kiddieliter

“Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter” by Diane Stanley is a wonderful example of children’s traditional/folk literature.  It is the original story of Rumpelstiltskin with a slight twist.  Instead of Rumpelstiltskin being a mean ol’ troll, he is now a cute and kind man who saves the girl from the mean and evil king.  Rumpelstiltskin and the girl fall in love, get married, and have a child together named Hope.  The story then follows Hope sixteen years later and her revenge against the evil king for what he done to her mother.  It is a delightful and cute children’s story and I would definitely reccommend this to have in any classroom.

Paul Bunyan is a traditional literature tall tale. It is a story that most children and adults have heard. It is about a man and his big blue ox, Babe, and the adventures that they had together. It is a tall tale that tries to explain some natural phenomenons that we see today. It is said that he and his ox created the grand canyon, the ten-thousand lakes in Minnesota, and Mount hood. It is a story that stretches the imagination and is entertaining.

“Puss in Boots” is a three hundred year old French folk tale told by Charles Perrault. In this book Fred Marcellino adds amazing pictures to help tell the tale. The story is about a young boy is left nothing but a cat after his father dies. However Puss is a very clever cat and starts sending His Majesty gifts from his master. Soon the young boy is on top of the world because of his clever cat, Puss.

“Cinderella” by David Delamare is an interesting variation of the traditional story of Cinderella.  This story begins with Ella’s mother still alive.  When she dies, Ella is sent to bording school, only to return to become her new step family’s maid.  The family lives in a small house in a city built upon water.  The rest of the story is complete with a fairy godmother, a handsome prince, and a royal wedding.  There are, however, no talking mice. ~Heather Chandler

    A unique Gullah folktale of mysticism and courage, about young boy named Mentu, who never lived in Africa, but learns to play the African drums out of respect to his heritage and his grandmother, Twi. However, the drum’s lure will force Twi to choose between possible freedom from enslavement, or the island that her beloved Mentu calls home. A Coretta Scott King Award winner.

This is a story about a little girl no bigger than a thumb and grew from magic barleycorn seed. She was very beautiful, but was kidnapped by an old toad to be the bride of his son. This leads to a book full of adventure. She ends up marrying the prince of flowers and lives happily ever after.

This is a story retold by Grace Tseng about a boy who lived in a rocky land.  Across the river the land was beautiful, but everyone was afraid to cross the river because of a tale of a goddess protected by a tiger and a serpent.  After the boy’s mother spent 1,000 days and nights making him a brocade, the goddess swept up the brocade to her land.  The boy crossed the bridge, fought the lion and the tiger, and won.  In the end, the goddess stirs up such a whirlwind that she blows the beauty of the brocade into all the land, including the boy’s home.

This is an african folk tale about a spider named Anansi. Anansi is a spider that possesses some human qualities. He always seems to find himself with some kind of problem. He has six sons that all have unique talents. Every time Anansi gets into trouble, the sons are always at the rescue. At the end of the story Anansi finds a light and wants to give it to his son. The problem is he doesn’t know which son to give the light to. They all help him when he needs them, so he is confused. This is a great book for children because it encourages them to help each other. Every time Anansi was in trouble, someone would help him out. In school students should work together to help others when they have problems. This book also has wonderful illustrations that will keep students interested and engaged in the story.