This is the third in a series of articles on choosing a children’s book. Last time, I defended the crucial importance of choosing books with subjective appeal – that is, books that a child likes, and not books that are simply good for a child in some way. In this article I will begin to discuss the considerations that make up the subjective appeal of a book. Specifically, I will discuss the role of the themes in a book in making it attractive to a child, and try to provide specific guidance on what to look for in the themes of a children’s book.
What do I mean by the “themes” of a children’s book? By “themes” I mean the specific content of the book, or what the book is about. For example, in a science book on snakes, the topic might just be snakes. Or, in a book like The Invention of Hugo Cabret, topics might include coping with loss or finding one’s purpose in the world. In a book like Martin’s Big Words, topics can include justice, equality, and love.
The key to choosing a book with themes that will make the book attractive to a child is to choose themes that relate directly to the child’s experience. Some aspects of a child’s experience will be shared with most other children of his age or developmental category.
For example, most children in the infant to two-year-old category are acquiring basic language and concepts, are learning to control their bodies in various basic ways, and are beginning to recognize some of the objects in the world. Since most children up to 2 years old share experiences of this type, books with topics that are directly related to these experiences will be thematically appropriate for their age.
Therefore, for the two-year-olds category, age-appropriate topics may include colors and numbers (e.g., A Red Sun: A Counting Book, by Ezra Jack Keats), the alphabet (p. Eg, ABC’s from Dr. Seuss, from Dr. Seuss), making noise (eg, Clap Hands by Helen Oxenbury), dogs (eg, Follow Carl !, from Alexandra Day), training to go to the bathroom (eg, Once Upon a Potty, by Alona Frankel) and bedtime (eg, Grandpa Twilight, by Barbara Helen Berger).
Children in the three to five year old category are learning to do more for themselves, they continue to gain a greater understanding of how the world works, they are working on mastering their impulses and emotions, they are beginning to navigate relationships with children. parents, siblings and friends, and they are beginning to acquire basic values. Therefore, age-appropriate topics may include doing things “on my own” (eg, Hey, Little Baby !, from Nola Buck), going to the zoo (eg, When We Went to the Zoo, by Jan Ormerod), get angry (eg, When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry …, by Molly Bang), or friendship (eg, Frog and Toad Are Friends, by Arnold Lobel) .
Age-appropriate topics for children in the six to eight year category may include relationships at school (for example, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes), pets (for example, Comet’s Nine Lives by Jan Brett), moral character (for example, Once Mouse … by Marcia Brown) and family relationships (Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig). Age-appropriate topics for children in the nine to twelve-year-old category may include friendships, conflicts between good and evil (eg, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling), and finding a place in the world (eg, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick). These age-appropriate topic lists are just a start and should not be taken as exhaustive.
Finally, while age-appropriate topics will likely connect with any child in a certain age or developmental category, there will also be certain topics that will appeal to the particular child you have in mind simply because of their specific interests. For example, my eight-year-old daughter has always been fascinated by all things scientific, and especially the science of living things. When she was about five years old, her aunt gave her a book on plant function and anatomy, and she devoured it. He still talks to me about “stomata” and “pistils” years later! In my initial estimate, this type of book would have been very boring for a five-year-old (and it would be boring for many five-year-olds). But, for my little scientist, it was fascinating because she had a special interest in the subject of the book.
The bottom line is this: when choosing a book for a child, consider the book’s themes and whether they connect with the child’s current life experiences, given his age and special interests. Topics of this type will help make the book attractive to the child you are choosing. In fact, sometimes an interesting topic alone is enough to make a book attractive to a child.
In the next post in this series, I will continue to discuss the particular factors that contribute to a book’s subjective appeal. Specifically, I will address the important issue of the quality of illustrations.
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