Children's Books Research Articles

The Influence of Illustrations in Literary Texts on Children's Reading Comprehension

This study investigates the influence of illustrations in childrens literature on reading comprehension. The research addresses the existing lack of standardized experimental designs in the field and focuses on enhanceable aspects, such as excluding previously exposed subjects, fixing reading time for students, selecting high-quality classic childrens literature texts, conducting the experiment within real classroom settings, and observing students attention span during reading. The subjects consist of fifth-grade students from representative elementary schools in urban and rural areas in China. The experimental materials include different book types: mere text, text with original illustrations, and text with secondary illustrations. Through multiple-choice questionnaire and data on reading comprehension scores, preference, willingness to continue reading, and distraction levels, the study aims to provide valuable insights for educators, authors, and publishers to enhance childrens literary engagement and comprehension. The results of the study suggest that the presence of illustrations and differences in the quality of illustrations do not significantly affect childrens reading comprehension but do influence childrens first impressions and choices when selecting books. The results provide useful insights for childrens book publishers and childrens book illustrators when providing illustrations for childrens books.

Examining the Criteria for Preferring Illustrated Children's Books by Parents with 0-3 Years-old Children

In this study, it is aimed to examine the knowledge levels of parents with children aged 0-3 regarding the criteria they consider when choosing a children's picture book. The study was carried out with a qualitative research approach. The study group consists of 69 parents with children aged 0-3, and the data of the study were collected through a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. After the data were subjected to content analysis, they were presented in tables. As a result of the research, it has been revealed that parents with 0-3 year old children should have quality children's books and the features they pay attention to when choosing children's books, the child's interest, internal structure and external structure. It has been found that when choosing a children's picture book, parents pay particular attention to its suitability for the age and development of the child, its plain language, the presence of vivid colors and its non-violence. The content of the images is thick cardboard and the book is neatly bound with the appropriate font and image size. By looking at the outer coating and quality of quality paper, they think about whether it is educational, entertaining, creative and contains a concept of value.

The power of children's books

The power of children's books

Analysis on the Role of Picture Books in Children's Cognitive Development Education

Picture books have been a staple in children's literature for centuries, with the earliest known examples dating back to the 15th century. These books are designed to engage young readers through a combination of words and pictures, to develop literacy skills and promote cognitive development. Picture books are an important tool for teaching young children new words and concepts as well as providing them with education. Numerous studies have investigated the effects that reading aloud together has on the relationships that develop between parents and children. A brand-new line of research has recently been initiated to investigate the qualities of children's picture books that encourage learning and the application of that education in the wider world. Children's symbolic development, analogical reasoning, and thinking that is rooted in fantasy may impede their ability to retrieve information from picture books, according to the findings of the research presented here. After that, we take a look at the developing corpus of research on the effect of picture book characteristics on children's learning and transfer of scientific concepts, problem-solving skills, morals, and words and letters from picture books. In each area of learning, we investigate how the development of children might interact with the qualities of books in order to influence their acquisition of knowledge. We come to the conclusion that the ability of children to learn and transfer knowledge from picture books can be hampered by certain book qualities, and that future research should examine the interplay between the developing capacities of children and the characteristics of books and how they affect their learning.

I. S. Mikheev's contribution to the development of methodological science and education of non-Russian peoples of the Middle Volga region

Introduction. The methodological heritage of Russian teachers of the past is of interest to the modern theory of pedagogy and educational practice. The purpose of the article is to generalize the methodological views of a prominent scientist of the second half of the XIX – first half of the XX centuries Ivan Stepanovich Mikheev (1876-1940). The relevance of the pedagogical heritage of Mikheev is explained by the correspondence of his methodological views to the attitudes of modern Russian specialists in the field of teaching Russian language and literature among the nonRussian peoples of the Middle Volga region. Materials and methods. The leading research methods are the analysis of scientific literature and the biographical method, as well as historical, regional and axiological (value) methodological approaches. Results. I. S. Mikheev proposed a system of teaching non-Russian peoples to read and write in their native and Russian languages. He suggested starting the development of literacy in the native language of students. After mastering elementary skills, they had to move on to teaching in the Russian language in the so-called "conversational lessons". Mikheev called his teaching approach "the method of whole sentences." For those who speak oral native speech, the main thing is to master written speech, that entails the need for a sufficiently detailed study of grammar. For "nonRussian-born" children, the most urgent task is to master live conversational speech. In conditions when schooling usually lasted no more than two or three years, the task of mastering grammar shouldn′t have been brought to the fore. Discussion. The idea, – teaching an unfamiliar language by the method of whole sentences, – was put forward by Mikheev as a basis of his methodological views. It found further productive development in modern methods of teaching foreign languages. The innovation of Mikheev's approach consisted in the fact that he pointed out the fundamental difference in approaches to teaching Russian to Russian and to non-Russian children. The methodology developed by I. S. Mikheev included at the initial stage the elaboration of the simplest syntactic formations instead of tedious memorization of grammatical forms. Hence pupils acquired the ability to compose simple, but whole sentences in a relatively short time. That′s they were able to express their thoughts in the correct Russian language. Mikheev's approach required completely different methods and textbooks of the Russian language for Russian and for non-Russian schoolchildren. The methodological ideas of Mikheev are still relevant today, and represent a significant value for modern Russian pedagogical science and education. Modern teachers of multiethnic regions of Russia highly appreciate and actively use the heritage of Mikheev. Conclusions. A prominent methodologist, philologist and educator of the non-Russian peoples of the Middle Volga region, Mikheev made a significant contribution to the development of education and methodological science, periodicals and literature. Mikheev's methodological ideas are still relevant today, and are of considerable value for modern Russian pedagogical science and education. Modern teachers of multiethnic regions of Russia highly appreciate and actively use Mikheev's legacy. The theoretical and methodological works of I. S. Mikheev, his children's books and dramatic works include axiological, humanistic content, and to this day have a significant impact on modern methodological thought. That′s why, it deserves the most careful further study.

Китайские детские иллюстрированные книги: история и современность

An «illustrated book», as the name implies, is a book containing images. This is a book for reading, which focuses on pictures supplemented with words, and which is mainly intended for children. This article examines the process of evolution of Chinese children's illustrated books, as well as the features of the work of illus-trators of the past and present. The main conclusion we come to is that the study of the origin and evolution of a children's picture book plays an important role in its creation and use today.

Desain Ilustrasi Untuk Buku Ensiklopedia Catatan Perjalanan Raja Majapahit Di Kota Bakulapura

ABSTRACTHistorical stories have a moral message as a form of communication. History encyclopedia books are a visual communication medium to foster children's interest in reading. History Encyclopedia Bakulapura makes interactive children's books to improve relationships between children, parents and the general public, as well as increase children's interest in reading. The historical encyclopedia book entitled: " Desain Ilustrasi Untuk Buku Ensiklopedia Catatan Perjalanan Raja Majapahit di Kota Bakulapura" introduces letters through visual descriptions of characters and cultural history. Visual characters and cultural history in this book have a function to transfer the message. The visual meaning of historical characters and culture is analyzed using Semiotics theory by identifying visual elements and analyzing their connotative meanings. Researchers will only examine some of the main characters in the encyclopedia book. Identification of visual elements of characters and analysis of connotative meanings are presented in tabular form and translated using descriptive- interpretative techniques. Data collection techniques are carried out through literature studies and content analysis. The analysis results show that there are several visual compatibility of historical characters and culture with the characterization shown by the characters of historical encyclopedia books. The historical encyclopedia book entitled " Sejarah Ensiklopedia Bakulapura Catatan Perjalanan Kerajaan Majapahit di Kota Bakulapura Kalimantan Barat" also incorporates elements of Javanese, Dayak and Malay culture related to the daily lives of children.Keywords : History, Character, Encyclopedia.

The Effect of Story Reading Activity on Attitudes of Typically Developing Students Towards Students with Special Needs

Making children with special needs a part of society depends on others’ accepting them with their differences and supporting them considering their needs. For this reason, various activities can be utilized as tools to develop social tolerance and demonstrate positive attitudes towards children with special needs. Some of these activities include informing, drama, and reading children's books. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the reading storybooks activity on the attitudes towards students with special needs in students who demonstrate typical development. The study utilized a mixed-method design. The study group was composed of 84 third-grade primary school students who received education in the Ağrı city center. Data were collected through the Student Interview Form developed by the researchers and the Social Acceptance Attitude Scale developed by Siperstein (1988); reliability and validity for the Turkish translated form were performed by Civelek (1990). Results showed that Social Acceptance Scale post-test data demonstrated differences in favor of the experimental group students who were exposed to the reading storybooks activity compared to the control group post-test data. Besides, the students reportedly found the activity enjoyable, and at the end of the activity, they stated many positive views about students with special needs.

INVESTIGATION OF SPORTS-THEMED PICTURE BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN TERMS OF GENDER ROLES

The main purpose of this research is to examine sports-themed picture books for preschool children in terms of gender. In this study, a qualitative research design based on document analysis method was preferred. The data of the research were collected from 65 children's picture books. As a result of the examinations on the cover pages of children's picture books, it was determined that 25 different sports branches were presented to children through books. In the analysis of the content of the book, the gender of the main characters and the sport with which this character is identified were examined. As a result of this examination, it was determined that the main characters were female in 34 books and male in 21 books, both male and female characters were included in 6 books. After this stage, which sports the main characters do were examined. It was determined that sports branches such as ice skating and yoga were transferred to children more intensely through female characters. It was determined that some sports branches such as football and cycling are transferred more intensely through male characters.

Convolutional neural network for substantiation of children's books, intelligent interactive communication and application analysis of voice question answering

At present, there are many children accompanying robots. A key indicator to measure their performance is convenient and efficient human–computer interaction. The implementation of voice question-answering technology needs to solve three problems: voice recognition, the establishment of a knowledge base, and answer matching. As the front-end data entry, speech recognition accuracy is directly related to the answer-matching effect of the back-end question-answering system. Based on convolutional neural network and intelligent communication technology, this paper analyzes the characteristics of children's reading robot and designs and develops intelligent voice interaction function on the Android platform. The focus of this paper is on Chinese word segmentation and keyword extraction and matching in the interaction function. Further, we designed a simple question-and-answer database for the children's reading robot. In this paper, convolutional neural network connection timing is used as the feature parameter. Through a large number of experiments, the structure of the CNN network is constantly adjusted to minimize the word error rate, optimize the model recognition rate, and better identify users' voice problems.

Self-Reflexivity and Inter-textuality: A Study of Jostein Gaarder 's Sophie's World as a Meta-fictional Work

Jostein Gaarder (1952- ) is a Norwegian thinker and author of a great number of novels, short stories, and children's books among them Sophie's World. This novel deals with a number of issues, and uses a lot of postmodern techniques like meta-fiction. This paper is to explain the use of meta-fiction in the concerned novel to the readers as a postmodern element. Sophie's World, besides being a great philosophical one, it contains several meta-fictional elements like: the story has another story within, commenting on the story while telling it; the narrator exposes himself as both: a character and the narrator, and many more elements. The paper is divided into two sections and a conclusion. Section one deals theoretically with meta-fiction, self-reflexivity and inter-textuality as postmodern techniques. Section two is the analysis of the novel. At the end of the paper is the conclusion which will show the findings of the analysis. The paper end with the works cited.

초등학생을 위한 전통생활문화중심 향토문화유산 수업 자료 개발

This study aimed to develop experiential educational content for elementary school students,
 focusing on traditional aspects of life culture. The primary goal was to preserve and pass on the
 educational value associated with cotton cultivation and weaving, considered valuable elements of
 local cultural heritage. Leveraging cotton cultivation and weaving as the central themes, eight core
 content areas were identified from six broader categories within traditional life and culture. These
 areas encompassed clothing, food, daily living, seasonal customs, traditional games, and other aspects
 of life. In total, 16 topics were selected. The core content areas covered a range of topics,
 including farming practices, the importance of agricultural heritage, the weaving process and its
 meaning, local seasonal customs, the growth and cultivation of cotton, sustainable clothing practices
 and livelihoods, crafting items from cotton and cotton fabric, the cultural importance of labor and
 weaving songs, and engaging with natural village instruments in traditional play. Within the domain
 of traditional life and culture, there were many parts that corresponded to clothing, traditional
 games, and other facets of life. The curriculum analysis revealed that the lower grades aligned with
 integrated subjects and social studies, while the upper grades were related to practical arts, social
 studies, science, and music subjects. Teaching and learning materials were developed for each of the
 16 topics, including lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, activity sheets, and teaching aids. These
 teaching-learning course plans outlined the learning objectives, elementary school subject-related
 units, alignment with the 2015 revised curriculum’s achievement standards, and learning goals. A
 total of 16 PowerPoint presentations, each containing 15 to 34 chapters, along with 13 types of
 activity sheets and ten teaching aids, were created. The content was designed to be experiential,
 incorporating various games, making activities, photos, videos, children's books, and drawing materials.
 The educational materials can be adapted for younger students in lower grades and extended to
 middle school students in upper grades for career exploration. Furthermore, these materials hold the
 potential to generate income in rural communities by involving local residents. These developed
 experiential education materials are expected to serve as a means to preserve agricultural and
 cultural heritage and as a valuable resource for sustainable and environmental education.

Socialisation of children to nurse and nursing images: AGoffman-inspired thematic analysis of children's picture books in a Swedish context.

Picture books are often part of children's socialisation processes, contributing to the children forming images of the world, including ideas about (categories of) people, such as nurses. The study aims to explore how nurses/nursing are portrayed in children's picture books in a Swedish context. Through a systematic search, 44 books were included for analysis using thematic analysis and a theoretical lens inspired by Goffman. The results were presented in three themes: 'The costume characterised and designated nurses', 'Nurses and nursing were defined through specific activities and accessories', and 'Nurses' role as caregivers and decency practitioners'. The results showed that nurses were depicted/described in varied contexts, performing their roles mainly front stage in 'hands-on work' in close contact with patients and relatives. Nurses were attributed different accessories and personality characteristics. Nurses/nursing were generally set within a healthcare context, oftentimes within an overarching medical logic. Historical depictions of nurses'uniforms still appeared as a signifier for nurses/nursing. The presentation of nurses/nursing might have potential implications on children's understanding of and for reputations of nurses/nursing in the long term as primary socialisation and related understandings of the (sub)world(s) are deeply rooted in humans.

Speech-Language Pathologists' Implementation of Theory of Mind Concepts Within Therapy: An Exploratory Survey

Purpose: Understanding others' mental states including thoughts (cognitive theory of mind [ToM]) and feelings (affective ToM) is an important component of communication, particularly for individuals with communication challenges. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are critical members of the team that supports these individuals; however, little is currently known about how SLPs approach therapy involving ToM components. This exploratory study seeks to establish foundational knowledge about the current practices SLPs use when incorporating ToM. Method: SLP participants completed an online survey ( N = 86) that asked about their incorporation of ToM topics and skills into therapy with a focus on literacy activities. Results: All SLPs reported working on ToM topics to some extent, most frequently on emotional awareness in the self and others and to a lesser extent on understanding others' thoughts. They reported targeting ToM components with different clinical populations: mostly individuals with autism spectrum disorder and social communication disorder, but also those with expressive/receptive language disorders and preschool-age students. The majority of SLPs reported using books to work on ToM skills. We provide a summary of the various features of books that SLPs used in the selection process and with their reported relative importance. Conclusions: Many SLPs reported working on affective ToM and to a lesser extent cognitive ToM with children who have a variety of communication needs. Children's books were a common way in which many SLPs targeted a variety of communication goals in addition to perspective-taking or ToM topics. Understanding the current implementation of ToM topics in therapy can help guide neurodiversity-affirming intervention and literacy practices for currently practicing SLPs. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24175557

A Philosophy Examination of Root Values in Serhan Kansu's Children's Books

Bireyin toplumsal ve evrensel değerleri kazanma sürecinde çocuk yazınının önemli bir işlevi vardır. Bu anlamda öncelikli öneme sahip ve disiplinler arası etkisi olan kök değerlerin kazandırılması gerekmektedir. Değer aktarımının yapılması kadar kullanılan yöntemin etkililiği de bir o kadar önemlidir. Bu alanda okurları düşündürmeye yönlendirecek felsefe içerikli çocuk kitapları dikkat çekmektedir. Bu araştırmada Serhan Kansu’nun çocuk kitaplarındaki kök değerlerin belirlenmesi ve ilgili değerlerin aktarılmasındaki felsefi içeriklerin incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden tarama ve doküman incelemesi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Verilerin elde edilmesinde döküman incelemesi yapılmış, ortaya çıkan verilerin analizi sürecinde betimsel analiz ve içerik analiz yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Analiz yapılırken kök değerler (adalet, sabır, saygı, sevgi, sorumluluk, dostluk, dürüstlük, öz denetim, yardımseverlik ve vatanseverlik) dikkate alınmıştır. Çocuk kitaplarında yer alan değerlerin dağılımı frekans ve sayfa numaraları ile verilmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda incelenen çocuk kitaplarından en çok sevgi ve yardımseverlik değerine en az ise dürüstlük değerine yer verildiği tespit edilmiştir. Yazarın okurları düşünmeye, sorgulamaya yönlendirecek zengin felsefi içerikli değer aktarımı yaptığı belirlenmiştir.

Gender-inclusive picture books in the classroom: A multimodal analysis of male subjective agencies

This article examines the representations of agentive identity of non-normative male protagonists in children's picture books in relation to the affordances of this material for classroom activities. The analysis of protagonists’ agencies in five picture books revealed varied instantiations of the New Age Boy masculinity schema. A multimodal transitivity analysis of protagonists’ agentive roles yielded a profile of individual agentive identity. Protagonists’ agentive roles when interacting with conflictive antagonist characters were compared with their agentive roles when not interacting with them. Variations were significantly associated with the social domains where the conflict took place (family, school, or community) as different ways of responding to social rejection. The findings of the study concerning the representation of protagonists’ agencies provide young readers with models of action in situations of social rejection that can help make more informed decisions for guiding the selection of gender-diverse reading material and of classroom activities of critical thinking and multimodal literacy.

Feasibility analysis of children's game picture book creation in ancient Chinese paintings

Children's games are a long-standing historical and cultural phenomenon, and are an important form of social education for children and children's self-learning and development. China has a long history of development, and there are countless existing ancient books that record and describe children's games, many of which are still worth publishing in modern society but have been shelved and forgotten, these game methods deserve attention. By discussing the feasibility of picture book creation for classical Chinese games, this paper aims to enrich the theme of domestic picture books, arouse people's strong interest in Chinese traditional culture, and promote China's excellent traditional culture.

Investigation and analysis of digital demand for children's books

Purpose: This study aims to examine and assess the requirements of Chinese children in relation to digital reading. It also seeks to explore the challenges that arise in the production of digital reading materials for children while proposing principles for their future development.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: A sample of 600 participants was selected from mainland China for the purpose of this study. A total of 483 valid surveys were gathered and utilized to examine the elements that influence the effectiveness of digital reading in children.
 Findings: The results of this study demonstrate a positive association between the level of digitalization in children's books and children's digital reading proficiency. These findings show that a greater degree of digitization is linked to a more advantageous impact on digital reading skills.
 Conclusion: To enhance the efficacy of digital reading among children, it is imperative to strengthen the level of digitization in the design of children's books while concurrently fostering children's willingness towards digital books. In digitizing children's books, it is essential to enhance the usability of goods, simplify operation processes, and reduce the design of interfaces to foster a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction among young readers.
 Research Limitations: The target user group for this study is children between the ages of 3-6. Due to the young age of the study subjects, they cannot fill out the questionnaire independently, and the questionnaire is filled out with the assistance of their parents, which cannot fully reflect the subjective intention and actual situation of the study subjects.

Application of Mianzhu New Year Painting Art Style in Childrens Picture Books

This paper analyzes the attraction of children's language learning and literacy through the collation of Chinese Mianzhu New Year's Paintings art style, analyzes the attraction of children's language learning and literacy through the reading of early children's New Year's Paintings art style picture books, summarizes the use of pre-school children's favorite picture book survey reports and data, and analyzes the case of the excellent picture book design that has won awards for integrating the Chinese traditional art style, and the result shows that Mianzhu New Year's Paintings art style has great potential to be explored in the field of picture books. The results show that Mianzhu Nianhua art style in the field of picture books has great potential to be explored, and its artistic characteristics have strong extensibility and integration, and the use of saturated, bright colors combined with children's favorite picture book themes will be more attractive to children to read picture books. This study provides a new design reference for the integration of traditional Chinese art styles with children's picture books, which can enhance children's language learning and literacy skills while promoting the traditional Chinese art of Mianzhu New Year's Paintings.

‘An Awakening of the Senses’: Reading Julia Child's My Life in France as Gastrography

ABSTRACT This paper explores the generic boundaries of Julia Child's My Life in France, and argues for its inclusion in non-fiction narrative food writing forms—variously termed food memoir, gastrography, and culinary autobiography, to name a few—typified by gastronomic literature. Food writing has been underpinned by a gendered philosophical framework that pits the (female-coded) domestic cookbook against a more generically malleable, narratively confessional, and structurally playful food writing, like (male-coded) gastronomic literature. Given its parallels to gastronomic literature—its irreverent tone, deep appreciation for cooking and eating, and dynamic form that melds travel writing, food writing, recipe, photo, and personal memory—I argue that to read Child's book as just ‘memoir’ would be to elide its connection to a broader culinary and literary tradition. Instead, I demonstrate the opportunity to reconsider women's existing contributions to a food writing style previously categorised as male. Reading My Life in France as an example of a specific kind of food/life writing builds on the work of Alice McLean and Traci Marie Kelly in contributing to an aesthetics of women's narrative nonfiction food writing.