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What are the deeper messages in the storybooks we read to children? That question inspired a team of researchers to set up a study. Specifically, they wanted to know, what can you tell about a country from its children's books? Here's NPR's Nurith Aizenman.
NURITH AIZENMAN, BYLINE: If you're a kid in China, here's the kind of book you might be reading. It's called "The Cat That Eats Letters" - not just any letters, sloppy ones.
CECILIA CHEUNG: Too large or too small or, you know, if the letter's missing a stroke.
AIZENMAN: Cecilia Cheung is a psychology professor at University of California, Riverside.
CHEUNG: So the only way children can stop their letters from being eaten is to write really carefully and practice every day.
AIZENMAN: It's one of dozens of books recommended by the education agencies of China and the United States that Cheung and her collaborators analyzed for a study.
CHEUNG: We're mainly interested in exploring whether or not there are differences in the kinds of learning-related values that are being conveyed in the storybooks.
AIZENMAN: Their findings published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology - the storybooks from China stress those learning-related values a lot more than the books from the U.S. - about twice as much. Take the cat story.
CHEUNG: This is really, you know, instilling the idea of effort. So, you know, children have to learn that they have to really consistently practice in order to achieve a certain level.
AIZENMAN: By comparison, Cheung says a typical book from the U.S. is one called "The Jar Of Happiness."
CHEUNG: A little girl attempts to make a potion of happiness in a jar.
AIZENMAN: Only to lose the jar. She's really upset until all her friends come to cheer her up.
CHEUNG: At the end of the story, she came to the realization that happiness does not actually come from a jar of potion but from having good friends.
AIZENMAN: Cheung says this emphasis on happiness comes up a lot in the books from the U.S. What are the implications? Well, Cheung notes that children in China consistently score higher on academic tests compared to children in the U.S., but it's not clear if that's due to different cultural values or teaching methods. In the meantime, Cheung suggests there may be lessons in this for everyone. Chinese parents might want to make sure all that emphasis on hard work isn't coming at the expense of encouraging a sense of joy in their kids.
CHEUNG: And you know, happiness is also important when it comes to learning. It can be a predictor of future achievement levels.
AIZENMAN: American parents might want to add in some books promoting the idea that intelligence isn't something you're necessarily born with but also something you can gain through hard work. Because if that's your view...
CHEUNG: When you're facing a really difficult challenge, you just put more effort into it instead of saying, oh, I'm just not smart, and I'm just going to give up.
AIZENMAN: Oh, and in case you're worried about that cat, once the kids improve their handwriting...
CHEUNG: At the end, the cat feels very hungry.
AIZENMAN: But then the kids take pity on him and write a few more sloppy letters. Nurith Aizenman, NPR News.
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