No Talking, Sahara Special ve Because of Mr. Terupt isimli çocuk romanlarındaki öğretmen karakterlerinin romandaki öğrencilerin okul bağlılığı üzerindeki etkilerinin incelenmesi

Children discover many new concepts and values through children's books, it is because literature has a potential of teaching new knowledge as well as changing people's thoughts and perspectives on various subjects. When considering various genres in children's literature, it can be assumed that realistic fictions can be very powerful on children since through fiction, writers have the power to create an innumerable variety of characters and situations which might be related to children's lives so that children can find these books captivating and effective. For this reason, how concepts and characters are presented to the target audience in children's books becomes an important concern. Considering that school has an important place in children's lives, fiction books which focus on the student-teacher relationship can be very useful in encouraging children to academic life. Positive portrayal of school and teacher images in children's books can help children have more positive feelings towards school. For this reason, this study aims to analyze the images of nine teachers in three popular children's fiction books written for 8-12 years old, in the light of effective teacher qualities and students' school engagement. The effects of the teacher characters on students' school engagement in the books have been analyzed through content analysis, which is a qualitative research method. Selected books are Esmé Raji Codell's Sahara Special, Andrew Clements's No Talking, and Rob Buyea's Because of Mr. Terupt. As a result of the study, it has been seen that the five teachers out of nine in the selected books have exhibited the important characteristics of effective teachers. Therefore, all of the students in the books have increased their emotional, behavioral and cognitive school engagement by solving their problems and establishing strong bonds with their teachers and friends. It has been concluded that these books can be a useful tool to create positive feelings towards school life and teachers in children.