The role of children's literature in empathy education: The case of Gülten Dayıoğlu

The aim of this research is to determine the empathy levels in the stories of Gülten Dayıoğlu, who contributed to Turkish literature with her works. In the research where document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used, ten story books from Gülten Dayıoğlu's Gelincik Series were included as study material. Content analysis, one of the qualitative analysis techniques, was used to analyze the narrative texts in these books. As a result of the research, it was determined that there were empathy situations in the story books named Flying Engine, Freedom Bird, Baby Seagull in the Sandbox, Scarecrows on the Roof, Deli Bey, Kite, Hot Bread, Acrobat's Money, Cheerful Painter, The Lie Has Three Legs. In this context, it has been concluded that the story books examined include a significant degree of empathy and that these empathy situations are generally sprinkled throughout the stories. Based on these results, it is suggested that the subject of empathy should be discussed and introduced to students in distinguished literary works written in the mother tongue, starting from the preschool period. Keywords: values education, empathy, story.