Children’s Literature: Reading and Critical Thinking.

Abstract

The article explores the potential of contemporary Ukrainian children’s literature as a resource for the development of critical thinking in children of different ages. It provides an analysis of the genre and semantic multidimensionality of literary texts and identifies reading algorithms that foster young readers’ skills in analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and argumentation. In practical terms, selected works included in the longlist of the best children’s and young adult publications of 2025, according to the experts of the Children’s Reading Laboratory at the National Center “Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” and the BaraBooka platform, are examined as representative examples of texts with high aesthetic and cognitive potential.

The study considers various genres of children’s literature – picture books, poetry, fairy tales, adventure, fantasy and science fiction prose, detective stories, dystopian novels, and non-fiction – with respect to their impact on the development of cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural competencies in young readers. The process of reading and interpreting children’s books involves the development of linguistic, textual, and cultural awareness, enabling the reader to analyze language, structure, and semantic strategies of the text, as well as to integrate their own emotional, intellectual, and value-based experiences into the process of interpretation.

The potential of children’s literature to foster critical thinking is realized through a range of literary and content-related mechanisms. One such mechanism is the problematic nature of plots, which stimulates independent interpretation and supports the formation of personal positions. Another is multi-layered character representation, which enables readers to analyze characters’ motives and relate them to their own value frameworks. Dialogic text structures also contribute to this process by creating a space for co-thinking with the author. Finally, the integration of emotional and rational dimensions fosters the ability to reflexively assess one’s own emotions, thoughts, and judgments.

The study demonstrates that reading and systematic engagement with multi-genre children’s literature cultivates autonomous, reflective, and critically thinking readers capable of analysis, evaluation, and forming well-reasoned positions, while also promoting empathy, socio-cultural awareness, and active participation in community life.