M01 ande5832 04 se c01. indd

20
P A R T I :
Entering the World of Children’s Literature
•
Stretching attention spans
•
Empathizing with other people’s feelings and problems
•
Learning ways to cope with their own feelings and problems
•
Widening horizons as they vicariously learn about the world
•
Developing an interest in new subjects and hobbies
•
Understanding the heritage of their own and other cultures
•
Acquiring new knowledge about nature
•
Bringing history to life
•
Stimulating aesthetic development through illustrations
•
Exploring artistic media used in illustrations
Some educators teach reading through trade books—children’s literature—in-
stead of using the reading textbooks known as basal readers (see Chapter 14 ). In 
such classrooms, all the children may read the same book, or they may select their 
own literature to read. Some teachers provide a list of books from which children 
can choose. Children’s literature is surely more interesting to read than basal readers, 
which typically contain only excerpts of books or picture book stories minus most of 
the pictures. Children’s literature is definitely more interesting than the basal reading 
programs’ workbooks, worksheets, and board work (read “bored work”). Children 
learn to read by reading, and what better for children to read than the literature cre-
ated just for them?
P
rereading Schema Building 
In this last section, I introduce you to a strategy that will help readers better com-
prehend and enjoy the books they read. The strategy is grounded in reader response 
theory, which posits that in order to interact with text, the reader must bring some-
thing to the reading process. This something is called schema , “a system of cognitive 
structures stored in memory that are abstract representations of events, objects, and 
relationships in the world” (Harris & Hodges, 1995, p. 227 ). Schemata (the plural 
of schema ) are more generally referred to as background experience or prior knowl-
edge. In order to comprehend (and therefore fully enjoy) a book, readers must be 
able to integrate or connect new information in the text with their networks of prior 
knowledge. Reading then becomes an active process of constructing meaning. 
If children have little or no prior knowledge of the subject of a book, compre-
hension and enjoyment are seriously impaired. Perhaps you can relate to the fol-
lowing story. 
My eighth-grade English teacher assigned the class to read Ivanhoe (Scott), a 
book with a medieval setting first published in 1820. My library copy had no illus-
trations—not even on the cover! While slowly reading the first page, I asked myself, 
“What the heck are they talking about?” I reread the first page. I knew the meanings 
of nearly all the words, but I could not decipher the sentences. I looked at the back 
and saw the book was 352 pages! In tears, I went to my older (and smarter) sister 
and said, “I can’t understand this!” She gave me a brief description of the plot and 
M01_ANDE5832_04_SE_C01.indd Page 20 11/06/12 10:56 AM 
M01_ANDE5832_04_SE_C01.indd Page 20 11/06/12 10:56 AM 
F-401
F-401

---