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A local community centre has requested new books for their childrens and young adults collection.

Due to budgetary constraints only four new books can be purchased for the year, one for each age category; the different age categories are 0-3, 4-7, 8-11 and 12+ (post primary students). This is based partially on Jean Piagets theory of the stages of child development. These different age groups have very different requirements from a book as they are all at different stages of development. For 0-3, the senses play an important role in how they interact with a book; 4-7 need something to inspire creativity and imagination and that helps their reading development; 8-11 will require a chapter book and a story that they can view from another persons perspective; 12+ want something that they can relate to and that deals with some of the social issues that they may be currently dealing with. As it is for a community centre, a whole range of different children may use the service, ranging greatly in their financial situations, family structure, cultural background, and language skills. This means that the books need to be versatile for the different users. The books chosen for the collection are The Gruffalo: A Touch and Feel Book by Julia Donaldson (0-3 years); The Usborne Illustrated Classics for Children (4-7 years); Under the Hawthorne Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna (8-11 years); and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (12+). The reasons behind choosing these specific books will be justified by looking at child development theories and scholarly articles dealing with reading habits and needs of these age categories. For the 0-3 age group, the book added to the collection will be The Gruffalo: A Touch and Feel Book. The Gruffalo is a very popular childrens book and the touch and feel book is specifically aimed at a very young age group. The format of the book is highly appropriate for the intended age group. It is a picture book with some words and also has different materials used throughout the book for the child to be able to feel. According to Piaget, from ages 0-2, the child is in the sensorimotor stage. In this stage, children experience

the world through movement and the senses (Shaffer and Kipp, 2010). This book encompasses the sense of both touch and sight which helps in the childs development. Some of the different materials the child gets to touch range from fluffy, soft, coarse but applies them to a particular object or thing so that the child will learn that different things feel different and apply this to objects they encounter in the future. The book has thick durable pages that allow for the child to handle it themselves as they get older and it should withstand general wear and tear. The book also encourages the child to interact with themselves; Are your knees knobbly too. As a child of this age cannot think from another persons perspective (Wood, 1999), it is important for them to interact by being able to reflect on themselves. As it is a picture book, a carer will be most likely reading the book with the child. Reading with a parent is invaluable to a childs development as it encourages vocabulary and word building and develops hand eye coordination. The bright vivid pictures allow the parent and child to develop their own story of what is happening as well as keep the attention of the child. In a study done on reluctant readers, it was found that encounters with books at a preschool age were very important for children. The experience will have a cumulative effect, in that by the time children start school they will already have an experience of reading and have an opinion of it (Earl and Maynard, 2006). This encounter will most likely happen with a parent or carer. If a parent is involved with helping their childs reading development, the likelihood of success is greatly increased and the outcome is more likely to be positive (Earl and Maynard, 2006, p. 177-178). This means that reading done at a young age can have positive affects for a child for the rest of their school life and beyond. For the 4-7 year olds, the book chosen is the Usborne Illustrated Classics for Children. This is a highly suitable book for the age group intended but would also suit other ages as well. It contains the popular childrens classics The Railway Children, The Wizard

of Oz, Black Beauty, The Canterville Ghost, The Secret Garden, Around the World in Eighty Days and Heidi and Moonfleet. The book is hard back but with a soft cover which is durable and waterproof, allowing the book to be handled over and over again. The pages are also made of good quality paper. Each page carries an illustration as well as the words to the story. This allows for children who are learning to read to follow the story through the illustrations and then apply them to the words on the page. The words are big and black on a white background which makes them easier to read. The use of illustrations in a book also helps a child build their creativity. If a child cannot yet read or just wants to be creative, they can create their own stories to go along with the illustrations. This helps promote a higher level of thinking and if the child verbalises the story they are creating, improving their story telling and fluency. As Hunt (1994) states, realism is for adults and so childrens books should let the imagination play a major part. As children in this age group fall into the preoperational stage of development, it is a time when they start to form stable concepts, mental reasoning, magic beliefs and are able to pretend play (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). This is then a perfect time for a child to be developing their creative side. The illustrated aspect of the book would also appeal to multi-national children who may have limited English language skills and are in the process of developing. The use of pictures and words will help them to follow what is happening in the story and develop their language skills, but using a book that is appropriate to their age category so that they are not feeling left out. According to Vygotsky, there is a Zone of Proximal Development; this is a gap that occurs between what a person can do by themselves and what they can do with the help and guidance from someone more skilled and knowledgeable than them (Wood, 1999, p. 26). This means that a child will need help to learn reading from someone more skilled than themselves. This book contains classic stories that have been around for years which may

encourage parents or carers to read the book with the child as it is a story that they remember from their own childhood. Children need to interact with more mature people in society to be able to develop psychologically (Wood, 1999, p. 40); reading is a perfect example of this kind of interaction. Not only will this be a bonding experience for parent and child but will be vital for their development. Under the Hawthorne Tree will be added to the collection for 8-11 year olds. This is a chapter book that focuses on the life of three children during the Great Famine in Ireland. The chapters are short and the writing is simple and easy to follow. It is suitable for both boys and girls as the main characters are male and female. The inclusion of an Irish author is good for the collection as it shows children that there are successful writers in our country and may encourage them to practice writing stories themselves. It might also get them interested in other Irish authors and as Irish authors often do book signings in bookshops and public libraries, it may encourage them to visit these facilities. An important aspect of Irish history is taught through the book in a way that is interesting and more relatable to a child than learning about it in school. According to Piaget, children at this age have entered the concrete operational stage; this means that they are no longer egocentric and so are aware of other peoples perspectives and can see things from another point of view (Shaffer and Kipp, 2010). This book would allow children to see things from the view of our main characters, allowing them to get a much better understanding of what life was like at the time than just reading it in a history book. The book also gives a brief history of the Great Famine at the end of the book which may get children more interested in the area. The book also teaches children about some serious social issues. These children must care for one another and deal with issues such as death of loved ones and death of young people, coping without a parent, lack of food and basic survival skills. As serious as they may

seem, they are approached in a way that is appropriate for the given age group. If a child is dealing with any of the issues in their own life, it may help them to reflect on how they can cope with it themselves. It might also make children appreciate what they have in life as they can see how others found themselves in very hard situations but were still able to cope. For post primary students, the book The Hunger Games will be added to the collection. This book is a suitable choice for the community centre as it is appropriate for both males and females and appeals to different interests. The book has a dark, basic cover which doesnt appeal specifically to any given audience. The words are not too small and the language is not too difficult, making it easy to understand for the different ages within the group. It is split into chapters that are not too long so will hopefully hold the readers attention. The book has multiple genres including science-fiction, romance and adventure. In a study done on urban adolescents, boys top choices in genre were adventure and actionorientated books (Hughes-Hassell and Rodge, 2007). Girls tend to be more interested in reading for pleasure than boys (Clark and Rumbold, 2006) and so the adventure aspect may encourage the reluctant male reader to choose the book to read. The main protagonist in the story is a strong female character which will appeal to the female readers and also diminishes gender stereotypes of men being the stronger sex. The book deals with a lot of issues that a teenager may be currently going through. It deals with survival, emotions, death of a parent, family issues, poverty, unfair distribution of wealth, politics among other issues. If a teenager can relate to the characters they are reading about, it helps them engage better with the book. As a community centre will be used by people from varied backgrounds, these are issues that could be relevant to potential readers. It also makes the reader more aware of their cultural surroundings and the systems that are in place around them.

The book has recently been made into a popular movie; if adolescents have seen the movie and enjoyed it, it may encourage them to read the book, especially those that arent inclined to read books. Also, as the book is number one in a trilogy, if the reader enjoys the book it may encourage them to seek out the next book from a bookshop, school library or local public library, encouraging them to make use of local amenities. The books that have been added to the community centre collection are very appropriate for the age categories that they are required for. All the books add something different to the collection and meet the developmental needs of the audience that they are targeting. According to Piaget, there are different developmental stages that children go through with specific developmental needs in each category. These books fulfil these needs and help advance the childrens development. They range from inspiring creativeness and imagination, to teaching about history and to dealing with issues that the reader may be facing at the moment. The books also cater to the different needs that users of the community centre may have. This may include language barriers, lack of reading support at home and dealing with a multitude of different social issues and may encourage carers to engage in reading with children. The books are all quite timeless and will hopefully remain in the collection for years to come and be enjoyed by current and future users of the facility.

Bibliography

Clark, C., & Rumbold. (2006). Reading for pleasure: A research overview. National Literacy Trust. [Available at: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/nlt_research/271_reading_for_pleasure_a_res earch_overview].

Earl, A., & Maynard, S, (2006). What makes a child a reluctant reader? New Review, 12 (2), 163-181.

Hughes-Hassell, S. & Rodge, P. (2007). The leisure reading habits of urban adolescents. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 52(1), 22-33.

Hunt, P. (1994). An Introduction to Childrens Literature. GB: Oxford University Press.

Shaffer, D. R. & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence (8th ed.). USA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Wood, D. (1999). How Children think and learn: The social contexts of cognitive development (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

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