Comparison of children's criteria for book selection based on children's the most reading books, children's opinions, and educators of intellectual development center

Children's literature is formed according to the needs of its audiences. The author writing for children, must know the characteristics, needs and interests of the audience. This information is achieved through studying about children, examining children's favorite books and surveying of children and those dealing with them. This study aims to investigate the most read children's books, surveying of children and their educators in order to find the characteristics of the desirable book from the children's viewpoint. Finally, a comparison is conducted between the views and features of the books. At first step, the most read works of the intellectual development center were extracted during 2006-2016 by field method and attendance at libraries of the center as well as the works were analyzed through content analysis method. In second step, two researcher-made questionnaires of 6-12 year-old children and a questionnaire for child educators were set up. After receiving the answers, a comparison was made between the views of children and their educators. It is concluded that, based on the answers in the children's questionnaire, children want to learn and enjoy their books while making a mental effort to understand the language of the books. In fact, improving the quality of children's books based on their needs and interests is one of the most important ways to promote book reading and make children interested in reading.