Excerpted from So Much More Than the ABCs: The Early Phases of Reading and Writing (pp. 74–78) | by Judith A. Schickedanz and Molly F. Collins
Teachers of young children typically devote more time to stories than to informational books, and also include more storybooks in classroom book areas (Duke 2000). These practices are based on beliefs, such as thinking that informational books are more difficult and less appealing for young children than stories. Interestingly, in a small study, researchers found that teachers in the United States thought narratives were easier than informational books for preschoolers, and also far more appealing, while Korean teachers held exactly the opposite view. Not surprisingly, the books these preschool teachers read aloud and included in their classroom libraries strongly reflected their attitudes (Lee et al. 2011).