them is an academic pursuit. For the past century and a half, it has been a particular preoccupation of anthropologists who wish to preserve the stories for scholarly cultural studies. Most of the traditional literature from non-European sources was initially collected for these purposes, not as a potential source of entertainment for American children.
How is it, then, that contemporary American children’s literatureabounds with traditional literature? There seem to be several factors at work. First, there is a long tradition of myth, legends, and folktales being served up as children’s literature. With the European fairy tales, for example, while children were undoubtedly part of the audience for the oral tales in their original context, they were not the sole, or even primary, audience. But once the tales were written down, they gradually came to be seen as the province of children, due to many of the common characteristics they share that make them very appealing and accessible to children: concentrated action; stock characters; patterned language; elements of fantasy; and simple themes, such as good versus evil and the weak overcoming the strong.
A second factor that has encouraged the link between traditional literature and children’s books is the emphasis on oral storytelling as a part of library programming for children. Librarians trained as storytellers quite naturally seek out stories from traditional oral sources as likely candidates for their own retellings. This creates a demand for publishing in this area, which in turn makes critics from the children’s library field fairly welcoming and receptive to a wide range of traditional material being published as children’s books.
Third, with the increasing demand for multicultural literature, there has been a tremendous increase in the amount of traditional literature from non-European sources over the past two decades or so. Critic Lyn Miller-Lachmann attributes this to the fact that folktales offer advantages to those who wish to expand multicultural literature: ready-made characters and plots that can be extracted from sources in the public domain that require no royalty payments. But children’s book editor Phoebe Yeh cautions that retelling and illustrating folktales from other cultures raises complex issues of authenticity. She points out that it is naive to assume this is the “safest” way to increasethe number of multicultural books. A good example of this fallacy is the multiple “multicultural” variants we’ve seen over the past two decades of different familiar folktales. In her article “Proceed with Caution: Using Native American Folktales in the Classroom,” professor Debbie Reese provides a thorough analysis of a single story that was taken from the Zuni people and recast as a Cinderella story in a picture book retelling. By comparing the picture book text to an authentic Zuni text, she was able to point out details that were added or changed to fit European values and make the story seem closer to “Cinderella” than it actually was.
A final factor that contributes to the abundance of traditional literature in contemporary U.S. publishing for children has to do with the power of the stories themselves. Many of them are exceptionally good stories, plain and simple. Who can not identify with the growing vexation of the Baby Bear upon finding his porridge eaten, his chair broken, and an intruder in his bed? Who can not be moved by John Henry’s valiant but unsuccessful attempt to race a steam drill? Ultimately, the tales have survived for their sheer power as stories dealing with universal human truths.
CLASSIFICATION OF TRADITIONAL LITERATURE
Scholars agree on several different categories of traditional literature, and these definitions can be useful to anyone evaluating traditional literature for children. The first step to take is to determine the category into which the tale falls. This will not only help in your overall
How is it, then, that contemporary American children’s literatureabounds with traditional literature? There seem to be several factors at work. First, there is a long tradition of myth, legends, and folktales being served up as children’s literature. With the European fairy tales, for example, while children were undoubtedly part of the audience for the oral tales in their original context, they were not the sole, or even primary, audience. But once the tales were written down, they gradually came to be seen as the province of children, due to many of the common characteristics they share that make them very appealing and accessible to children: concentrated action; stock characters; patterned language; elements of fantasy; and simple themes, such as good versus evil and the weak overcoming the strong.
A second factor that has encouraged the link between traditional literature and children’s books is the emphasis on oral storytelling as a part of library programming for children. Librarians trained as storytellers quite naturally seek out stories from traditional oral sources as likely candidates for their own retellings. This creates a demand for publishing in this area, which in turn makes critics from the children’s library field fairly welcoming and receptive to a wide range of traditional material being published as children’s books.
Third, with the increasing demand for multicultural literature, there has been a tremendous increase in the amount of traditional literature from non-European sources over the past two decades or so. Critic Lyn Miller-Lachmann attributes this to the fact that folktales offer advantages to those who wish to expand multicultural literature: ready-made characters and plots that can be extracted from sources in the public domain that require no royalty payments. But children’s book editor Phoebe Yeh cautions that retelling and illustrating folktales from other cultures raises complex issues of authenticity. She points out that it is naive to assume this is the “safest” way to increasethe number of multicultural books. A good example of this fallacy is the multiple “multicultural” variants we’ve seen over the past two decades of different familiar folktales. In her article “Proceed with Caution: Using Native American Folktales in the Classroom,” professor Debbie Reese provides a thorough analysis of a single story that was taken from the Zuni people and recast as a Cinderella story in a picture book retelling. By comparing the picture book text to an authentic Zuni text, she was able to point out details that were added or changed to fit European values and make the story seem closer to “Cinderella” than it actually was.
A final factor that contributes to the abundance of traditional literature in contemporary U.S. publishing for children has to do with the power of the stories themselves. Many of them are exceptionally good stories, plain and simple. Who can not identify with the growing vexation of the Baby Bear upon finding his porridge eaten, his chair broken, and an intruder in his bed? Who can not be moved by John Henry’s valiant but unsuccessful attempt to race a steam drill? Ultimately, the tales have survived for their sheer power as stories dealing with universal human truths.
CLASSIFICATION OF TRADITIONAL LITERATURE
Scholars agree on several different categories of traditional literature, and these definitions can be useful to anyone evaluating traditional literature for children. The first step to take is to determine the category into which the tale falls. This will not only help in your overall
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