This study examined the reception of the novel Habibie & Ainun (2010) using Jauss' literary reception theory, focusing on how readers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds interpret biographical prose fiction. Employing a mixed-method approach, this research involved 145 students from universities in Indonesia, including Manado State University, Makassar State University, Republic of Indonesia Teachers Association Wiranegara University, and Timor University. Data were collected through surveys with both qualitative and quantitative elements and analyzed using Jamovi and NVivo software. Findings revealed that factors such as personal experience, historical context, and generational differences shape how readers interpret the novel. The majority of readers (58%) brought preset expectations, aligning with the concept of the readers' horizon of expectations. While most readers felt emotionally connected to the characters, younger readers struggled to personally identify with them due to a lack of direct experience with the historical context. Nonetheless, universal themes like love and sacrifice resonated strongly. This research supports the SDGs by enriching literary literacy studies in historical and cultural contexts and promoting literary accessibility for diverse reader groups.

Infographics have become one of the most important journalistic products in online media, especially for young readers who prefer visually rich and concise content. However, infographics are still often perceived merely as tools for presenting data, whereas they contain narratives, visual choices, and symbolism that can influence public emotions and perceptions. The urgency of this research arises from the fact that infographics depicting national representation often shape public perception subtly yet significantly. This study aims to analyze the role of infographics in sports journalism, focusing on infographics published by Okezone.com about the Indonesian National Team (Timnas Indonesia). Timnas holds a privileged position as a national symbol of pride, making its representation in infographics particularly important. The study employs visual content analysis with a descriptive qualitative approach, using seven infographics about Timnas Indonesia published in June 2025. The findings show that infographics do not merely present data and visuals; they also construct narratives and produce meanings for the public. Elements such as the red-white color palette, the Garuda emblem, player photographs, and statistical figures are combined to build the image of the national team. In both pre-match contexts and post-match reporting, the visuals convey optimism and heroism. These findings affirm that infographics play a crucial role in shaping perception and strengthening national identity on the international stage, while also contributing to visual journalism studies and editorial practices in producing more responsible and meaningful visual content.

Written by the founders of the Hijabi Librarians collective, this article offers a critical reflection on the group’s bibliographic, pedagogical, and public-facing interventions, proposing a conceptual expansion of Middle East librarianship to include coalitional engagement with non-regionally defined librarian-activist networks. The Hijabi Librarians, a collective of Muslim women youth services librarians, operate at the intersection of library science, critical pedagogy, and public scholarship. Their work intervenes in cultural and archival spaces where SWANA, diasporic, and Muslim identities are frequently misrepresented or erased. Amid the intensifying crisis in the region and its impact on communities across the diaspora, the collective’s advocacy for nuanced #OwnVoices representation in children’s and young adult literature takes on renewed urgency. Their interventions address enduring representational gaps while affirming the political, educational, and ethical power of youth literature. The article foregrounds the imaginative and empathetic potential of youth literature to serve as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, central metaphors in multicultural literacy, that enable readers to understand, connect with, and stand in solidarity with others. This literature is not only for children; it is for adults as well - creators, librarians, educators - who seek to preserve a sense of wonder, and resist the normalization of dehumanization. In a climate of escalating educational censorship that demands we relinquish imagination for political expedience, the defense of children's literature becomes a radical act: it resists the colonization of imagination and refuses to concede empathy, possibility, or humanity itself. The Hijabi Librarians’ model aligns with and expands MELA’s mission through anti-censorship work, public programming, evaluation toolkits, metadata ethics, and bibliographic equity. The article advances a coalition-oriented model of Middle East librarianship attuned to diasporic complexity, epistemic justice, and the ethical stewardship of children’s literature as a transformative cultural force for both young readers and adult practitioners.

Children's classics such as Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl (1947/1952) have proven to be very influential in helping young readers understand both the horror and the unending tedium of war. They have also been instrumental in encouraging publishers to make available other first-person narratives of children traumatised by war. However, life narratives of war have so far been explicitly white and western, overlooking stories from Asia and other parts of the world. So far, only a few Southeast Asian authors have been represented in the discussion of memoirs of war trauma for young readers, and even fewer of these authors have been young women or addressed the trials of living as a girl during wartime and as a refugee. As Sheila Allan notes in her introduction when explaining the reasons why she published her diary, ‘not many people know there were women and children interned in Changi Prison under the Japanese Occupation’. This article focuses on representations of war in childhood memories from Asian female authors that have been published for children in English, including Sheila Allan's Diary of a Girl in Changi (1994) and the verse novel Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2011) . The article especially looks at the effect of war on young women through an analysis of life-writing for young readers related to wars in Southeast Asia, in terms of what these first-person war narratives tell about war trauma and the tools the authors use to represent sensitive and traumatic events.

This paper complicates narratives of rurality and environmentalism in young adult fiction. Employing positioning theory and methods of critical content analysis, findings describe how rural youth respond to their social environments and environmental issues and what this might mean for young readers. The paper asserts that a focus on environmentalism in youth fiction can trouble dominant narratives of rural communities as either nostalgic and romanticised country places or hostile sites of economic and social disparities by revealing the complexity of rural life when grounded in hope and collective action around conservation and environmental protection.

This study explores how Eric Carle’s children’s storybook The Very Hungry Caterpillar creates depth in its narrative through visual components and tactile elements despite its limited text. Using a multimodal analysis approach, this study highlights the texture of the collage, the use of symbolic colors, and the die-cut holes as elements that can be felt. The results of this study show that the physical design of this book is not merely decorative, but functions as a key narrative guide that helps children understand the concepts of growth and change independently. The die-cut holes have a specific role as a physical symbol of hunger, allowing young readers to interact directly with the story. The combination of the book’s materials and visual storytelling has proven to transcend language barriers, making it an effective literacy tool for beginner readers. This research confirms that visual storytelling intertwined with the physical form of a book can convey complex philosophical themes more effectively than narratives composed solely of dense text. The success of this book confirms that tactile and visual elements are important literary tools in the world of children’s literature.

The article is devoted to Sasha Cherny’s latest author’s collections for children, published in exile: “The Silver Christmas Tree” (1929), “The Ruddy Book” (1930) and “The Seafaring Squirrel” (1933). The purpose of this work is to determine the author’s approach of Sasha Cherny to the formation of books for children. The following conclusions were reached during the study: the first works that open the collection can be called programmatic, since they set the main theme, images, and motifs. Each collection is based on different author’s approaches, the leading principle of unity is different: genre, thematic and artistic images. Each collection has its own themes, but there are common ones as well, such as motifs of joy and play. These define the tone of Sasha Cherny’s works for children, where all conflicts and dangerous situations are resolved happily. There is a special author’s narrative style: in some works, events are shown from the perspective of other beings, when the narrator provides a voice to his characters and animals or toys become the subjects of the focus. In some, on the contrary, the narrator’s voice and a special warm intonation are heard, which betrays the author’s attitude towards his characters: sympathy and empathy, irony or humor that relieves tension and sets the mood for a successful resolution of a difficult or dangerous situation. The collections Serebryanaya Yelka (The Silver Christmas Tree), Rumyanaya Knizhka (The Ruddy Book), Belka-moreplavatel’nitsa (The Seafaring Squirrel), and became the last Sasha Cherny’s books for children, in which the writer recalled his early work, told young readers about Russia, and delighted with the funny stories of his contemporaries.

Manga are imaginative graphic novels that often feature adventurous, motivational, and inspirational storylines. Manga genres are broadly categorized by their primary intended audience, as defined by age and gender. The two most popular are Shōnen, targeting male adolescents ages 12 to 17, and Seinen, targeting young male adults ages 18 to 30. These popular genres sometimes present content that depicts risk-taking behavior, such as substance use, which may have adverse effects on young readers. This study documents and compares substance use-related content in Shōnen and Seinen. The study sample consisted of 500 randomly selected chapters from a set of top-selling Shōnen and Seinen series. We used Fisher’s exact test to compare prevalence rates between the two genres. We found that 150 out of the 500 chapters (30%) had at least one depiction of substance use, related dialogue, or paraphernalia, with tobacco-related content comprising the majority of these depictions. Shōnen had more tobacco-related content than Seinen (p < 0.01), though the latter had more depictions of ashtrays (p < 0.01). Our sample presented no content related to vaping or prescription drug misuse. The nature and extent of this substance use-related content are generally consistent with current societal norms in Japan. Future research should examine whether young readers’ exposure to this content changes their beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions.

This study investigates the trajectories of formation and change in Indian children’s literature during British colonial rule. Archival materials and contemporaneous texts indicate that colonial educational policy, missionary interventions, and broader imperial imperatives not only structured emerging literary forms for young readers but also catalysed modes of creative dissent within juvenile writing.

Purpose Anthropogenic climate change presents urgent challenges requiring collective action. The purpose of this study is to examine how children’s picture books can serve as important tools for introducing youth to environmental responsibility and real-world activism. Design/methodology/approach Using a critical content analysis methodology, this study examined how climate change activism is represented in nine contemporary, award-winning picture books published between 2020 and 2023. Guided by Fletcher and Holyoke’s (2023) framework of activism typologies, texts were analyzed for narrative and visual elements that portray children’s agency in environmental contexts. Findings Findings reveal a spectrum of activism, ranging from everyday, to expansive, to transformative action and including activism that is only implied. This study reveals how these representations provide varied entry points for young readers to imagine themselves as capable environmental actors. Research limitations/implications Implications for teachers’ text selection and literacy instruction are discussed, including suggestions for how teachers can incorporate these texts through inquiry-based pedagogies that support young readers in engaging with policymakers around climate change topics. Originality/value Moreover, this study holds implications for how picture books may support children’s sense of self-efficacy and understanding of climate justice.

Children’s fiction often transcends its superficial framework as mere entertainment by implicitly addressing broader cultural, social, and political issues, which underscores its pedagogical function for young readers. This study examines the imperial ideology embedded in James M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy (the novelistic adaptation of his 1904 play Peter Pan). It aims to show how the novel, through the enchantments of its fantastical world and militarised adventure, aestheticizes and implants colonial beliefs and tendencies in children’s imagination, especially Edwardian young readers. Through the conceptual lens of postcolonial theory, the research examines the imaginary setting in Barrie’s novel, Neverland, which functions as an imperial nursery. This fictional island invites the implied child reader to absorb colonial thinking, thereby fortifying Britain’s colonial project and expansionist ideology. The text’s racial perspective and the belligerence of its boy-characters are pivotal aspects nurturing colonial ideology by cultivating ideas of hierarchy and superiority in the empire’s youth. Furthermore, the article demonstrates how the author’s use of war games, caricatures and mimicry naturalises power structures within the child’s worldview, paving the way for imperial thinking. The novel’s definition of gender roles is also fundamental to understanding the imperial subtext through Wendy’s role as an imperial mother. The research concludes that Peter and Wendy envisions an imaginative habituation realm where the future generations of the British Empire can rehearse imperial practices, asserting their mastery over exotic colonial subjects and territories.

Research objectives (aims) and problem(s): This study explores the influence of bookstagrammers on young readers and their families in the context of declining reading engagement among youth in the digital age. It investigates how social media, particularly Instagram, can be used to promote a love of reading and support the development of literacy skills. Research methods: A mixed-methods approach was adopted to assess the impact of bookstagrammers on reading habits. The quantitative component analyzed the behavior of literary influencers on Instagram, examining their posts and levels of engagement (likes, comments) to identify strategies used to promote reading. The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews with families, exploring their reading practices and the extent to which they followed bookstagrammer recommendations. Together, these methods provide a comprehensive picture of how digital literary influencers shape family reading habits and encourage engagement with literature. Process of argumentation: The article is organized into an introduction, a literature review on the educational role of social media, a methodology section outlining the research design, and a results section presenting the main findings. Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The study shows that bookstagrammers create interactive content, such as reading challenges and virtual book clubs, that captures the interest of young readers. These activities promote social interaction, encourage the exploration of diverse genres, and support the development of critical thinking. The findings suggest that integrating social media into reading practices can enhance literacy development and help build a community of engaged readers. Conclusions and/or recommendations: The study recommends that educators and families actively engage with bookstagrammers to create supportive reading environments. By embracing the innovative strategies used by literary influencers, stakeholders can help foster a generation of motivated readers, ultimately contributing to long-term gains in literacy, empathy, and cultural awareness in educational settings.

The Adventures of Rocksa (2025) occupies a significant place within contemporary Indian children’s ecofiction. In this book, Amrita Mitra presents a narrative that unites ecological learning, mythic symbolism, and adventures in childhood. The novel follows a young boy who survives a tsunami and finds a new life within a multispecies world, where turtles, birds, monkeys, dolphins, and other creatures shape his understanding of care, danger, and interdependence. Through these relationships, the book introduces young readers to the idea that ecological life depends on cooperation and shared responsibility. Its interplay of environmental themes, cultural motifs, and moral questions speaks to ongoing work in children’s literature and environmental humanities.

This article contains an overview of the censorship of Ukrainian children’s literature of the 20th – 21st centuries, which is largely related to socio-political processes and the dominant ideology. Another factor of prohibitions is contradictions with the accepted social, religious or sexual norms, as well as the traditional stereotypes about the upbringing of young people. The outline of the scope of ideological censorship, under the pressure of which Ukrainian children’s literature found itself during the totalitarian Soviet regime from 1922 to 1990, is presented. It is noted that censorship bodies were set up in the USSR to ban certain works in order to prevent the spread of national ideas and/or information that contradicted the communist ideology and the Soviet propaganda. For decades, special instructions were issued for recommended reading for children and for removing ‘harmful literature’ from reading rooms, bookstores, and the market in general. Simultaneously, bans and manifestations of censorship in children’s literature since the restoration of Ukraine’s independence (from the 1990s to today) are analyzed. It is asserted that the situation changed with the beginning of the post-totalitarian period in the history of Ukraine. Ideological involvement disappeared, whereas topics of national history, culture and traditions developed. Gradually, there was a conditional removal of taboos on ‘difficult’ topics for children (death, illness, sexual experience, psychological problems, etc.). New and non-stereotypical patterns of child behavior emerged in literature. Various genres of children’s literature actively developed, and writers learned to talk to young readers about everything while using ‘their’ language. The ratio of utilitarian and artistic in texts for children has been changing in favor of the latter.

The aim of the article is to reread and reinterpret the positivist fantasy-nature novel for children "Gucio zaczarowany" by Zofia Urbanowska through kerygmatic analysis. In this approach, the kerygma is understood as the proclamation of important religious truths (calling for conversion) through a literary text. Tracing the presence of numerous references to God and Christian sacrum in "Gucio zaczarowany" makes it possible to offer a fuller description of the phenomenon of work and nature in positivist prose for young readers. Christian sacrum manifests itself repeatedly in the novel, both on the linguistic and narrative levels: in the stylisation of the child’s dream as a journey through a “purgatory of nature,” in the utterances of anthropomorphised animals suffused with Christian symbolism, and in prayers. Faith in God and the spiritual experience of the sacred dimension of nature and work constitute the primary motivation for Gucio’s transformation, his conversion, and, consequently, his abandonment of an idle lifestyle.

In communist Poland, magazines, journals, and periodicals for children and teens were the most easily accessible carriers of popular culture. They provided support to school curricula. Among the various contents were those related to classical antiquity, which was still considered a relevant part of Polish cultural heritage. Antiquity was not only present in compulsory educational texts but also shown in an entertaining, non-serious way, providing amusement and attracting readers. The paper examines those aspects of antiquity that were officially-approved sources of humor in People’s Poland. Satirical drawings, comic strips, and humor sections in leading periodicals have been selected for an analysis designed to reflect the evolution over time of these permitted contents. Some of these drawings obviously used antiquity to mirror the times of their publication and the authors’ attitudes towards the communist regime. The example of the “cartoon sections” shows how, over the years, antiquity entertained young readers who, fascinated by the comic heroes, often absorbed, quite unconsciously, the knowledge and values at the roots of European culture. Drawing on antiquity in a humorous manner served a didactic purpose, as learning through fun is an effective way to acquire new knowledge.

Children’s literature functions as a critical medium for engaging young readers with real-world challenges and the transformative power of literacy. This paper examines two children picture books by Jeanette Winter, namely The Librarian of Basra (2005) and Nasreen's Secret School (2009), both of which portray literacy as a tool of empowerment and resistance in conflict zones. Set against the backdrops of the Iraq War and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, these two works center on individuals defying systematic oppression to safeguard education and knowledge. Despite their distinct settings, both stories portray the notion of literacy as a cornerstone of empowerment. Drawing on Freire’s (1970) conceptualization of education as a liberatory praxis, Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theories of learning, Bishop’s (1990) framework of literature as “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors,” and through close textual and visual analysis, this paper analyses how Winter’s narratives construct literacy as a fundamental human right and a catalyst for social change. Additionally, it examines how Winter’s portrayals of the protagonists’ actions, along with the broader sociopolitical contexts in which they operate, serve to elevate the importance of education—even at great personal risk. Ultimately, this study asserts that Winter’s poignant portrayal of these struggles tends to amplify marginalized voices, inspiring young readers to recognize and defend the transformative power of literacy.

This article focuses on the transformation of reading practices in the context of digital culture, with a particular emphasis on the social networks BookTok and Bookstagram. It explores how reading communities are formed, the unique visual and linguistic ways in which literature is discussed, and emerging models of cultural mediation. The article analyses the role of literary influencers as mediators between texts, platform algorithms and reader identities. It also explores the characteristics of digital reading, such as affectivity, visualisation and social visibility, that distinguish it from the traditional view of reading as a slow, linear process. The article argues that BookTok and Bookstagram represent a significant cultural and educational resource that can be used to develop reading and media literacy, and to create a more effective dialogue with young readers.

The relevance of the study. The article addresses the urgent need to modernize book promotion strategies in the context of digital transformation and declining interest in traditional reading among youth. Social media platforms, especially TikTok, have become powerful tools for engaging audiences through dynamic visual formats. The purpose of the study. The study aims to analyze the use of book trailers as a visual communication tool for promoting literature among young readers, with a focus on TikTok as a key distribution platform. The methodology. The research includes an analytical method (for reviewing scientific sources and determining the theoretical basis of the research), a content analysis method (for analyzing examples of book trailers on TikTok and YouTube), an empirical method (creating and testing our own book trailers), an audience segmentation method (based on age criteria and the 5W model), and the case study method (analysis of the effectiveness of specific videos based on TikTok Analytics data). The results. The analysis revealed that book trailers effectively attract the attention of the 13–27 age group. Despite a modest number of followers, the videos achieved high view counts and engagement rates, demonstrating the efficiency of visual storytelling in promoting books. The scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study lies in emphasizing modern approaches to the creation and promotion of book trailers, in particular their adaptation to the specifics of new social platforms and the use of the digital environment’s potential for effectively engaging the reading audience. The practical significance. The study offers a ready-to-apply model for creating and promoting book trailers on social media, including platform-specific content types and engagement strategies tailored to different audience segments. Conclusions. Book trailers have proven to be a relevant and effective digital tool for encouraging reading among young people. Their successful implementation depends on audience analysis, content quality, and alignment with platform trends, which together enhance literary interest and cultural engagement.

This article is dedicated to exploring the intertextual connections between media texts of various themes and the comments left on them by children aged 8 to 12. A targeted sampling method was used to select 30 media texts that address social issues, politics, nature and ecology, law, and culture, along with 306 comments made in response. Through comparative analysis, three types of relationships were identified between the stimulus text and the children’s response texts. The first type of relationship involves children responding generally to the issue presented in the news text, employing a holistic strategy. They express their emotions and sometimes provide examples from their own life experiences. The second type of relationship is characterised by young readers commenting on a particular fact from the news text that made an impression on them, employing an elemental strategy. These comments also exhibit copiousness, containing words and phrases from the media text. The third type is distinguished by the absence of any intertextual connection between the media text and the response texts. Young commentators may write on an unrelated topic or ask questions not connected to the news text, or simply express their gratitude for the news. Quantitative analysis of the types of relationships revealed that the first type predominates over the others. Consequently, in their comments, young readers primarily employ a holistic strategy rather than an elemental one. Thus, it can be concluded that age does not influence the relationship between the stimulus text and the response texts, as the previously identified intertextual connections in the adult readership do not differ from those found in the child audience.