Cooperation through children’s books

The value of cooperation has never been as clear as it has become today. Unfortunately, it has also become clear that not all people are used to working together despite the research suggesting that “human being are genetically disposed to cooperate” (Greenfeld et al., 2011: 1). It is evident that such disposition must be reinforced and supported from an early age. The power of children’s literature in influencing the way of thinking and acting of people is almost recognized. Even if not created for didactic purposes this genre of literature can have a considerable role especially in strengthening the human attitude of cooperation. The focus of this paper is to underline two different ways to convey the value of cooperation to young people through children’s books like showing it in the plot of the story or being a tool for a cooperation project. As an example, I have chosen Tatsu no ko Tarō (Tarō, the Dragon boy, 1960) by Matsutani Miyoko (1926-2015), a classic novel of contemporary children’s literature and The Japan-China-Korea Peace Picture Book Project in which writers, illustrators, and editors from the three countries cooperate in the creation of picture books on the subject of mutual peace with the intent of documenting “the past honestly, share today’s sorrow, and create a peaceful tomorrow together” (Chen et al., 2020b).