Children’s literature and hybrid narratives. Canon, ways of thinking and education

Abstract

The main aim of this contribution deals with how to describe and reflect on Children’s literature, reading and the context in which they are taught. One of the most important ideas is the coexistence of audiovisual formats with written texts which implies a concrete way within the learning process and the knowledge acquisition. The analysis of a partial encyclopaedic competence versus literary competence will be discussed in the text. This competence will bring a new way of thinking and, above all, it will bring about an important question regarding whether the literary canon is necessary or not. The major conclusion is that a new educative approach is needed, one which either includes written and audiovisual formats as a source of knowledge for new generations. Their initial formation on literacy is based on the audiovisual and, above all, on their use of hypertexts; something which means that teachers must bear in mind this kind of issues in order to select and use literary texts in the classroom.