heard it on Mulberry Street (Geisel, 1989) and The
Cat in the Hat (Geisel,
1957) are important books to read to children because of their literary
heritage. For a younger audience, children could build their cognitive and
language skills through exposure to Mother Goose rhymes. One example of a good
collection of these classic rhymes is Hey Diddle Diddle and Other Mother Goose
Rhymes (dePaola,
1998). Children
in older grades can learn to appreciate the classic plays and messages of
William Shakespeare in picture books that aim to make the plays more
accessible. Many versions of Shakespeare’s works are available in abridged and
picture book formats, including Romeo and Juliet (Coville, 1999) and The
Tempest (Mayer, 2005). Children are only young for a short
time, and so we must give them access to a basic literary heritage of timeless
books. Quality children’s literature has the great power to captivate audiences
for many generations.
Children’s literature is extremely valuable in both the school
setting and at home. Teachers and parents should both be able to differentiate
between quality and mediocre literature, in order to give students access to
the best books to encourage these important values of literature and
considering developmental domains. Children’s literature is valuable in
providing an opportunity to respond to literature, as well as cultural
knowledge, emotional intelligence and creativity, social and personality
development, and literature history to students across generations. Exposing
children to quality literature can contribute to the creation of responsible,
successful, and caring individuals.
Taken from: http://oneotareadingjournal.com/2012/value-of-childrens-literature/
Abstract
Dar
a los niños el acceso a todas las variedades de la literatura es muy importante
para su éxito. Los educadores,
los padres y miembros de la comunidad deben ayudar a los estudiantes a
desarrollar un amor y pasión por la lectura. La
literatura infantil ofrece a los estudiantes la oportunidad de desarrollar sus
propias opiniones sobre un determinado tema. Esto fortalece el dominio del desarrollo
cognitivo, ya que fomenta el pensamiento más profundo de la literatura. La literatura de calidad no le dice al
lector todo lo que necesita saber, sino que permite una cierta diferencia de
opinión. Un lector puede tomar
algo completamente diferente el siguiente lector, basado en experiencias personales.
Los
libros de imágenes sin palabras son excelentes estímulos para el lenguaje oral
y escrito. Los estudiantes leen
libros sin palabras, esto les dará herramientas para ser capaces de analizar
las ilustraciones y desarrollar su propio diálogo de la historia. Esto refuerza las funciones cognitivas
de los estudiantes en la posibilidad de formarse una opinión sobre su propia
experiencia y expresarse a través del lenguaje oral. También ofrece una vía
para que los estudiantes aprendan sobre su propia herencia cultural y las
culturas de otras personas. Es
fundamental que los niños aprendan estos valores, ya que el desarrollo de
actitudes positivas hacia la propia cultura y las culturas de los demás es necesario para el
desarrollo tanto social como personal.
Por
último la literatura infantil ayuda a los estudiantes a desarrollar la
inteligencia emocional. Las
historias tienen el poder de promover el desarrollo emocional y moral ya que contiene
numerosos momentos de crisis, cuando los personajes toman decisiones morales y
el niño podrá así contemplar las razones de sus decisiones y al tratarse de
situaciones cotidianas para ellos podrán luego aplicarlo a sus vidas.
