Functions of children’s literature in Education

Abstract

This paper has the aims to analyse and to discuss the functions of children’s literature in Education. For this purpose, a bibliographical research was realized in books, papers, congress procceedings and doctoral thesis in Spanish, Portuguese and English dealing with children’s literature. Based on the above, the conclusion is that the gathering of the six functions described in this paper –all of them with the same level of relevance and importance– reveals the actual educational dimension of children’s literature. This dimension includes the didactic issue (essential to the teaching and learning process), the playful aspect (necessary in childhood), the literary function (that alike other disciplines presents an educational function), the sociocultural (that presents in the narrative of children’s books actual aspects of society as well as the cultural aspects related to a specific region or country), the axiological function (that contributes to the autonomous acquisition of values by children) and the therapeutic (that has the aim to help children with different health problems).

Keywords: children’s literature; functions; Education