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Traditional Literature
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Traditional Literature
Traditional Literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This site is part of a class project for LS 5603, a graduate level children's literature course offered at Texas Woman's University. On this page I review Traditional Literature for Children. See Below: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Perrault, Charles. (Reteller).1971. Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper. Trans. and Illus. by Marcia Brown. New York: Atheneum. ISBN 0684126761. This book tells the well-known traditional story of Cinderella. The heroine’s mother is deceased and her father is remarried to a haughty woman. This new stepmother and her 2 daughters treat Cinderella like a servant. Cinderella never complains, works hard and wears rags. Then one day the prince of the land holds a ball. The stepmother and stepsisters get ready for the ball with Cinderella’s help. Once they leave, Cinderella begins to cry because she wants to go too. Her fairy godmother appears and transforms her into an elegant lady, with a beautiful outfit, including glass slippers. She cautions Cinderella that the spell will be broken at the stroke of midnight, and her riches will return to rags. Cinderella attends the ball and the prince is smitten. She attends the next night also, and time passes quickly. She hears the clock begin to strike midnight and runs out of the ballroom, losing a glass slipper in her haste. The prince finds the slipper and begins a search for his princess. His henchman comes by Cinderella’s home and the glass slipper fits her. Cinderella and the prince are married and they live happily ever after. In this version, Cinderella even finds husbands for her stepsisters. This book is translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown, who won the Caldecott medal for her artwork. The illustrations are watercolor. I like this version of the story for the flowing text and the elegant illustrations and would recommend it for both children and adults. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Schwartz, Alvin. (Selector). 1992. And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry From Everyone. Illus. by Sue Truesdell. New York: Harpercollins Juvenile Books. ISBN 0060227575. This book is a collection of folk poetry that has been passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. The book includes familiar riddles, rhymes and chants on a variety of topics and a variety of styles. Themes of poetry found in the book include people, food, love and marriage, work, stories, nonsense, fun and games, rain and shine, animals and insects, etc. Some of the poetry is set to the music of a familiar tune, such as “Turkey in the Straw.” In the final section of the book, the author cites where and when he collected each poem, and provides variants and other information about each poem, where appropriate. Since these poems have been passed down by oral tradition, no one knows their original authors. However, they have become part of the fabric of American society and childhood experiences. The illustrations of the book are watercolor, simple, and complement the text. While reading his book, I was transported back to my own childhood and remembered singing and chanting some of the poems and chants within its pages. In fact, I found it difficult to stop humming “On Top of Spaghetti” for quite a while, after completing the book. Its humorous and lighthearted content is appropriate for both children and adults. I would recommend this book with the caution to the reader that he/she may find himself/herself humming for a while after reading it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scieszka, Jon. (Adapter).1989. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! Illus. by Lane Smith. New York: Kestrel. ISBN 0670827592. This humorous book tells the story of the three little pigs from the perspective of the wolf. It seems that this poor misunderstood fellow was merely trying to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor to bake a cake for his grandmother while having a bad cold. It wasn’t his fault that the first two neighbors that he visited had fashioned their houses out of flimsy materials! When he sneezed accidentally, the straw house and the house of sticks collapsed and killed their inhabitants, his neighbors, the pigs, while they were inside. It was an unfortunate occurrence, that’s all! Of course, he had to eat the pigs. After all, why leave a good dinner lying around to spoil? The story was blown out of proportion by the press. The illustrations of this book are done using paint and have some texture to them. They follow the story, and convey the humor of the story well. The cover of the book uses paint and a newspaper collage to portray the big news story of the crime and the arrest of the wolf. I enjoyed reading this book for its humor and its ability to show that every story has more than one side to it. I would highly recommend it for both children and adults. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wiesner, David. (Adapter). 2001. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 0618007016. This book tells the story of the three pigs, through text and illustration, with a twist to it. The twist is, that the victims of the story, the pigs, survive their initial interaction with the wolf instead of getting eaten by him. What happens is the pigs get blown out of the story by the wolf’s sneezes and they escape and travel on a paper airplane that they construct out of the old version of the story. They journey through nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Along the way, they pick up a few friends, including the cat and the fiddle from “Hey Diddle Diddle” and the dragon with the gold rose who is about to be slain by the prince. After a while, they travel home with their new friends and end up eating wolf soup together at the house made of bricks. The illustrations of this book are outstanding and won the Caldecott award. What makes them outstanding is the way the illustrations change styles as the characters travel in and out of the different stories or rhymes. The author-illustrator also uses blank pages to indicate the space and freedom experienced by the pigs as they fly on the paper airplane. I would highly recommend this book for both its imaginative retelling of this traditional tale and its skillful illustrations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scieszka, Jon. (Adapter). 1991. The Frog Prince, Continued. Illus. by Steve Johnson. New York: Viking Children’s Books. ISBN 0670834211. This book humorously explains what happens after a prince and a princess get married and live happily ever after. In this particular case, the prince and the princess in question are the Frog Prince and the Princess who kissed the frog and turned him into a prince. What happens is the Prince and the Princess begin to get on each others’ nerves. The Frog Prince decides to leave home to get transformed into a frog, after the princess says she wishes that she had never kissed him and turned him into a prince. He seeks a witch who can do the job. Along the way, he meets up with the witches from “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White,” and “Hansel and Gretel” and finally the fairy godmother from “Cinderella.” When the fairy godmother accidentally turns him into a frog-shaped carriage, the Prince has some time to regret his hasty decision to leave. At midnight, the spell is broken and he rushes home to kiss his Princess bride… This book is illustrated through paintings by Steve Johnson. The paintings start out with light colors and get darker and darker as the Frog Prince travels farther away from home. When he returns home, the colors become brighter again. I really liked this story on several levels. First, it is told with humor. Second, it gives a message that working things out at home is best. Third, it explains that happily ever after takes work. I would highly recommend this story for both children and adults. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are Some Links To Pages about Children's Literature (On this Website)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Picture Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Study about Lloyd Alexander ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Poetry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Non-Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical Fiction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fiction and Fantasy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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