Notes that children would learn much more from stories if they were allowed to relax, enjoy a story, and discover what it is they want or need from books. (HOD)

This paper explores child humor from the early years to adolescence. The immature child's humor is crude, rude, and hostile and gradually evolves into sophisticated, socially acceptable adult humor in the same way that the immature child in general evolves into the sophisticated adult, becoming decreasingly creative along the way. (JDD)

Examines approaches which have been successful in creating a humorous atmosphere in a Montessori class for 2- and 3-year olds, and reviews research findings with various ages and cross-cultural comparisons that contribute to an understanding of the role of humor in children's natural development. (Author)

Reports on the 1987 Drexel University/Free Library of Philadelphia Conference on Children's Literature. The edited text of the keynote address by Alvin Schwartz, "Children, Humor and Folklore," and the acceptance speech by Deborah Kogan Ray, recipient of the 1987 Drexel Citation, are included. Observations on humor from workshop sessions are…

Parents can help foster their children's success as readers by reading to them as much as possible. This paper, four of four on literature and the young child, discusses two ways that parents can help, stating that: reading to the child helps him or her develop and appreciate humor; and reading to the child helps him or her cope with uncomfortable…