The Logopedic Aspects of Editorial Typefaces in Volumes of Poems for Children

Abstract

The quality of publications aimed at children is a broad and still not well described area of research. The present analysis is an attempt to raise awareness of this issue in relation to the so-called speech therapy book. The article deals with distinctions constituting important, but still little recognized and reviewed editorial means, which should feature in a properly designed book, subordinated to the basic functions: readability, organisation, navigation and coherence. By delving into this subject, it has been possible to see the motivation for adapting the editorial aspects of such publications not so much in infantilising but in the actual perceptual needs of the young reader. The presented examples indicate that each element used in the design of a children’s book should mainly serve the readability of the text, as their action extends to support the development of various spheres of cultural
competence of the young recipient: learning of voices and letters, articulation skills, grammar and spelling exercises, etc. The aesthetics of a children’s book can have a positive or negative impact on interacting with it. Adequate typographic devices increase the readability of the text, that is they
facilitate familiarisation with the text and its educational layer.