Death in children's literature against the background of selected child and childhood research approaches.

The present publication deals with the sensitive topic of the social taboo of death with regard to the process of the child's education and development, with particular focus on the use of thanatological literature as a factor shaping the child's personality. The text presents the perception of the death by children, and the essence as well as functions of thanatological literature. Presented are also selected analytical categories of literary texts, among which an objective and a subjective approach to the child and childhood can be distinguished. The first approach is consistent with the perspective of the childhood sociology shown in the article and the post-colonial theory, while the second approach refers to mainstream developmental psychology and the colonial theory. The articles also shows the impact of child and childhood research approaches on four well-known literary works for children (at the kindergarten and pre-school age), dealing with the discussed topic. The selected research method consists in qualitative analysis of the content of the books. The works have been selected due to their popularity and presence in scientific publications on the topic of death in children's literature. Based on the analysis of content values of the four literary works, it can be concluded that respect for the child's subjectivity and the value of their voice supports development of the youngest, among others, in the aspect of dealing with the sensitive topic of death. In the modern world, dominated, among others, by worship of youthfulness and physical strength, which has a significant influence on the shape of the education, thanatological education becomes an important challenge which cannot be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]