Examination of picture books in the preschool period

The diploma thesis entitled Examination of picture books in the preschool period consists of a theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part focuses on the development of picture books, the concept of a picture book, typology of picture books according to Marjana Kobe and functional ability of picture books. The theory of picture books according to Maria Nikolajeva and that of Dragica Haramija and Janja Batič are also presented. High quality picture books are also described as are Slovenian awards for best picture books. The theoretical part ends with a presentation of narration by preschool children and description of the influence the narration has on the development of children. Building on the foundations of the theoretical part, the empirical part focuses on the children's narration of different types of picture books. For this purpose, a reading corner was set up for a group, where children were able to narrate different types of picture books in a relaxed manner; the following picture books were offered: Andreja Peklar (Fant z rdečo kapico, 2005), Anja Štefan (Čez griček v gozdiček, 1995) and Maja Kastelic (Deček in hiša, 2015). Three children were included, aged four to five and attending the Plavček Kindergarten at Tišina Primary School. The aim of this diploma thesis is for children to freely narrate different types of picture books. In this regard, I examine whether children need encouragement to narrate picture books or not and whether children base their narrations solely on artistic depictions or include experiences from their own lives. An exploration of whether different types of picture books pose a challenge for children with regard to their handling of picture books and the narration itself is also included