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P A R T I :
Entering the World of Children’s Literature
experience for any two readers. In addition, the meaning of a particular text may 
change even for the same reader when the work is reread at a later time, because the 
experience and the knowledge base of the reader has changed—even by the experi-
ence of having read the text. 
Responses do not necessarily need to be active or overt, such as discussing, writ-
ing, dramatizing, or drawing. With literature, the most fundamental response is the 
reader’s cognitive and emotional interaction with the characters and events of the 
book. One way to enhance this interaction is to engage children with questions dur-
ing and after reading. (Some sample questions are presented in Box 2.2 .) 
Although it is acceptable to discuss the story while it is being read, it will be 
far more productive for the reader to save any serious analysis until after he or 
she has had time to live through the experience —involving himself or herself in 
an evocation. Evocation and analysis cannot occur at the same time. Therefore, it 
is essential for adults to wait for children to internalize the story before formally 
analyzing it or its elements with them, thereby avoiding the risk of imposing their 
own or someone else’s analysis. During this time for internalizing, I suggest the 
teacher do something other than analysis with the story; for example, read some-
thing that relates to the story or connect the story to another subject area such as 
social studies by talking about the setting. After a minimum of one day, teachers 
can return to the story. At that time, children should be able to analyze the story 
informally and spontaneously. 
One way for the teacher to initiate analysis is to ask children to draw a scene 
as they visualize it while hearing a passage. This is a most productive activity for 
all ages, because much will be revealed that the teacher could learn in no other