Children's Literature Studies
Year:2011 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

The purpose of this study is to find basic philosophical concepts in children's literature through content analysis. The sample consists of 41 selected stories published by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (kanoon parvaresh fekri koodakan va nojavanan) in five age groups--preschool to intermediate period. Results show that 49% of concepts belong to ontological, 39% to axiological and 12% to epistemological domains. The findings show that the presentation of these concepts is not done in such a way as to promote thinking and contemplating in their readers.

Though stories have long been considered as educational tools which can help reduce psychological problems, using them as a tool for decreasing psychological problems of children has recently been implemented in Iran. This research aims at investigating the extent to which bibliotherapy, which is based on children's stories, can be effective in reducing aggressive behaviors in children at pre-school age. The research method was based on observation of and studying a single subject with pre and post-test. A checklist of aggression based on Hughes and Rice's characteristics of aggressive behaviors was used for collecting the opinions of the pre-school teachers. Five pre-school children (5-6 years old) who were in a kindergarten located in Ferdowsi university of Mashhad under the supervision of the Faculty of Education and Psychology were selected as participants. Ten stories were selected. These stories were read to the participants in 10 sessions. Each session lasted 20 to 30 minutes. The result of the observations and also the comparison between pre-test and post-test scores showed that the aggressive behavior decreased in all children except one. According to the observations, the teachers agreed that some group behaviors such as children's participation in class activities were increased.

Satire has existed side by side with other literary techniques such as humor and lampoon in Persian literature for many centuries. Hooshang Moradi Kermani, children's writer of satirical fiction, has used satire prevalently in his works. Considering the importance of the subtle role of satire in children's and young adults' literature, this paper analyzes Moradi Kermani's use of satire in his works such as Majid's Stories, The Oven, The Story of that Vat, Sweet Jam, Mama's Guest, and The Smile of the Pomegranate. In these stories he has used overstatement, understatement, irony of situation, hyperbole, paradox and puns to develop the plot.

One of the common factors of fiction is the narrative of quality and quantity of communication among characters of stories revealed in two forms of verbal and non-verbal depending on the goal of the writer and the kind of reader s/he has in mind.The story of “two friends” by Hoda Haddadi who has acquired successful national and international recognition narrates non-verbal communication between characters. This paper is a study of non-verbal communication signs such as behavior, time, place, and the aesthetics of pictures in this story. The results of considerations show that this story belongs to real fantastic literature and imagination plays a very important role in its structure. In this story the aesthetics of pictures and movements play the most important role in transferring the messages; vocal and facial behaviors have a lesser role in it.

"Malek Khorshid", a sixteen minute animation, was produced by Ali Akbar Sadeghi in the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (kanoon parvaresh fekri koodakan va nojavanan) in 1975. Sadeghi is one of the forerunners of animation in Iran. And an analysis of his works helps us to appreciate the history of Iranian Animation. This film shows us one of the most successful adaptations of Iranian folkloric stories, thus it can be considered as a model for adaptation from other Iranian folktales. The research uses content analysis approach as well as bio-filmography. The animation is analyzed from a literary aspect as well as cinematic features. Elements of action, characterization, complication, climax and conclusion are studied and cinematic structure, visual design elements consisting of concept, background drawing, color, movements, sound and visual effects are also discussed. Some motifs such as love, choice of short but dangerous roads, princess captured by demon, and killing of dragons are also compared in the folklore and the animation.

The main goal of this study was to compare social development of book reading students and non-reading students. The population of this study consisted of male and female students of fifth grade elementary school as well as third grade junior school from district 1 and 2 of Ardebil, Iran in 2010. Six hundred and forty students were selected through randomized sampling of multi-stage cluster. Tools used in this study included questionnaires, tests of social development and Raven test. The results showed that books and magazines of sports, science, and history had a positive relation while poetry books had a negative relation with the social development of students. In this study, books and sports magazines had a greater role in predicting students' social development.

Theorists have proposed two conditions for defining narration: one is based on a correlation between actant/narrator and enunciated (Gérard Genette, Lintvelt Jaap), and the other is based on variations in premier and terminal stages of narration plot (Propp, Greimas and Larivaille). In fact Greimas and Larivaille, following Propp's efforts, tried to define a very simple and abstract framework for all the events. As a result of what they did, all the narrations are based on a super-structure called Canonic Scheme or Quintuplet Pattern. These theorists (Propp, Greimas, etc.) believed that narration is transition from one stage to another crystallized in variation of the plot. In this article, the aim is to examine this element as a case study in Minimal Stories of Nokhodi by M. Hadi Mohammadi, using a structured approach (Semiology of Paris School). It is argued that all these short stories are designed using those premier, medium and terminal stages. It is discussed that the plot is either linear or mobile. In case of linearity, it is argued what the exact signification is and why the "abstract author" has used a homodiegetic recite in narration of these short stories.