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Reading from the Feet Up: The Local Work of Literacy

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Abstract

Children learn to read at approximately the same stage in life as they start to master their physical environment. This article argues that some of the same mapping and schema-building strategies inform each activity, and draws on examples from a broad range of children’s books to support the idea that reading fiction and mapping one’s local surroundings work in tandem among many young children. Fictional examples include Ramona the Brave, The Moffats, and The House at Pooh Corner. As children grow, and their understanding of their own world increases, their relationship with fiction may become more complex; this proposal is discussed in relation to the works of Carolyn Keene and Enid Blyton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, 3-20 Rutherford South, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2J4, Canada

    Margaret Mackey

Authors
  1. Margaret Mackey
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Correspondence to Margaret Mackey.

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Margaret Mackey is a Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta. She has published widely on the subject of young people’s literacy in a broad range of media. Her most recent book is Mapping Recreational Literacies (Lang, 2007). Between 1996 and 2007, she was North American editor of Children’s Literature in Education.

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Mackey, M. Reading from the Feet Up: The Local Work of Literacy. Child Lit Educ 41, 323–339 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-010-9114-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-010-9114-z

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