Values education and vocabulary in Yusuf Asal's children's books

This study examines the works of the children's book author Yusuf Asal in terms of values education and lexical elements. The research is qualitative in nature and was conducted using the document analysis technique, one of the screening models. The study sample consists of the first books from five of the author's series: Bizim Matrak Sınıf, Kafadan Yumurta, Tuş Beyinli, Profesör Çorapsöküğü, and Gıcıkgiller Apartmanı. Within the research, lexical elements in the books—fixed expressions, reduplications, proverbs, idioms, and onomatopoeic words—were identified, and the findings were classified as explicit and implicit based on the values included in the Turkey Century Education Model. All data were presented in tables with their respective frequency counts and subsequently interpreted. As a result of the study, it was observed that the total frequency of the lexical elements identified in Yusuf Asal's children's books was 8,071, consisting of 6,102 formulaic expressions, 319 reduplications, 20 proverbs, 1,506 idioms, and 124 onomatopoeic words. When Yusuf Asal's children's books were examined in terms of the 20 values included in the Türkiye Century Education Model, it was found that the total frequency of the identified values was 1,739, consisting of justice 83, friendship 180, diligence 214, honesty 181, patience 54, respect 80, love 153, responsibility 116, patriotism 14, helpfulness 125, thrift 2, privacy 19, modesty 38, healthy living 68, family unity 47, freedom 32, cleanliness 19, sensitivity 202, aesthetics 79, and compassion 33.