THE ROLE OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN READING DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The study investigated the role of children's literature in the development of reading skills among school-age children. The research problem consisted in understanding how literary reading contributed to students’ cognitive and social development. The main objective was to analyze children's literature as a pedagogical mediation tool capable of fostering critical and autonomous readers. The research adopted a bibliographic and qualitative approach, based on works published between 2015 and 2025. The methodological steps included collection, reading, categorization, and interpretative analysis of sources. The results showed that children's literature promoted language development, imagination, and textual comprehension, while strengthening interaction among school, teacher, and student. It was found that teacher mediation and the integration of reading practices, such as storytelling and digital resources, contributed to the symbolic construction of knowledge. It was concluded that children's literature played an educational role by integrating cognitive, social, and cultural dimensions, confirming its importance in literacy formation and suggesting further studies on the topic.