Children reap many benefits from consuming literature during their development. Martha Crippen of Luther College states various benefits of child literature in her article The Value of Child Literature, but I will summarize it to a few points. For one, children become able to analyze what they are reading and develop opinions about the information they were provided. From there, they are able to apply it to their own life in the sense of how it relates to experiences of their own or other’s family cultures. Additionally, Luther writes that children are able to develop emotional intelligence from reading about characters’ stories and applying it their past and future experiences.
Culture: All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
This book corporates elements that demonstrate why diversity and culture are valuable to children. The story takes place in a classroom setting, which I feel provides children with a stronger opportunity to understand why these subjects are valuable in their development. The authors choose to focus on elements that are highly visible to children, which helps convey the message in a more suitable manner. Through the illustrations and text in the book, I feel that All Are Welcome is a great choice to introduce children to other cultures so that they come to embrance diversity in their experiences.
Technology: If You Give a Mouse an iPhone by Ann Droyd (David Milgrim)
This book does a good job at demonstrating the power that cellphones/technology has in our lives and what people may miss out on if they overindulge themselves in screen time. As stated in an earlier blog post, I spent a lot of time outside as a kid. We had video games, but my brother and I really preferred to mess around outside since it was less likely to bore us. Technology is an increasingly important factor in children’s lives, so I think this book was a great idea. The author chooses to focus on the negative aspects of phones and how can cause you to miss cool memories that could’ve been formed. I think this is a smart way to go about it, since children, like adults, also suffer from FOMO and may take the message more seriously because of this fear.
Nutrition: Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Eating the Alphabet is an utterly classic book that teaches children about healthy eating choices while also being a simple, alphabet book. By keeping things simple, I feel that Ehlert is able to introduce schemas into children’s heads that may cause them to think “hmmm, I’d like to try ___” which may lead to them trying some healthy foods they may have not sought to ask for before. Of course, nutrition is an aspect of child development that is pretty dependent on resources and SES, but it will still allow parents and children to put eating healthy in their considerations.
Reference:
Crippen, M. (2019). The Value of Children’s Literature. Retrieved from https://www.luther.edu/oneota-reading-journal/archive/2012/the-value-of-childrens-literature/