The Importance Of Books In Childhood

Throughout our childhood, and children’s childhood we read books. I remember reading, and having so many favorite books. The books that I loved, I now read to my son, and I am sure he will read to his children as well. Books are used throughout different milestones in a child’s life, as the child grows; the books change to meet their developmental needs. Theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, and Kohlberg have many theories regarding each developmental stage, and the needs in each stage from infancy, to adulthood. I am going to discuss how books can relate to these theories.

The first book that I chose to discuss is “That’s Not My Tractor” written by Rachel Wells. This book is a book that my son has loved since he was very young, and

Infants are learning the world, and they are learning with all of their senses. The book “That’s Not My Tractor” has an infant utilizing almost all of their senses. The book has a button the bottom right corner, and when it is pressed it creates a tractor sound for an infant to hear. The book also has very colorful pictures, and describing words for example, “That’s not my tractor, its mirrors are too shiny”, or “That’s not my tractor, it’s too green” which not only helps the infant sight from the bright pictures, but cognitive development as well with the descriptive words. Also, the book has something for the infant to touch on every page. One example is one of the pages says, “That’s not my Tractor, its engine is too bumpy”, and on the page it has tires that you can touch that feel bumpy. The book

This book was one of my favorites to read as a child. This book is perfect for middle childhood. This book goes well with this developmental stage because it helps with the cognitive development for middle childhood aged children. This book goes along with Piaget’s third stage of Piagetian cognitive development; concrete operations. In the book, “Where The Wild Things Are”, Max, the main character gets into trouble, and is sent to his room without dinner, and while in his room he goes on an adventure where the wild things are (himself, and monsters), and at the end of the book, Max uses logic to think, either I can stay here, rule the land, and be lonely, or I can go home where people love me. This also ties into another developmental stage during this time; cause and effect. Max in the book reacts to his mom by telling her he was going to eat her, and his consequence was going to be, or when he decides to come back from where the wild things are he found dinner waiting for him. Children lean if I do this, then this will happen. This book also has language simple enough for a child to read during middle childhood and the child has the ability to use their imagination using not only the text, but the pictures in the book. In the article “Fantasy play of preschoolers and school aged children” it states that children are less likely to have imaginative play with others, the example they