Children's Literature: Exploring Intertextual Relationships

Texts carry traces of the language, social and cultural characteristics of both the period in which they were written and the period before them. Because of this, it is important to read intertextually in order to make sense of the text. The reader needs to discover the mystery revealed by the author during the intertextual reading process, and to know where the intertextual relationship begins and ends. While adult readers may notice the intertextual relationship due to their experience with the reading process, children may have more difficulty in this situation than adults. The activities that children do with their teachers are important in the process of discovering intertextual relationships. Children's interaction with different text types and the questions asked to understand the text support the process of establishing relationships between texts. However, the activities for the discovery of intertextual relations differ for beginning or more skilled readers. In this study, sample activities that can help beginning and advanced readers to discover intertextual relationships are presented to teachers to enable students to discover the relationships between texts, to construct meaning through questions, and to use cognitive processes.