"Helping adults find great children's books"
Today I continue my (lately dormant) series of articles on how to choose children’s books. In the last article in this series, “The Complexity of Children’s Stories and Social Development”, I discussed the “developmental value” of complex stories for children. Specifically, I argued that children’s books with complex plots and characters can promote important aspects [...]
I couldn’t resist posting this quote I came across recently in Plato’s Republic about stories, children, values, etc.: “Socrates: You know, don’t you, that the beginning of any process is most important, especially for anything young and tender? It’s at that time that it is most malleable and takes on any pattern one wishes to [...]
What makes for good children’s books? In this series on how to choose children’s books, I have suggested that choice-worthy children’s books have both subjective appeal, and developmental value. In other words, good kids’ books are appealing to a child, and help her grow. One characteristic that can affect the developmental value of a kids’ [...]
There is sometimes a difference between good children’s books, and books that children like. But what is that difference? I think it is summed up in the term “developmental value”: good children’s books are books that both appeal to kids, and help them to develop. In the previous article in this series—“Criteria for Book Selection: [...]
This article is the seventh in a series on selection criteria for children’s books. If you would like to read from the beginning, click on “How to Choose Children’s Books.” In this article, I will explain the concept of “developmental value,” and its importance as a selection criterion for children’s books. I will also give [...]
