Analysis of the most preferred 8-10 years old children's books in the context of aesthetic criteria according to teacher and student opinions and sales quantities

There is an important link between children's literature and aesthetics that supports the sensory, intellectual and emotional development of children. Aesthetics encompasses not only beauty or visuality, but also the effect of a work on the individual with its meaningful elements. Children's literature, with this aesthetic dimension, both gives children an artistic sensitivity and helps them make sense of the world. Books that are enriched both linguistically and visually help children establish a deeper bond with the book and understand the world through aesthetic values. Therefore, the aesthetic dimension of children's literature has an important place as an artistic guide in children's development. In this study, a total of nine books were analysed: three children's books recommended by teachers, three children's books that students liked the most and three best-selling children's books. In the study, 'case study', one of the qualitative research methods, was adopted. This method enabled the examination of children's literature books in the context of aesthetic criteria and this examination process was carried out in two stages: In the first stage, basic data about children's literature books were collected by taking the opinions of teachers and students. The semi-structured interview technique provided the researcher with a flexible structure and allowed the participants to reveal their detailed views. The collected data were analysed by content analysis method and specific books were selected to be evaluated as a result of this analysis. In the second stage, the children's books selected on the basis of the results of the first stage were evaluated with the help of Esra Koca, Analytical Rubric for Aesthetic Criteria in Children's Literature. The rubric provided an in-depth analysis by covering criteria such as linguistic and visual aesthetics, content appropriateness and creativity. As a result of these analyses, although the works examined were inadequate in terms of some criteria, they were evaluated as 'good' within the framework of the aesthetic criteria determined in terms of general scoring.