This study examined a sample of 100 national children's storybooks directed to pre-school children aged four to six years to identify words/utterances that denote mental states according to three views of analysis: via words and expressions in the text; via the pictures; and via presence of irony or false beliefs in the narrative. The analysis of mental words was realized by a group of tree people. It was found that 92% of the analyzed books contained internal state language, 12% contained situational irony, 11% contained false belief and the pictures represented the mental state concepts expressed in the text. The results point out that the national children's storybooks can be used as a resource to promote socio-cognitive development of clildren.
theory of mind; children´s storybooks; mental states
