Children's literature and inclusive pathways

Abstract

The contribution intends to reflect on the practice of reading as a meaningful experience in the encounter with the other and, in particular, with diversity. Increasingly, in fact, contemporary children's literature tries to pay attention to the themes and problems of children's daily lives, with a view to an exciting, intimate adventure, of great emotional and spiritual involvement. Thus, when the book opens up to the reader, it narrates and educates, in unum. If the book is the word fixed with writing, reading is the means of appropriating its content, of understanding its message, of intimate and profound interpretation of reality. From this point of view, children's volumes, from illustrated books to books of short stories, are configured as useful pedagogical tools suitable for fostering cognitive and inclusive paths, through a training journey that speaks to affectivity and cultivates feelings, promotes a solid moral and civil conscience, educates to benevolence and acceptance of otherness. A selection of works capable of narrating to the young reader the complexity of reality beyond any physical and psychological barrier that is often the cause of prejudices and stereotypes is therefore proposed.