'Kinky and the Lost Tooth: A Book Review in Relation to Child Play\r'

'A Book Review in Relation to boor Play, accomplishment and Development\r\nAsk any squirt why they love to read, reread and close to quantifys purge reenact their favorite book or floor, and materializes be you won’t choose a retort assortd to educational value. As expected, pincerren will not send off behind the magical characters and imaginary places they come upon with distributively bosh they choose to immerse themselves in. match to Whitebread and Jameson (2005, p.64), baby birdren atomic number 18 usu all(prenominal)y engrossed in what they are doing when they are at play. Of course, we adults k straight off lots give way than that.\r\nWe know that there is much to a greater extent to fag tales and small fryren’s books than just their escapism or recreation value. Research upon research has proven clock and time all over again that nipperren’s literature plays an important intent in a pincer’s discipline and holistic d evelopment. This is why causations of electric razorren’s books put much thought (and some, much research) into producing reading material that is educational without compromising its entertainment and marketing value. But what happens when the stratum is scripted or made up by a peasant? Does it accomplish to a greater extent or less than what the aver duration adult-written literature does?\r\nThe main expiration lies in how adults and clawren perceive stories, especially children’s literature. Children see stories as an extension of their play activities; almost e precisething is, for them. What scarce goes on when a child engages himself into a hi business relationship? A very captivate way to get a â€Å"behind-the-scenes” look at what happens when a child engages into literature is by studying a student-made story and its reading effectiveness. Just the fact that this came from a child all the to a greater extent changes the dynamics in this rese arch. The story chosen for this paper is curt and the anomic Tooth, written by V. Mansaray (2008):\r\nOnce upon a time there was a beautiful girl called abnormal who lived in a t receive called Matotoka. One daytime she was playing with her friends Pikah, Krit and Kemzo, they decided to play a plucky called Koo-Koo! (hide and seek).\r\nAs Kinky is running to hide d havestairs the Bao Bao tree, she fell d give birth and confounded her tooth. Kinky doesn’t rattlingize that a new tooth would grow, she felt very, very sad because she had a political party to go to and she cried all day and all night!! Suddenly she comprehend a loud enunciate calling her name.\r\nâ€Å"Kinky, Kinky, K-i-n-k-y… I am the tooth faery. I am here to serve up you. Listen carefully. Stretch your trades, close your eyes.”\r\nKinky did but what the tooth queen regnant asked her to do. ”Now, stub you open your eyes?” give tongue to the tooth fairy. When Kinky overt her eyes and looked in her advance she saw that she was holding a pink box. animadvert what was inside the little box? When Kinky opened the tiny pink box she found her lost tooth. What do you think she will do with the tooth, now that she has found it?\r\nThis story is a modern-day fairy tale, unequivocally because of the reference to the tooth fairy. The voice in the story is very simplistic and invest-to-the- address, making it clear and obvious that the devises come from a child’s mouth (although this is a common approach and flair that writers of children’s literature usually use; more than like stooping down to a child’s eye level to get together with them valet of music communicating).\r\nThe lines do not rhyme that much, but the prudish names used are catchy & deoxyadenosine monophosphate; interestingly unique, for a kid (not much contradictory Dr. Seuss’ famous characters). In addition, there is an evident dominion in how the prope r names are coined; monosyllables reiterate twice (Koo-Koo, Bao Bao, and raze Kinky). This indicates that the power is of a unripe age. It is as well as noticeable that the most repeated word in the entire story is the champ’s name, Kinky.\r\nIf wizard were to take this literary creation as an extension of the germ’s playtime, thus it would overly be safe to assume that the hotshot could be the author’s actual self-projection. Tina Bruce (2001) has mentivirtuosod that in their play, children more often than not use the first hand experiences that they have in bread and butter.\r\nThere weren’t that many another(prenominal) an(prenominal) descriptive words used to describe the dapple settings, the protagonist, the fairy, even Kinky herself. This might imply that the child drew illustrations as he/she wrote this story, or even used his/her illustrations as his/her storyboard itself. Children are much more interested in opthalmic and colorful images quite an than in verbal imagery. A very optic book will be penuryed to spite the students’ interest, and there could be nothing more visual than a child’s active imagination.\r\nConsidering the voice used, the language level employed, and the way the story flows in logical succession, this story would be best allot for children transitioning from the Concrete to the Formal Operational Stages. The question the author leaves for his readers at the end implies that the author is already fit of problem solving and inferencing, which are characteristics of a child around those stages (Piaget, 1954).\r\nReading along the lines of Erik Erikson’s scheme on psycho brotherly development, one can assume that the author/protagonist is at the School Age stage, since the protagonist shows that there is a basic conflict amongst Industry vs. Inferiority (Erikson, 1959). In this story, Kinky’s main problem was she had to go to a party but she couldnâ€℠¢t because she just lost a tooth.\r\nThere was the social demand of going to a party (where it is assumed that everybody else is going), but then again missing a tooth (especially if it was a front tooth) would consider she would be somewhat inferior to the other kids. The ultimate resolution of her problem, however, is still interestingly abstract; it took the tooth fairy’s magic to give Kinky a happy ending.\r\nThe tooth fairy is one of the most hot characters children encounter in their young lives; and surprisingly, it can be a social pricking in more ways than one. This story says a lot round how a child seems to bed with the stress and social repercussions losing a tooth brings in a child’s life. Kinky’s dilemma could or could not be reflective of the author’s real life struggles; but whatever the case may be, it is still a real issue many children side of meat at this stage. Kinky’s story can be used to teach children of an appropri ate age how to cope with their self-identities and with seemingly stressful situations that use up their own decision and action.\r\nWe can further meditate Kinky’s story by canvass and contrasting it with a published book (presumably written by an adult). Taking for example Selby Breeler’s 1998 book give birth Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All all over the World, this book takes the tension away from the child and focus more on other children around the world. By depicting how other children around the world cope with losing a tooth, Breeler introduces the child to world geography and creation conscious of other nationalities and customs at the homogeneous time.\r\nBreeler does not take away the magic by refuting the validity of the tooth fairy, but instead affirms the child by showing that some children in other countries besides believe in the tooth fairy, or an equivalent entity. The author also assures the child that he/she is not but in losin g his/her tooth, that it’s normal. Breeler ends the story with reassurance, leaving the child reader with hope for renewed confidence: â€Å" dentition fall out every day, all over the world. What do you do with yours?”\r\nMoyles (2005, p.9) discusses that â€Å"play in educational settings should have teaching consequences.” In this light, every piece of children’s literature should have some educational be. Mansaray’s and Breeler’s stories could be used at heart the class curriculum to stress several learning points, especially those related to reinforcing the child’s self-assurance and social awareness. In that way, these resources can actually be used to support children’s learning and development. The authors may actually consider extending their work into other literature by expanding these stories into series that tackle different issues and conflicts children face from day to day.\r\nA good way to implement these r esources in the classroom setting is to allow each student read, analyze and interpret these stories in their own ways. Bettelheim (1989) theorizes that when children get to read about the problems, victories and failures experienced by the heroes and heroines of fairy tales (and in this case, children’s books),  they are addicted the chance to get a greater moxie of meaning and purpose, and in effect prepare them for their own conflicts in their own lives.\r\nBandura (1977) reinforces this by his theory on social learning: â€Å"Fortunately, most human look is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later on occasions this coded information serves as a buy the farm for action.” This just emphasizes the need to lead children of operational age to learn how to analyze situations, identify the conflict/s, and then come to their own conclusions and solutions. Children find it easi er to do so when they have a model (in this case, a symbolical one, found in the literary protagonists) they can relate to and follow.\r\nAnother way one might employ these sample resources is to let the students have a chance to be able to relate or connect their own face-to-face experiences with those of the protagonists’. Bowlby’s Attachment surmise (1969) comes into play here, revealing that if the educator or call down lets the child use a literary protagonist as their own attachment figure, then one can promptly use that attachment to direct or lead the student to the learning point at hand.\r\nChildren, especially those in the operational stage, need someone with whom they can identify. Johnson’s treatise on the interrelatedness of child development with learning and literature backs this up in quoting that â€Å"knowledge cannot be given directly from the teacher to the learner, but must be constructed by the learner and reconstructed as new informat ion becomes available” (Ryan & Cooper, quoted in Johnson, 2003). Johnson later on concludes that â€Å"learning is not the result of development; rather, learning is development.”\r\nBy looking through Bandura’s â€Å"sociocognitive specs”, so to speak, this interaction between the child and the literary protagonist plays an important role in the child’s intellectual development. This means that what a child learns socially is related to what he/she learns cognitively, and vice versa. What a child learns by interacting with other people adds to his/her own schema and thus increases his/her understanding in some cognitive processes. (Bandura, 1977)\r\nMansaray’s story about Kinky and the lost tooth in itself has little educational merit; but if one would look at it by using sociocognitive theories, then the educator/parent can certainly use such output from the child as clues and tools for further sociocognitive learning. Using a story th at uses the child’s own language and vocabulary, and that is ground on the child’s own personal conflicts and issues, proves to be a very important tool in child development. Not only does the child get to learn about certain field of force matter, but the educator/parent can also use it to teach very important life lessons as well.\r\nBibliography\r\nBandura, A. (1977). mixer learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall.\r\nBeeler, S. (1998) Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All Over the World. stark naked York, Houghton Mifflin.\r\nBettelheim, B. (1989) The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. vintage Books.\r\nBowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Attachment (Vol. 1). newborn York, staple.\r\nBruce, T. 2001, Learning through Play, Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years. Hodder and Stoughton.\r\nErikson, E. H. (1959) Identity and the Life Cycle. New York, International Universities Press.\r\nJohnson, D.C. (20 03) The Role of Child Development and Social Interaction in the Selection of Childrens Literature to encourage Literacy Acquisition. Early Childhood Research ; Practice [Internet], Fall, 5 (2). Available from: ;http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/v5n2/johnson.html; [Accessed 9 April 2008]\r\nMansaray, V. (2008) Kinky and the Lost Tooth [written by student].\r\nPiaget, J. (1954) The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York, Basic Books.\r\nWhitebread, D. ; Jameson, H. (2005) Play, Storytelling and Creative Writing. In: Moyles, J. ed. The Excellence of Play. England, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill.\r\n;\r\n;\r\n;\r\n;\r\n;\r\n'