Abstract:

This study aims to study the characters in the children’s books of 3-6 years of age in terms of social and emotional skills. The study is a document examination within the framework of the quality research method. In the study, the Uşak province public library examined the 56 painted children’s books that addressed the age range of 3-6 years and received the most loan in the last 1 year. As a data collection tool, the MEB 2013 Pre-School Education Programme has created a "Form for the Review of the Social and Emotional Skills of Characters" taking into account the achievements in the field of social and emotional development. The study of the books applied to the document analysis; the analysis of the data used to the content analysis. At the end of the study, the characters in the books did not have the full social and emotional skills expected from pre-school children. It has been concluded that characters may be an example for children in the direction of acquiring certain skills but may remain insufficient in the sense of acquiring certain skills. In almost all of the books reviewed, "He shows his positive/negative feelings about an event or situation in the appropriate ways." Their achievements are mainly reflected, but "Explain different cultural characteristics.“He talks about Ataturk.” “He understands the value of his works.” Their achievements have not been found in any of the books. According to the results of the research, books writers are more sensitive to the skills they expect from children while shaping the characters they place in their books and how these skills are processed, at this point, in cooperation with various foundations and associations, primarily MEB, it is recommended that books writers are educated through the educational facility in order to create awareness and awareness about the dimensions of the world of children.

Keywords: