MANIFEST O ČITANJU I POTREBA ZA PRIHVATANJEM: ROMANI JASMINKE PETROVIĆ U PROGRAMIMA ZA RAZREDNU NASTAVU KNJIŽEVNOSTI

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Two novels written by Jasminka Petrović are a part of the literature teaching curriculum in elementary school. The first novel, Reading Makes you Grow (Od čitanja se raste) for the 3rd grade, was introduced to the teaching curriculum in 2018, while the latter, On a Button and Happiness (O dugmetu i sreći) for the 4th grade, was added to it a year later. Even though both were relatively new to the teaching curriculum, they were gladly accepted and read by elementary school students. There are two reasons these novels by Jasminka Petrović were added to the literature curriculum. First, she is a contemporary writer, and the curriculum should include newcomer authors whose work is of aesthetic value and appeals to the sensibility of today’s children. Second, the reading pieces inside the literature program have a special purpose: to implement and preserve certain collective values, to foster love toward reading, to develop a sense of beauty, worth, and taste. It is also important to note that literature helps children cultivate empathy, and these two novels are doing exactly that – they are one-of-a-kind reading manifestos and invite the readers to understand and accept the differences among children. This work will deal with these two integral ideas of the novels, while analyzing the methodical apparatus inside the reading novels will better explain how the themes in Jasminka Petrović’s work are formed.