Browsing by Author "Palonen, Sara"

Since the reader in child begins to form from infancy, children’s books play an important role in the language development. However, there hasn’t been much research on literature aimed at children under 3 years old. The objective of this study is to find out what type of factors are used to attract children to read picture books; how picture, text and different elements attempt to make children’s book interesting and how is it reflected in literature for under 3-year-olds. This research is conducted using discourse analysis, approaching the topic with social constructionism. As for the factors of attraction in children’s books, different discourses arose. The source material included Finnish books published between January 2021 and August 2023 for children under 3 years old, n=24. The discourses found in the study are linked to previous research findings as well as to the children’s worldview, which is reflected in children’s books. Three discourses were found as research results: the discourse of playfulness brings the element of fun to literature, the discourse of child’s development and experience reflects the child’s own world in literature and the discourse of functionality encourages the child to actively engage with the book. In the conclusion it is established that no book relies only on one factor of attractiveness, but they were used in various ways in all the different elements of the books: in pictures, text and other elements. The interaction with an adult is strongly linked to the attraction of reading as well