‘But dragons don’t exist, do they?’: Preschoolers’ focus in determining whether a picturebook is a non-fiction or not

Abstract

Preschoolers are offered few opportunities to become acquainted with non-fiction books, and when they are given the possibility to read non-fiction picturebooks, these are often fictionalised in one way or another. The fictionalisation of children’s non-fiction blurs the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction picturebooks. This could mean that children’s early opportunities to experience how different kinds of books, pictures and texts can be used and produced for different purposes are also blurred. Against this background, reading activities are designed in this study in which a group of five-year-olds is introduced to fiction and non-fiction picturebooks side by side. The study aims to contribute to an understanding of how children distinguish and experience different kinds of picturebooks when they are introduced to differences between them, and answers the research question: What is in focus when preschoolers determine whether a picturebook is a non-fiction or not? The analysis shows that the depiction (whether the picturebook depicts imaginary constructs or established knowledge) is in focus when preschoolers make this determination . This gives the children in the reading activities the opportunity to experience different kinds of picturebooks, but also to question whether non-fiction picturebooks depicting imaginary constructed (‘made up’) things, characters and events are non-fiction and to evaluate the reliability of such fictionalised non-fiction picturebooks.