Applying Theories to Children’s Literature
By reading books that was written a long time ago and reading the books that are written today, you can see that there are a difference in the theoretical models of childhood development that can be found in children’s literature. Children’s books and the literature have been used to help the children to classify how the world is. So many “thinkers” or “dreamers” thought that children’s development happens in different stages and that with each of the stages; it shows a different challenge for each individual child. When it comes to children’s literature, like “Harold and the Purple Crayon”, if successfully used, the literature can be used for parents to use to help the children to classify with …show more content…

Whenever Harold is using his purple crayon to draw the things that he wants to do or play with, the reader is doing the same. This is the age where the reader can grasp the concept of what Harold is doing and saying. The second stage of Preoperational Period is called the Intuitive Stage and this starts at the age between four and seven when the child is beginning to understand their feelings and they also learn what it means to make judgments about the world that they are living in. This age is when the child is developing their language skills and they are also becoming much less self-centered. Now when they hear or read a story about human relationships it means much more to them along with stories that shows deeper emotions such as Harold and the Purple Crayon. I believe that both of these stages would identify Harold and the Purple Crayon due to the fact that the reader can connect with Harold as he draws that he fantasies about and things that he wants to do and they all come true. It teaches the reader in my opinion to reach for the stars and let their dreams take them anywhere they want to go.
One of the critical approaches that come into mind when reading the book “Harold and the Purple Crayon” would be how it is written or the sentences. With each sentence it helps the reader follow along with Harold as uses his crayon to go places and to do things that he