Exploring Folklore

As a young child, my favorite stories to hear were folktales and fables read aloud by my mom. Maybe it was the story or maybe just the great voices she would use, but I loved them all. As a teacher, I enjoy teaching with and reading these stories more. I am always surprised at how many students have never heard some of these stories before coming to my class so I find it important to teach. What really hooks a lot of my readers are the fractured fairy tales or “fakelore”. These put a twist on the age-old stories and it is always fun to hear a different perspective.

A new favorite fractured fairy tale is Big Bad Wolf is Good by Simon Puttock and Lynne Chapman. This story is a total twist on Little Red Riding Hood except there is no appearance of Little Red at all. In this book, the wolf just wants to make friends but no one wants to be his friend. He gets the idea to change his ways and become good by doing a noble deed. Even then, all the other animals just run away from him in fear. When something awful happens, the wolf was there to help though. A little duckling disappears and everyone thinks that the wolf has actually eaten him. I’ll let you read the story to see how it all plays out in the end. This fractured fairy tale is a wonderful example of how people are not always one way and how a character can change. It also sends a great message of friendship and helping others. I want to also note the illustrations in this text are very appealing to young children and really help bring the story to life. The illustrations make the story even easier to follow.

A fable is a story that teaches a moral lesson. These are so important for students to hear and make for great classroom discussions. In City Mouse and Country Mouse, a popular Aesop’s fable, the city mouse goes to visit the country mouse. The country mouse was so proud to show the city mouse how he lives, but the city mouse just turns up his nose. He doesn’t understand how anyone can live in such poor conditions. So, he invites him back to the city with him to show him how to live life his way. While in the city, they dined on fancy feasts but were also interrupted by many loud and sometimes scary noises. This didn’t make the country mouse feel peaceful or happy so the country mouse traveled back to live his life in the country. The overall moral of the story is that it is better to live happily with what little you have rather than live with an abundance of something but in fear for your life. Again, the illustrations here are very spot on. Each page walks you through the story so that even the youngest reader can “read” the pictures.

I believe both stories have lessons that you can learn from the characters. Children can learn the difference between good and bad through these characters and their actions. Stories like these can help make our students make the right choices in their own real-life situations. Another commonality between both texts is that both main characters are animals and there is no defined villain. Although the city mouse is considered a negative influence, he wouldn’t exactly be defined as the villain. I find this interesting because I think we are always expecting to find a big villain in these types of stories, but really just learn something from the characters and the plot.

Picture Storybook Reviews

I am loving my children’s literature class because it is giving me a great opportunity to finally pick up some books that I haven’t read before. Every year around book fair time, I would have many students purchase beautiful books for our classroom. My classroom was filled with books that I always said I’d use for read-aloud, but I just never could get to them all. These three titles have been sitting pretty in my teacher box and I am so happy I pulled them out to read. The following titles are great examples of picture storybooks. They integrate text and illustrations beautifully and tell wonderful stories.

Chopsticks by the late Amy Krause Rosenthal is the cutest story about friendship. I had read her other title Spoon and this one was just as clever. It is a story about a pair of chopsticks that do everything together until one of the chopsticks breaks and needs time to rest. During their time apart, the chopsticks learn how to function on their own. The book sends a great message about standing out on your own but also sticking together. The illustrator does a wonderful job of creating humorous pictures that bring out the text on each page even more.

After a fellow classmate discussed the book Blackout by John Rocco, I remembered that I had it in my collection and had never read it. I am so glad I finally gave this book a deeper look. It is a Caldecott honor book that is a perfect example of a picture storybook. It is a very relatable story about how a family reacts after the power goes out on a summer night. No one in the family was able to use their technology and had to pull out board games and get outside, play, and enjoy the city lights. The author/illustrator in this book does a great job of using dark colors to show the blackout but highlights the main action on the page. This is the kind of book that if the text wasn’t there, you would still be able to understand the story.

I have also enjoyed reading books by Jon Klassen so I pulled the book The Dark. This book tells a great story about a boy who is afraid of the dark and how he faces his fear. The “dark” is written as a character and the boy actually talks to the dark. I think this book is so relatable to kids and does a great job modeling how kids can tackle their fears. Jon Klassen is definitely becoming a favorite illustrator of mine, and this books’ illustrations did not disappoint. He does a great job of showing the darkness and playing with the shadows. The boy's face was also detailed throughout showing his timid personality. I love, love, loved this story!

Caldecott Award - This is Not My Hat

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won the Caldecott Medal in 2013 and then also won the British Kate Greenaway Medal for children’s book illustrations. The book is about a little fish who steals a tiny blue hat from a big fish. The little fish things he can get away with it and spends each page justifying his actions. He plans to hide in the tall plants but unfortunately for him, the big fish finds him. The reader never knows how the story ends exactly so it leaves a little to the imagination. It Is amazing how much suspense this book can bring with such simplicity of a storyline.

So, let’s talk pictures. Klassen’s pictures are what make this book which makes sense why it won the Caldecott. There are very few words on each page and the pictures are simple. Although the pictures are simple, they make you have to look very closely for details. By taking a close look, you will notice the clear signs of movements and emotions in the fish – the eyeballs of the little and big fish, the crab’s claw, the bubbles behind the fish. The changing eyes are my favorite part! The pictures even stay the same for three pages except for the eyes and this makes for huge engagement for students. The pictures on each page are so simple but yet these small changes make the book very intriguing and funny.

When reading the textbook, Literature and the Child, I learned about all of the artistic tools that illustrators use. I kept trying to figure out what made Klassen’s pictures so unique. At first, I considered his use of color. He sticks to the same muted colors throughout the entire book and creates all of his characters and scenes flat. Upon further research, I learned that Klassen uses computer-generated digital illustrations coupled with Chinese ink. (Galda 103)

I think this book would make a great read aloud because it helps students look closely at the pictures and make inferences. I can’t wait to use this with my students!