Analysing Orhan Duru's science fiction stories within the framework of children's literature criteria

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the science-fiction stories of journalist writer Orhan Duru, who introduced the word science-fiction to the Turkish language, in terms of their suitability for children's literature and their contribution to Turkish education. A literature review was conducted on children's literature, science-fiction genre, Turkish education and Orhan Duru's life, literary personality and works. Duru's 19 stories in the science-fiction genre were read in the context of suitability for children's literature, and their form and content features were analysed. In the context of form features, page layout, font size, font design; for content features, the subject, main idea, characters, conflicts, environment, time, science-fiction elements, language, expression and vocabulary were examined in terms of titles, and the values in the stories were compared with the educational messages and values determined in the Turkey Century Education Model Secondary School Turkish curriculum and the contribution of the stories to Turkish education was determined. The study is descriptive in nature and was designed by document analysis method, one of the survey models. As a result of the data obtained, it was determined that Orhan Duru blended science fiction with social concerns and humour instead of presenting it with machines, gears and green coloured translucent aliens, and in this context, the stories are texts that are suitable for ensuring the sustainability of attention on the text as well as being remarkable for 12-15 age group readers. It was also found that the stories are rich in terms of idioms, doubling, reflection and reinforcement word subheadings, but contain very limited examples in terms of proverbs. As a result, it was determined that Orhan Duru's science-fiction stories are functional for the 12-15 age group in terms of form, content and Turkish education. However, the story titled 'Bat' in the work titled 'Someone Left Behind' is not suitable for the aforementioned age group because it contains expressions that evoke homosexuality. Similarly, the stories 'I Watered the Garden' and 'Tourist Observation House' are not functional for the mentioned age group due to the expressions that directly emphasise sexuality. In the story titled 'Iconoclast', the fact that alcohol consumption is at the forefront can be considered as a behaviour that may set a negative example for the relevant target group. It is possible to say that Orhan Duru's science-fiction stories other than these stories are functional for the 12-15 age group, also known as the first youth period.