Children’s literature and early childhood: reading policies and practices

Abstract

This article aims at showing an intentionally educational undertaking directed at an extensive formation of children’s intelligence and personality, as a necessary condition for the expansion and creation of hypotheses, of childhood imaginative and understanding ability, allowing children to be active protagonists in their daily routine concerning literature in the educational field. To do so, disseminating literary education since the very first infancy becomes necessary; in the same way, revealing how the Programa Nacional de Biblioteca da Escola (PNBE) [National School Library Program] recognises and takes into consideration the specificities of early childhood education in the selected books within the 0–5 year age bracket in the last public bids. Finally, the aim is to propose a distinction between storytelling and reading aloud, through the selection of two books from the PNBE collection intended for early childhood education – so as to suggest practical work with regard to narrative text structure and some reading strategies, activities which can engage children in reading activities.