Topic 3: Selection criteria

of children’s literature

Presented by:
Pn Suraya Harun
TSLB3223 Children’s Literature
 Introduction
Good children’s literature should foster child’s healthy
development in all of its aspects: emotional, cognitive,
intellectual, social, cultural and moral.
Teaching children about literature should not be just about
teaching reading and language skills (Serafini, 2011). Primarily
it should be about teaching relationships between books and
children (Weih, 2014a).
When faced with a diverse classroom of children, teachers
frequently are unaware of the backgrounds of their individual
students, so it is imperative that teachers make available to
children all types of books and reading material that children
could personally relate to at some internal level. However,
this presents the dilemma of how to select the right
books/materials.

 Thus, teachers should be prepared to examine

books/materials based on their students’ interests, cultures,
and developmental characteristics.
 Selection criteria of children’s
literature

Elements:
 Characters  Age
 Storyline  Content
 Setting  Visuals/Illustrations
 Language
 Themes
 Language learning
 Values potential
 Characters (i)
 The characters should be ones that children would
be interested in.
 The characters can either be similar to them or
drastically different from them.
 If the characters are animals, the author should
develop them as fully as she would if they were
humans (in the following criteria, the word
“characters” is also intended to include “animals”
as characters in a story). This will make them
relatable to children.
 Characters (ii)

 The characters should be clearly and thoroughly

described in the first few pages in either
 words or illustrations. If not in illustrations, then
with words so descriptive, that the
 children will be able to create an imaginary image
of the characters in their minds.
 The characters should have multiple layers of
personality, or a collection of qualities,
 revealed through how they act, talk, and think.
 Characters (iii)

 The behaviour and thinking of the characters

should change and develop through the story,
they should not remain the same or stagnant.
 For example, instead of choosing Cinderella, which
perpetuates the stereotype of the lead female
character as passive, dependent and naive, teachers
could instead choose Robert Munsch's The
Paper Bag Princess in which the lead female
character is portrayed as brave and independent.
 Storyline (i)

Questions to ponder:
 Are the stories interesting to children?
 Are there various conflicts for children to explore?
 How are the conflicts resolved?
 Storyline (ii)
 If the book is a novel, something exciting, surprising,
and maybe shocking should happen in each chapter.
 If the book is a picture book, something exciting, or
surprising, or maybe even shocking should happen on
each page.
 The plot of the story should be the rising action building
to a clear, distinguishable, and important peak or climax
when all the story’s suspenseful events come together.
 The falling action should lead the story characters past
the climax to a satisfying resolution regarding their
problems or conflict.
 Storyline (iii)
 If the book is dull to you, it will be dull for children, be
aware of dumbed down plots or over simplification of
words, action, and problems.
 Children are drawn to excitement and uniqueness, just as
adults are, just because it is a book for children, does not
mean it should be devoid of interesting vocabulary; it
should just be a topic that they can relate to, understand,
and care about.
 Many times, children will struggle through on their own in
reading a book that is above their reading ability just
because they have strong personal motivation to read it
(see Weih, 2014b).
 Setting
 The location of the story should be clearly described in
either words, illustrations, or a combination of both.
 The time of the story should be clearly identified in either
words, illustrations, or a combination of both.
 Both time and location should be addressed early in the
book-the first few pages.
Questions to ponder:
 Do the stories reflect a variety of settings?
 Are urban, suburban, and rural settings represented
realistically?
 Are cultural settings represented realistically?
 Themes

Does the story offer children a

variety of themes to think about, to
question, and to consider?
 Values

 Are values being explored instead of

preached?
 Are there lessons to be learned?
 Values

 Materials for children should carry explicit and

positive moral message, promote appropriate
attitude and behaviour models, and distance
themselves from:
 - largely accepted examples of dishonesty (for
instance cheating in school, taking others’ property),
violence as a way of solving conflicts or as a tool of
domination, bullying, cuteness, breaking norms - that
is behaviours that hurt and bring damages to society.
 Age

 Are the stories age appropriate to ensure children can

understand what is presented?
 Avoid sensitive matters which include racist, sexist or
other stereotypical messages.
 If young children are repeatedly exposed to biased
representations through words and pictures, there is
a danger that such distortions will become a part of
their thinking, especially if reinforced by societal
biases.
 Content

 The responsibility of adults/teachers to select

literature that is entertaining, age appropriate, and
that provides children with accurate representations
of all people
 Visuals/Illustrations

 “children like pictures and children need pictures”

(Nodelman & Reimer, 2003)
 The visuals/illustrations should tell a story, be
colourful and as large as possible and take up most of
each page.
 Each page should have visuals/illustrations that catch
the children’s attention and arouse interest, curiosity
and stimulate the imagination.
 Language

Is the language use suitable for the

children?
Expressions & vocabulary?
 Language Learning Potential

What are the opportunities for

language learning?
 Reference

 Weih, T. G. (2015). How to Select Books for Teaching

to Children: Taking a Critical Look at Books Through a
Pedagogical Lens. (https://
files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED554313.pdf)
 http://www.cabrillo.edu/~ogarcia/Assess_Childrens_Li
terature.pdf