mrz and other experts on literacy in primary schools...

[Bonsoir]

At what age should a child be asked in a reading comprehension whether a piece of writing is real or imaginary, and to identify the fact that is imaginary because of the presence of a mythical creature (unicorn, mermaid, elf etc) in the text?

Really though-provoking thread, thank you bonsoir.
It is really hard to draw the line in the right place between equipping them for realities of life, and allowing their imaginations to soar.

For those of you who read French... Max et Lili or Ainsi Va La Vie ("That's The Way Life Goes") is a series of some 90 books destined for small children (5+) which tell the story "in plain words" of Max and Lili encountering life's hardships: divorce, drugs, death, alcoholism, paedophilia. Very gruesome and, IME and IMO, very frightening for little children to be given such a brutal exposure to the world.

Imagination is the greatest gift we can give children.

www.amazon.co.uk/Uses-Enchantment-Meaning-Importance-Psychology/dp/0140137270/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323365427&sr=8-1-fkmr0

I do very much agree that nurturing a child's imagination is a huge gift. And very much part of English literary culture (I'll buy the toys in Germany!).

My dd1 is 6 and in yr2. One of her friends says she turns into a mermaid every night at 6 O'clock. Dd doesn't believe her but is happy to go along with it "if it makes her happy" - another friend of theirs gets very cross when mermaid girl mentions it as she says she's lying. I think it just depends how literally the child involves takes things. Dd1 knows the difference between real and mystical but is happy to suspend disbelief for the purposes of the story.