«If my bed is a ship…» Making Bibliography with hospitalized children

Abstract

May health become a “matter of tales”? Starting from the research hypothesis that reading aloud could be an effective instrument in order to support the well-being of the hospitalized child, and that writing to stimulate the expression of their own inner world, this article shows a case study conducted at the Pediatric Ward of the Riuniti Hospital in Foggia. The theoretical reference is to the
“bibliotherapy for the development”, as it was defined in the 90’s by Matthews and Lonsdale, authors of the first and more important research about reading in the hospital: “reading to promote the development and the well-being of the child and to favour him/her to get the maximum gain during the hospitalization experience”. The educational spaces for the research activity were the hospital
wards, as well as the playroom, where the researcher and the educators brought their full-blown cart loaded with books and invited the children to listen and tell. When they tell, children “tell about themselves” and they speak their wishes, feelings, emotions, fears, in a way that is “figurative”. Read their writings can become, in this sense, as well as a way to “take-care-in”, an useful key to the world of childhood and, ultimately, a way to improve the quality of care given to them. In this sense the health may be a “matter of tales”.