About

WONDRE is a five-year research project funded via an ERC Starting Grant (2024–2029) to Dr. Anežka Kuzmičová and hosted by the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.

We combine social science and humanities approaches in exploring how primary-aged children experience facts and informational reading, how their experiences, questions and imaginings are reflected in contemporary nonfiction, and how they relate to assumptions held by book creators, parents and other adult stakeholders.

Our challenge is that while information text is ubiquitous and children’s nonfiction publishing is currently skyrocketing, curricula and general discourse on children’s deep engagement in reading continue to pivot on fiction. This leaves an important dimension of children’s inner lives potentially invisible to adults and untapped in both informal and formal learning. 

Our philosophy and methods draw on collaborative expertise from fiction- and nonfiction-related research previously carried out by the Integrating Text & Literacy Research group led by Dr. Kuzmičová (2020–2024) and funded by Charles University and the Czech Science Foundation.