The characteristics of the detective characters in the children's books and the perceptions of secondary students about these characters

Document analysis pattern was used in the study conducted to examine the characteristics of detective characters in children's books and secondary school students' perceptions of these characters. In order to provide data diversity in the study, 38 books of 26 different authors, which are considered within the scope of children's literature, were selected to review. While determining the books that make up the data set, attention was paid to the issues such as whether they belong to different publishers and authors and they have a content in terms of "detective character". Also, students' opinions were sought through a semi-structured interview form. In the distributed forms, students were asked what a detective is and which characteristics it has. Making an expression in the forms in written or visual ways has been made dependent on the student's preference. The data about detective characters gathered by examining the books; was categorised as positive features, negative features, conflict resolution styles, physical features and relationship with the environment. On the other hand, the answers of the students containing the opinions of the students about the subject in the semi-structured observation forms were subjected to the coding-cataloging systematic followed in the data set analysis. In order to provide diversity, written and visual opinions of secondary school students about detective characters were categorized. According to the results of the study, it was determined that the detective characters were featured more with their positive features, and the detective character traits in the examined works and students' thoughts about these characters were basically similar. It has been concluded that while the positive features in the examined works and the students' opinions are the same, the situations such as cunning, sneakiness and substance appearing under the negative features differ.