Purpose The contribution of children’s literature to the social-emotional development of children has been recognized across disciplines. Especially picture books, as multimodal texts which communicate with young readers with two codes simultaneously, can be a potential means of fostering empathy in young children (Nikolajeva, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the program “My BEST friends, the books,” an empirical project (in progress) based on a Book-Based Emotional Social Thinking approach. Design/methodology/approach This approach is inspired by the Critical Thinking and Book Time approach (Roche, 2010, 2015). The program, based on the scales and competences of the Βar-On (2006) model of social-emotional intelligence, explores the way young readers interpret social-emotional skills when discussing about literary characters in children’s picture books. This paper examines the philosophy, the main characteristics and structure of the program, and presents the first results of the pilot phase. Findings The initial findings indicate that the design and implementation of such a program is a complex procedure that requires from the researcher to take into consideration various aspects that concern both the material and the participants, but also to step back and let children express their thoughts freely. Originality/value Moreover, such discussions allow for understanding how preschoolers interpret the social-emotional skills of literary characters in a critical manner.

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Using a digital camera to achieve a successful result requires from the user, first and foremost, to be familiar with the proper use of the medium and to have obtained basic knowledge of the principles of the art of photography. What is the result in those cases where the photographer either does not know the basic principles of photography or cannot apply them effectively in practice? Is the product considered a “failure” thus leaving photos with no clear and recognizable objects? This paper focuses on designing and implementing an applied educational intervention, themed on ”shaken” photos taken by preschoolers and using this material to create digital narratives. This case study examines "shaken" photos as an opportunity to develop imagination and creativity through photography.

Distance and communication during the Covid-19 pandemic have been one of the challenges of the last two years worldwide. While traveling was difficult, new technologies and visual stimuli provided opportunities to overcome those obstacles. This paper describes the art project titled Love cannot be framed implemented by Wally De Doncker and Katerina Dermata. While “trapped” in their own countries, the two authors creatively challenged each other during the pandemic. Every week they proposed a theme to each other and took photos from their own living environment in Belgium and Greece. The authors created a synthesis by combining those photos, one Greek and one Belgian for each theme. As a writer, Wally De Doncker interpreted each synthesis with a literary and philosophical methodology and created an artistic album. This art project indicated that distance is only sometimes a barrier to creativity. It is an example of how love bridges a global epidemic.

Children use digital cameras from very early age as the progress of technology provides accessible tools such as smartphones and tablets in everyday life. Children use the photographic medium to create their own photos, take photos to represent and explore their environment, to communicate with others, etc. By designing and implementing a visual literacy program focused on the impact of using the photographic medium from preschoolers, the researcher examines how children behave when they use the camera or are photographed in the class environment. The dimensions examined are the role of the child as a photographer and the role as the subject of the photograph and how the medium affects children’s behavior. The results highlight the impact of the medium in preschoolers' behaviors when using a digital camera, and the importance of the observation in children’s’ reactions for the adults.