My favourite book!: young Aboriginal children's book choices

Abstract

This study into the reading patterns and choices of three- to six-year old Aboriginal children revealed that children chose books that promoted social interactions between family members and wider social networks. Books selected most often promoted child agency and problem solving with a cause-effect narrative structure, rather than books of lists and descriptive captions. The children’s fathers were actively involved in contributing to their family’s literacy development and often read aloud to multi-age groups of children in the home. The study revealed that most families had few children’s books in the home and that access to children’s books was limited, while also demonstrating the appeal of good-quality children’s literature in generating numerous re-readings of favourite books.