Book Club

Literature as a Possibility for Psychic Development

Abstract

The article reports on an intervention conducted during a School Psychology internship with a 4th-grade class at a public elementary school. The project involved the creation of a Book Club aimed at fostering the development of higher psychological function (particularly attention and self-regulation) and promoting critical reflection on social issues such as bullying, racism, diversity, inclusion, and interpersonal relationships. Grounded in the framework of Historical-Cultural Psychology, the intervention utilized children’s literature and playful activities as mediating tools. Over the course of eight biweekly sessions, preselected literary works (Gabriel tem 99 cm, Flicts, E foi assim que eu e a escuridão viramos amigas, Os feitiços do vizinho, Do outro lado da rua, Tita, a planta maldita, Deu pano pra manga e O pequeno príncipe preto) were used to structure collective readings, interactive activities, and discussions. The results emphasize how important is the adult mediation in pedagogical contexts, both in sustaining student engagement and in bridging literary content with discussions and interactive practices; The need for a structured session format, which was shown to support the development of self-regulation and attentional, as students became increasingly familiar with the organization of the intervention; The importance of selecting literary works with which students can identify, enhancing the affective-cognitive unity and generating new personal meanings for them. It is concluded that children’s literature, when combined with a structured pedagogical practice, can serve as an artistic form that enhances psychological development and critical consciousness, as long as it is integrated into a continuous, intentional, and mediated project.