Pre-service Teachers Engage in Deep Aesthetic Reading of Postmodern Picturebooks. Findings from Children’s Literature Workshops

The passion for children’s literature and reading is a crucial foundation for the intellectual and experiential framework of kindergarten and primary school teachers. This study proposes an innovative pedagogical framework for academic workshops for student pre-service teachers. The framework focuses on a deep aesthetic reading of postmodern picturebooks. The qualitative methodology adopted is grounded in Louise Rosenblatt’s theory and its recent revision of slow-looking. Through this lens, the study examines the aesthetic responses of pre-service teachers realised in collective and individual reading activities collected over a three-year period at several universities. The findings offer insights on how to prepare and inspire pre-service teachers to propose in their future classrooms deep aesthetic readings of metafictive and thought-provoking children’s literature while also enhancing recognition of the reader as co-author and interpreter.