Religious and Ethical Values in Some Western and Turkish Classical Child Books

Abstract

As a part of the features of intellectual and emotional development of childhood period, reading story and tale takes an important place in the development of children. It is also a fact that the contents of the books read are important as much as acquiring the habit of reading for children. Most of the children books called "child classics" are seriously criticized in terms of language and content time to time in Turkey. It is argued that these books are western oriented and contain western values, and more importantly they teach religious and moral values of Christianity, while they do not include any knowledge about Turkish culture and Islamic religious and moral values. This article examines how these child classics affect the religious and moral development of children, whether they are suitable for Turkish culture or not, and whether they impose any Western values and Christian culture on children.