Benjelloun: Reading spread tolerance among children

The National Council for Human Rights announced that this year activities in the 23rd edition of the International Exhibition of Publishing in Casablanca will be held under the theme of "Youth of Morocco is Future", after the previous editions focused on childhood, women's rights and disability.

In an interview with the Arab Moroccan writer Larbi Benjelloun, on the sidelines of 23rd International Exhibition of Publishing, which opened on Friday, he said that encouraging children to read short stories can contribute to prevent violence and spread peace and tolerance.

Benjelloun told Morocco Today that the children stories improve ethical behaviors, and develop scientific ideas among children, who are the key pillar for development in the Arab world.

He suggested using simple methods in writing stories for children and use animal characters, calling for opening special departments in the Moroccan universities to educate writing children stories.

Benjelloun divided children literature into three stages, including realism from 1 to 3 years old, free fantasy from 6 to 9 years old, and science fiction from 9 to 18 years old.