Child Development: Responding to Children’s Literature

Both teachers and parents aspire to provide children with enriching and age-appropriate literary experiences. This chapter tackles SDG4 (Quality Education) to ensure all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education. Hence, they are ready for primary education. Adults must acquire a nuanced understanding of child development theories and milestones to achieve this goal. Teachers and parents with this knowledge are better equipped to select children’s books that meet their needs and interests and design book extensions that cognitively and emotionally engage them. The criteria for selecting children’s books must consider a child’s readiness to understand a story and its concepts and take perspective.