9-12 Yaş Türkçe Çocuk Kitaplarının İç ve Dış Yapı Özelliklerinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

This thesis was conducted to evaluate whether storybooks and novels for the 9–12 age group are suitable for this age group in terms of internal and external structural features and to assess the extent to which publishing houses are successful in this regard. Another aim of this study is to raise awareness among librarians, publishers, teachers, parents, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of National Education about what needs to be considered to ensure that children aged 9–12 are provided with quality books. Although there are many studies in the literature on children's books, it has been observed that these studies mostly focus on books for children up to the age of eight, lack the broad scope to include all publishing houses, or are not specific to a particular age group. It was found that there is a limited body of research specifically targeting the 9–12 age group. The criteria for evaluating the internal and external structure of children's books were determined based on a review of the literature. The publishing houses included in the study were identified using the website of the Turkish Publishers Association (2020). Based on this, it was determined whether a publishing house publishes stories and novels for the 9–12 age group. A total of 29 publishing houses that met the inclusion criteria were identified. Through quota sampling, the number of books to be included from each publishing house and the specific books to be selected were determined, resulting in a sample of 100 books. The books were first analyzed based on their external structural features. Among these 100 books, those deemed suitable in terms of external structure were then subjected to an internal structural review. Following the analyses and evaluations, 27 books were identified as externally suitable for the 9– 12 age group. Of these, three books were found to be fully compatible with this age group. However, no books were identified as being entirely suitable in terms of internal structure for the 9–12 age group. Nevertheless, 11 books were determined to be readable for this age group, as the identified issues in these books were not deemed to negatively affect children physiologically, psychologically, or in terms of reading quality. No significant differences were found between large and small publishing houses in terms of the external and internal structural quality of their books. However, the rejection of two hypotheses suggesting that larger publishing houses would produce books more suitable for the 9–12 age group in terms of external and internal structure is an important outcome of this study. It may be recommended that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of National Education update their regulations or make other publications regarding the issues to be considered in ensuring that children's books are suitable for children in the context of public, children's and school libraries.