Books which are designed for children, whether fiction or non-fiction, are written with the children’s development and learning in mind. In this assignment you will select and analyze a children’s chapter book to apply what you have learned about child development and analyze the author’s theoretical perspective, relating it to the theories you have learned, particularly Vygotsky’s Pychosocial/Cognitive Theory, Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and Kohlberg’s Sociocultural Theory.
Select a book that portrays a developing child who is in middle school or adolescence. (A chapter book has chapters and is written for children approximately 2nd grade and up. It should have at least 130 pages.) Make sure that you choose a book that depicts, with enough detail, the physical, cognitive, language development and socio/emotional development of the main character. Also, do not select a book that is part of an extended series of books (e.g. Goosebumps, The Babysitters’ Club). Check with me or research online if you are unsure whether the book is appropriate for this assignment.
Use the template below for this assignment
1 Title
2 Author
3 Illustrator
4 Number of pages
5 Publication date
6 Brief plot description
7 Appropriate for what ages
8 Book genre
9 Character’s development: Describe the main character’s development and compare to what we’ve studied about children’s development of that age group. Use examples from the story to analyze the character’s cognitive, language and social/emotional development. What are the usual developmental indicators of children that age? Include relevant theorists in your discussion, e.g. in which stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory is the character, and what are some examples from the story that portray this? Does the character’s development align with Vygotsky’s perspectives on scaffolding and more knowledgeable other? Provide examples. Include support from your textbook, using APA in-text citation. Include your citations on a reference page when you submit your work on Module 7. Make sure that you include a section relating a theory to each developmental domain for the character: cognitive, language, social, and emotional.
10 Define major themes of the story and their relevance to the child-reader: why would the reader be interested in these themes
11 Examples of diversity portrayed in the book: cultural, linguistic, economic, learning differences
12 Accessibility of the story content to children from diverse backgrounds
13 Reasons that a child-reader may enjoy/not enjoy this book
14 Reasons that you enjoyed/didn’t enjoy this book