Introduction

Children’s literature is important because it provides students with opportunities to respond to literature; it gives students appreciation about their own cultural heritage as well as those of others; it helps students develop emotional intelligence and creativity; it nurtures growth and development of the student’s personality and social skills; and it transmits important literature and themes from one generation to the next. —Through the Eyes of a Child by Donna North (2010)

It is no surprise that reading to kids and getting them to read is extremely important, but why? Donna Norton makes it clear in her book Through the Eyes of a Child that young people need to read a variety of literature for many reasons. They have been distilled down to the five essentials:

1. Children’s literature provides students with the opportunity to respond to literature and develop their own opinions about the topic. It is in this way that children’s literature strengthens young people’s ability to think critically. Good literature does not tell a child what to think, rather it enables young readers to infer. It empowers them to add meaning to what is written and that meaning comes from the relationships, environments, experiences, and meaningful objects in the persons’ lives. The very same piece of writing evokes a different meaning according to each child’s lived experience. The meaning created from good children’s literature may be as varied and vast as each reader that reads it. A reader may assign unique dialogue and story from the pictures; a reader may imagine the literary scene from a chapter book. In these ways, young readers innately create meaning as well as opinions about the children’s literature they are consuming.

2. Children’s literature provides an avenue for students to learn about their own cultural heritage and the cultures of other people. Having a positive view of both the young reader’s heritage and culture and that of cultures different than their own is crucial for personal and social development. Reading books about a child’s familial culture reaffirms their cultural connections as well as their cultural identity. Children’s literature allows young audiences to comfortable explore cultures different than their own from the comfort and safety of their chosen environment, thus, viewing difference with curiosity and wonder rather than powerlessness and overwhelm.

3. Children’s literature helps students develop emotional intelligence. Stories have the power to promote emotional and moral development. Time and time again children’s books provide moments of crisis and conflict in which the character(s) process and figure out how to process and eventually make some sort of “right” decision—an important process to see modeled. Children’s literature helps young readers understand deep, complex emotions and events they experience—grief, war, death, loneliness.

4. Children’s literature also encourages creativity. It nurtures and expands the way a young reader views the world. For example, in Zoe Miller and David Goodman’s book Faces, everyday objects become faces. Kids are urged to think-outside-the-box and expand their sense of imagination. Joy Richardson’s book Looking at Pictures delves deep into many aspects of art such as the hidden meanings in works of art, how artists use color, and the different types of paintings such as portraits, still life and landscapes. These books’ design and interactivity encourage young people to imagine and learn about art and creating.

5. Children’s literature is of value because it fosters personality and social development. Literature encourages students to be considerate and friendly people, and these traits may be consistent with developing students into quality citizens. Exposing children to quality literature can contribute to the creation of responsible, successful, and caring individuals.

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Written by Kathryn J. Beherns CC-BY-NC-SA Studying children’s literature; An introduction to children’s literature, and adapted from Through the eyes of a child by Donna North (2010).