Research on children's literature focuses on preschool children's books (children aged 3-6) and on juvenile fiction, yet is lacking in studies on toddler books (ages 0-3). In this paper, I present a definition of the genre of "toddler books" (often referred to as "boardbooks," despite it including non-boardbooks), while…

Recent biological research (Trewavas, 2003; Mancuso & Viola, 2013; Gagliano, 2018) has (re)demonstrated the variety and complexity of the adaptive behaviour of plants. In parallel with these findings, and in acknowledgement of the important role played by plants in the biosphere and climate of the planet, the representation of plants in…

Margaret Meek Spencer's writings on literacy evoke reading and storymaking as processes of inquiring; of searching into mystery. This paper considers how Meek's preoccupations with reading process; genre literacy; and text-image dialogism resonate deeply with the genre of young people's mystery and detective fiction. Drawing on Meek's seminal…

There is a new "genre" of literature that is aimed explicitly at adults and children, or sometimes simply at adults, which follow the formula of the picture book: the inclusion of a simple text accompanying provocative images, and sometimes images alone. On the surface they may seem best suited for the "children's section" of a…

This content analysis explored children's fictional storybooks and informational science books to determine their differences in high-quality text features that support oral language (OL) development. We also explored the opportunities for OL development in curricular books compared to trade books. Using systematic coding procedures, we evaluated…

This article examines the reconstruction of human foibles in picturebook adaptations of three popular Aesop's fables: "The Ants and the Grasshopper", "The Lion and the Mouse", and "The Hare and the Tortoise". Adopting adaptation and globalectics perspectives, the author illustrates how social hierarchy is…

In this study, children's meeting with the classics through Mavisel Yener's work named "Eternity Library" will be exemplified by discussing intertextual relations. The study is qualitative and descriptive. By using intensive sampling, which is one of the purposeful sampling types, the aforementioned children's book was chosen because it…

Children's storybooks often contain fantasy elements, from dragons and wizards to anthropomorphic animals that wear clothes, talk, and behave like humans. These elements can impact children's learning from storybooks both positively and negatively, perhaps due in part to their ability to capture children's interest and attention. Prior research…

This article employs the theory of social minds proposed by Alan Palmer ("Social Minds in the Novel," 2010) to argue for the emergence of a group-based thinking, feeling, and acting focused on reforming the status quo, using David Whitley's Agora trilogy (2009--2013) as an example of Radical Fantasy. This particular subgenre of fantasy…

Fiction, more than expository text, nurtures intimate connections between text and the reader's life experiences. This dimension of reader response is underexplored in relation to children. Adapting methods from Empirical Literary Studies to educational research objectives, the authors employed the concept of 'remindings', i.e. reminiscing…

This article argues that two significant recent influential historical novels about the Holocaust, "Hitler's Daughter" (1999) and "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2006), reprise the genre traits of the "Bildungsroman" or novel of development and can be regarded as remarkably effective in engaging an active reader.…

Gareth B. Matthews (1929-2011) inaugurated the study of philosophy in children's literature by simultaneously arguing (1) that philosophy is essentially an encounter with certain kinds of perplexities, (2) that genuine philosophical perplexities are readily found in many children's stories, and (3) that many children are capable of appreciating…

Background: The current study provides information about differences in parent-child discourse during shared book reading (SBR) surrounding narrative and didactic book genres about 'positive' (e.g. love, happiness) and 'negative' (e.g. anger and sadness) emotions. Research shows that characteristics of different children's book genres impact…

Children's literature in the Arabic language has seen an impressive boom in the last decade both in quantity and quality. Arabic children's literature awards have also increased in number and competitiveness. However, children's literature in the Arabic language continues to be criticised for not being appealing to children, due to its didactic…

This paper reads the U.K. Government's "fundamental British values" project alongside two children's Gothic novels, "Coram Boy" (2000) by Jamila Gavin and "City of Ghosts" (2009) by Bali Rai. In 2011 the U.K. Government outlined what it described as "fundamental British values" (FBV), making it a requirement…