Folklore and Fairytales

 

    The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is fairly well-known among both children and adults alike. There have been numerous movies and retellings made, but nothing beats the original story. Snow White's mother dies soon after she's born, and her father remarries a beautiful, but very vain woman. This woman slowly grows to hate Snow White for her beauty and kindness, to the point of trying to have her murdered. Snow White escapes and finds herself in the home of the seven dwarves, who take her on in exchange for becoming their housekeeper. The queen eventually finds her and tricks her three times in an attempt to kill Snow White herself. These tricks include tight-lacing her dress, a poisoned comb, and eventually the classic poisoned apple. After building her a glass coffin, a prince happens by and sees how beautiful Snow White is. He immediately falls in love with her and asks to take her back to his kingdom with him, and the dwarves consent. As his servants are moving the coffin, the movement shakes the piece of poisoned apple from Snow White's throat and causes her to wake up. They eventually marry and take over the kingdom together, with Snow White as the new queen. 

    This story is an overlap of fantasy and folklore. This story originally comes from Germany, I believe, and is a heavy cultural influence there. The story reads like spoken language and has a relatively fast-paced plotline, keeping in character with classic folklore (Galda, 2017). The illustrations in this book, done by Darcy May, are beautiful. They are representational art, as all the drawings depict real things, just in a fantasy setting (Galda, 2017). They are mostly line art with color layered over for depth, and the color reminds me of watercolors. 

    I personally read this book to my 3rd grade library class this week and they LOVED it, even the boys. Kids of any age can enjoy this book, but I read to K5-4th, since those are the grades I have for library class. They can learn a number of important lessons from this story, such as the value of kindness and the dangers of vanity and jealousy. Some classroom conversations could go as follows:

Teacher: "What is one lesson we can learn from the character of the Evil Queen?"

Students: {various answers}

OR

Teacher: "What is one lesson we can learn from Snow White's character?"

Students: {various answers}

    I loved Snow White as a child. The copy of the book I used for this was actually mine as a child. I think it's important for children of all ages to learn about folklore and fairytales, especially the classics like Snow White.

REFERENCES:

1. Galda, L. (2016). Literature and the Child (9th ed.). Cengage Learning US. https://reader2.yuzu.com/books/9781305854987

2. Kassierer, Sue. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". Random House, 1994. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Children's Science Fiction

Image
       City of Ember , written by Jeanne DuPrau, is one of the best-known science fiction books for older elementary kids. The story follows 12-year-old citizens of Ember, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, as they navigate a post-apocalyptic underground city that is slowly falling apart. The city is facing chronic supply shortages, power outages, and deadly plagues. All the citizens have been taught that Ember is the last city on Earth, everything and everyone else having been destroyed. The two main characters eventually uncover widespread corruption in the governing body, along with secrets left behind by those who built Ember (the Builders). The children eventually discover the world above is not only safe, but intact and inhabited! The story ends with them leaving a message for their fellow citizens and escaping the city (DuPrau, 2003).      This book takes place in the far future, and the city itself was built by scientists as a safe haven in the ev...
Read more

Realistic Fiction

Image
     The Callahan Cousins by Elizabeth Doyle Carrey follows a group of older elementary-age cousins spending the summer with their grandmother on Gull Island. This book is from the perspective of 12-year-old Hilar, whose parents are getting divorced. Through her desire to stir up an old family feud to prove her worth to her father, she leads her group of cousins on a variety of misadventures, including a sinking sailboat.      This book falls under the category of contemporary realistic fiction for older elementary-age to early middle-school-age girls (Galda, 2016). Despite the girls being left alone quite a bit and being very wealthy, which is largely unrealistic for this age, most of their adventures are highly plausible for girls their age. The main conflict is between the group of Callahan girls and the Bicket family, a feud dating back to when their parents were children. There are very few illustrations in this book, but the cover is reminiscent of co...
Read more

Multicultural Book 2

Image
       Julie and the Mango Tree by Sade Smith follows the story of Julie, a young Jamaican girl, waiting impatiently for the mango tree in her yard to have ripe fruit. Usually, Julie's dad will climb the tree to pick one for her, but he's in town and Julie can't reach any on her own! However, after a rainstorm, ALL the mangoes fall and Julie eats as many as she can, but still has many leftovers, so she decides to share.      This book is realistic, multicultural fiction. It features realistic people in a real setting doing realistic things (Galda, 2016). The story is plausible and follows a clearly defined, realistic plotline as well (Galda, 2016). The illustrations in this book are representational (Galda, 2016). They depict realistic people in realistic settings, while still being colorful. The illustrations look close to either gouache or acrylic paint, in my opinion.     This book is a great way to help children learn about Jamaica, and e...
Read more