Image of child in the collection Za lahko noč [Bedtime Stories] by Ela Peroci

At the beginning of the thesis the importance of a story on a child’s developmental, psychological, educational and social area is introduced. What follows is theoretical definition of a story, emphasizing a contemporary short story with a main character in children’s literature as defined in Marjana Kobe's theory. Life and work of the writer Ela Peroci, including a list of her works in alphabetical and chronological order, is presented later on. Theoretical part is concluded with literary analysis of Peroci’s anthology Za lahko noč (1985), where my main focus is on a child’s image as a main character; motives regarding a transition from the real to fantastic world; revived characters of toys or objects; narrative place and time; plot and message. The three stories taken from anthology Za lahko noč (1985) are discussed in the empirical part. My primary interest is to compare how preschool and school-age children experience and understand Ela Peroci’s stories. I did a focus interview with children after the reading. I collected their responses along with illustrations, and inserted them into a table. At the end of each table I added a brief interpretation of responses, as well as a final conclusion of the survey at the end of the chapter