Picturebooks and aesthetic literacy in early childhood education

A promising field in children's literature research concerns the study of the nature of aesthetic experiences in picturebooks in early childhood. There is ample evidence that children have aesthetic experiences and that reading different kinds of picturebooks enable young readers to develop a sophisticated visual competence and aesthetic literacy but which reading experiences are truly aesthetic and why? When do children have them? After outlining the topic from a theoretical and aesthetic standpoint (What is aesthetic literacy? Why is it so important in education?) this chapter analyzes two case study conducted with children from 27 to 39 months old, and with children aged 7 to 8 that are closely correlated to the reading of challenging picturebooks. The aim of this investigation is to demonstrate how a more articulate and critical relationship with aesthetics through picturebooks may foster a highly-formative educational experience and to present a working model that attempts to develop aesthetic literacy in early childhood.