There are many ways that children benefit from reading fictional stories with mentors or other caring adults. Development and advancement of reading skills, increase of vocabulary and spelling ability, and confidence to surpass learning challenges are a few.
“Social/emotional awareness is a key factor in developing leadership skills in children”
Another benefit that has been studied is the increase of social/emotional awareness.
Social/emotional awareness is a key factor in developing leadership success skills in children and adults.
“Young children have a limited life experience of emotions, whereas picture books offer vicarious emotional experiences that children can partake of”. Vast empirical research confirms that even very young children understand and respond to emotional dimension in picture books” says Maria Nikolsjeva (Cambridge).
”… the part of the brain that registers the emotional dimension in children is the same area that interprets action in real life.”
According to a Carnegie Mellon University, the part of the brain that registers the emotional dimension in children is the same area that interprets action in real life. Thus the children can adapt what they have read to real life situations. According to several studies, a story can have a long term empathic effect well after the story is read.
The ability to empathize “is an effective antidote to bullying, aggression, prejudice, and racism” Michelle Borba wrote in the book Unselfie. .
———————————————————————————————-
Benefits of Reading
– Reading increases student vocabulary
– Reading Support reading skills
– Social Emotional Development (Empathy)
————————————————————————————————
Students who learn through literary fiction tend to have higher empathy levels than students who learn about a historical event through non-fictional reading. Pictures in literature add additional learning elements with the added dimension of reading facial and body language of the characters in the illustrations. With today’s COVID masking, children are unable to read the facial expressions of people outside of their homes in day to day life and thus could have a deficit in reading emotions in others.
Well chosen fictional literature can aid in child development Read to children and help them succeed at life!
A few of my favorite books to help children/students learn about themselves.
What should Danny Do – School Day
The Car in the Hat
Gritty Ninja
The Invisible Boy
Maria Nikolajeva Reading Rocket
(2008) – Maria Nikolajeva Reading Rockets
https://www.reading.ac.uk/engageinmentoring/what-is-mentoring/eim-definitions.aspx