Critical Literacy
“Critical literacy is central to empowerment, unpacking of privilege, and social responsibility”
(Pack, 2023, p. 95).
Supporting Young Children’s Critical Thinking
“Curriculum emerges from social issues exposed in multicultural children’s books and is developed through dialogue” (Souto-Manning, 2009, p. 58).
Young children are naturally curious and capable of making meaningful connections between stories and their everyday lives. But if children are only encouraged to make personal connections, they may be simply adopting the perspective of the story rather than question it, especially when the text reflects dominant culture norms (Jones, 2012; Bishop, 1990).
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Critical literacy helps extend their thinking with questions such as:
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Is this how it happens for everyone?
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What could be different to make things more equitable?
In her work with picturebooks about slavery and segregation, Souto-Manning (2009) found that young children connected these stories to issues they noticed in their own communities - oppression, gender segregation, and inequality, when they were invited into the conversation. Similarly, Vasquez et al. (2016) show that when educators “linger” with a powerful picturebook
"Reading and rereading their own lives politically as texts, these first graders noticed racial segregation and disproportionality... in their own lives”
(Souto-Manning & Yoon, 2018, p. 53)
"Students were making sense of the concept of situated perspectives and how there were many ways to tell a story and to experience the world”
(Souto-Manning, 2009, p. 62)
over several days, children who were initially quiet often find their voice and contribute important insights.
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In practice, supporting critical thinking can look like:
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Revisiting a book over several days, allowing ideas to deepen, so more children have opportunities to participate.
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Using children’s own comments as a starting point
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You said that felt unfair. Tell me more.
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Connecting stories to children’s own lived experiences
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Does this happen in our space?
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have you noticed this in your neighbourhood?
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Small, everyday practices help children notice inequities and imagine possibilities, without placing responsibility on them to solve social injustice (Beneke & Cheatham, 2019).
See “In Practice” for tools and strategies.
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