Thinking through Children’s Literature in the Classroom

Book excerpt: This book is the result of understanding literature as a central part of children’s education. Fiction and nonfiction literary works constitute a source to open young minds and to help them understand how and why people – themselves included – live as they do, or to question through critical lenses whether they could live otherwise. By integrating philological, cultural, and pedagogical inquiries, Thinking through Children's Literature in the Classroom approaches the use of literature as a crucial factor to motivate students not only to improve their literacy skills, but also to develop their literary competence, one that prepares them to produce independent and sensible interpretations of the world. Of course, the endeavor of forming young readers and fostering their ability to think begins primarily by having well-read teachers who are enthusiastic about teaching and, secondly, by having students who are willing to learn. To encourage and sustain them through the critical turns of their own thinking processes, educators must surely display a sound pedagogic knowledge apart from deep literary expertise.