Picture books are an important medium that children encounter as early as the preschool period. From the first months of life, they begin to stimulate their imagination, which is the basic element through which a child develops understanding. Picture books help them understand emotions, as the characters empathize with and understand them. This makes it much easier for children, and they enjoy immersing themselves in books that take them into their own world. Through books, they also encounter bibliotherapy, which has many positive effects, such as promoting empathy and development. By developing empathy and understanding, they also learn about other concepts like difference and diversity, which can be linked to non-acceptance and rejection. Through picture books and bibliotherapy, we enable children to recognize differences, solve problems, and ensure inclusivity for those who are different from themselves. Educators and adults can ensure early on that children are introduced to diverse literature, engage in critical discussions about it and guide them to develop into empathetic and reasonable adults.
In my thesis, I aimed to help educators select stories that introduce children to the concept of diversity. Through stories, children will develop empathy and understanding for those different from themselves. Using both domestic and foreign professional literature, I presented what a picture book is, how it is integrated into the preschool curriculum, the types of picture books, and what a problematic picture book is. Additionally, I explored how diversity is defined, what bibliotherapy is, its goals, advantages, and obstacles. I also presented the types of bibliotherapy, the process, and its impacts on working with children. In the empirical part, I introduced picture books and created a list of literature with various themes that children encounter early in life. With this list, educators can introduce concepts such as diversity to children.
|
