Chapter 1
A cognitive-developmental perspective on maps in children’s literature
Maps in children’s literature vary in many ways, for example, by representing real or imagined places; employing abstract or pictorial symbols; and depicting spaces at differing scales, orientations, and viewing angles. Although authors and illustrators may presume that children readily “see through” such maps to understand their underlying meaning, cognitive-developmental research suggests otherwise. This chapter reviews children’s developing representational and spatial concepts and their relevance for map understanding; contrasts perspectives of geography, literature, and cognitive development; and urges that future researchers study explicitly how maps are used during reading, and how these varied uses influence the cognitive and emotional consequences of the reading experience.
Article outline
- Foundations of map understanding
- Geography: Cartographic foundations
- Cognitive development: Representational foundations
- Cognitive development: Spatial foundations
- Summary
- Map foci across perspectives
- The perspective of geography
- The perspective of children’s literature
- Comparing perspectives
- A cognitive-developmental perspective: Where next?
- Author queries
-
References
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Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Nelson, Claudia & Anne Morey
2019.
Topologies of the Classical World in Children's Fiction,

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