approach to the book as you read and critique it but also will allow you to use more precise language when you express your opinions of the book.
Here are the most common categories of traditional literature.
MYTHOLOGY
These stories explain the existence and nature of the world, and generally feature gods and goddesses as their primary characters, although mortals occasionally put in an appearance. Myths are often considered to be sacred stories in their culture of origin.
EPICS
Long, episodic stories of adventure, grounded in mythology but featuring a mortal hero. The best-known epics in the Western tradition are The Iliad and The Odyssey .
LEGENDS
Stories based on supposedly real people and their heroic deeds and adventures. Part of the intrigue of legends is that their characters, such as King Arthur and Johnny Appleseed, are said to have a historical basis, yet their stories are a mix of fantasy and reality.
TALL TALES
A type of legend in which the hero’s exploits are highly exaggerated and retold in a hyperbolic style, generally to the point of being hilariously funny.
URBAN LEGENDS
A recently identified type of contemporary oral tale that recounts bizarre or supernatural occurrences, sworn to be true as the teller generally claims the event happened to a friend of a friend. In spite of their name, they can be set in any real place, urban or rural. These tales are popular with older children, as well as teenagers and adults, and are beginning to make their way into published literature for children.
FABLES
A very short story which teaches a moral or a lesson about conduct. Fables rarely feature more than two characters, and the characters are often animals.
FOLKTALES
Fanciful short stories with either human or animal characters. Most folktales have fast-moving plots in which good is eventually rewarded and evil is punished. Folktales themselves have been divided into several categories.
Cumulative : stories such as “The House That Jack Built” that are structured with the repetition of an ever-increasing accumulation of details.
Pourquoi : stories that explain the origins of natural traits, such as “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears.”
Beast tales : stories in which animals talk and behave as people.
Fairy tales : Also called “magic tales” or “wonder tales,” stories with elements of magic and enchantment. They may include supernatural characters such as witches, wizards, elves, dragons, and even occasionally fairies.
Realistic : The rarest type of folktale, these are stories with human characters and no magic elements.
As you evaluate any book based on traditional literature, one of the first things you should do is to determine the tale type . Is the story a retelling of a myth? Is it a legend? Or pourquoi tale? Sometimes this information will be given to you in the book’s subtitle or in an author’s note, but most often you will have to make this judgment yourself by applying what you know about the categories of traditional literature. Amongchildren’s literature professionals, the above-named categories are widely known and understood, so your use of these descriptive terms in published reviews will be especially helpful.
Traditional stories from all these categories are published in the United States for children each year, although the majority of these are folktales. Many are published individually, a single story presented in a thirty-two-page picture book; others are published as collections of tales in one volume. Whatever the mode of presentation, there are critical standards that can be applied to all traditional literature when it is being retold for a child audience. These standards relate to the context in which the literature is created: first, as an oral literature that undoubtedly changed as it was passed from storyteller to storyteller; next, as it was consciously collected and recorded for posterity; and finally, as it was taken from one written
Here are the most common categories of traditional literature.
MYTHOLOGY
These stories explain the existence and nature of the world, and generally feature gods and goddesses as their primary characters, although mortals occasionally put in an appearance. Myths are often considered to be sacred stories in their culture of origin.
EPICS
Long, episodic stories of adventure, grounded in mythology but featuring a mortal hero. The best-known epics in the Western tradition are The Iliad and The Odyssey .
LEGENDS
Stories based on supposedly real people and their heroic deeds and adventures. Part of the intrigue of legends is that their characters, such as King Arthur and Johnny Appleseed, are said to have a historical basis, yet their stories are a mix of fantasy and reality.
TALL TALES
A type of legend in which the hero’s exploits are highly exaggerated and retold in a hyperbolic style, generally to the point of being hilariously funny.
URBAN LEGENDS
A recently identified type of contemporary oral tale that recounts bizarre or supernatural occurrences, sworn to be true as the teller generally claims the event happened to a friend of a friend. In spite of their name, they can be set in any real place, urban or rural. These tales are popular with older children, as well as teenagers and adults, and are beginning to make their way into published literature for children.
FABLES
A very short story which teaches a moral or a lesson about conduct. Fables rarely feature more than two characters, and the characters are often animals.
FOLKTALES
Fanciful short stories with either human or animal characters. Most folktales have fast-moving plots in which good is eventually rewarded and evil is punished. Folktales themselves have been divided into several categories.
Cumulative : stories such as “The House That Jack Built” that are structured with the repetition of an ever-increasing accumulation of details.
Pourquoi : stories that explain the origins of natural traits, such as “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears.”
Beast tales : stories in which animals talk and behave as people.
Fairy tales : Also called “magic tales” or “wonder tales,” stories with elements of magic and enchantment. They may include supernatural characters such as witches, wizards, elves, dragons, and even occasionally fairies.
Realistic : The rarest type of folktale, these are stories with human characters and no magic elements.
As you evaluate any book based on traditional literature, one of the first things you should do is to determine the tale type . Is the story a retelling of a myth? Is it a legend? Or pourquoi tale? Sometimes this information will be given to you in the book’s subtitle or in an author’s note, but most often you will have to make this judgment yourself by applying what you know about the categories of traditional literature. Amongchildren’s literature professionals, the above-named categories are widely known and understood, so your use of these descriptive terms in published reviews will be especially helpful.
Traditional stories from all these categories are published in the United States for children each year, although the majority of these are folktales. Many are published individually, a single story presented in a thirty-two-page picture book; others are published as collections of tales in one volume. Whatever the mode of presentation, there are critical standards that can be applied to all traditional literature when it is being retold for a child audience. These standards relate to the context in which the literature is created: first, as an oral literature that undoubtedly changed as it was passed from storyteller to storyteller; next, as it was consciously collected and recorded for posterity; and finally, as it was taken from one written
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