Cinderella Translated by Marcia Brown

This book is one of my Traditional or Folk Literature books.

This book is a version of the original Cinderella. This book tells of how Cinderella's step mother makes her do all the horrible chores and does not allow her to go to the ball when the sisters go to the ball. Cinderella cries and her godmother, who is a fairy, appears and turns her into the beautiful person she is with or with out her rags. She goes to the ball the first night and returns promptly before midnight, then on the second night she forgets about the warning and runs out at the stick of midnight, leaving her glass slipper behind. When a man comes around fitting the shoe on all the ladies of the land, Cinderella sees her slipper and laughingly says let me see if it will fit. The sister laugh and make fun, then when they see that it fits and she has the matching one, they fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness of their horrible ways. Cinderella forgives her sisters and when she moves into the palace she marries the Prince and marries both her sisters off to courts men. I would use this story to tell about folk literature and about how no matter what you look like or how you are treated, there is someone out there for you. I would teach students about how there are different versions of the same story.

The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury

This book is one of my Traditional or Folk literature books.

This book is a version of the Three Little Pigs and the Big bad wolf. In this book the wolves build 3 houses one of brick, one of concrete, and one of barbed wire, armor plates, iron bars, heavy metal padlocks, Plexiglas, and some reinforced steel chains. All three of these houses the Big Bad Pig was able to break through. The little wolves decided to build one last house and use flowers. Well when the Big bad Pig tried to blow this house down, the sweet smell of the flowers made him see all the bad he was doing and changed him into a Big Good Pig and they all lived happily ever after together. I would use this book to teach my students about different versions of the same stories, along with teaching them about how no matter how mean someone may be, they can become good if they are shown the right things.

Three Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley

This book is one of my traditional or folk liturature books.

The three cool kids is a version of the Billy goats gruff. In this book the kids live in the city and the lot they live on is just not getting any better. They know of an empty lot just down the road but are afraid to go because of stories of this mean rat. When the kids are down to their last piece of grass they decide that that is that and they head to the new lot. As the youngest two kids cross the street one at a time they both encounter this mean rat. The rat wants to eat them for dinner and each one says that he wont cause the other kids will tell him what's what. When Big, the oldest of the three, crosses the road he shows the rat what's what and they never hear from the rat again. The kids cross the street and live happily in the new lot. I would use this to teach students about books that are all different versions of each other, along with teaching that being mean will not get you far.

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter

This book is one of my traditional and folk literature.

This book is about Benjamin Bunny and his Cousin Peter. Benjamin helps peter get his coat and shoes that are being used on a scarecrow in Mr. McGregor's garden. On their way out of the garden they take several onion. On their way back to Peter's house, they run into a cat. They hide under a basket for five hours until Benjamin's dad comes and scares the cat off. Benjamin's dad spanks both of the boys and makes them leave the onion. When Peter got home his mom did not care that he should be punished, she was just happy to see that he was home and had gotten his clothes back. I would use this book in my class to teach them that following the rules and doing what they needed to do would keep them from getting in trouble.

Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola

This book is one of my Traditional or Folk literature books.

This book is about an Irish man that is the laziest man in all of Ireland. Jamie is so lazy that his wife has to do all the farming just so his family can have food for the winter. Well one day his wife gets sick and he has to do all the farming. He decides that he needs to co and make a confession, while on his way he encounters a leprechaun and tries to get the pot of gold from the leprechaun. The Leprechaun out smarts Jamie and gives him a potato seed that will grow the biggest potato ever and all Jamie has to do is plant it and wait. Jamie takes the seed thinking he has made the best choice. When he returns home his wife tells him he made a horrible choice. Jamie planted the seed and waited. As the potato grew, it grew so big it lifted the house. Jamie tried and tried to get the potato out of the ground. When he finally got it out, it rolled down the hill and got stuff in the road between the wall and blocked the town. The towns people had not idea what to do. After a little while they all decided to work together and cut the potato into pieces and give everyone some of the potato. By the town working together they were able to save their problem and have enough food for everyone for the winter. I would use this book to teacher my students about team work and how if you work together you can succeed better than if you are all fighting with each other.

Throw Your Tooth in the Roof by Selby B. Beeler

The story, Throw Your Tooth in the Roof by Selby B. Beeler would fall into the folk tale genre as well as multicultural/international.  The reason it is a folk tale is, because it explains the many tooth traditions and beliefs all around the world.  As for multicultural and international, it qualifies because it opens the door to traditions through out the world for students.  The book goes through numerous places in the world and explains what each child does with their tooth.  Some of the places are places such as, the US, Guatamala, Sri Lanka, Russia, France, Spain and Sweden.  The most common of the two traditions is, under the pillow and throw the tooth on the roof.  I found this interesting because I never thought of the different tooth traditions around the world and I definitely never thought there were as many as this book listed.  The tooth tradition I found most interesting is, Costa Rica traditions.  I thought it was most interesting because tradition calls for the parent to take the tooth, have it gold plated and made into an earring.  It would be hard to incorporate this story into the classroom because you might run into questions about the tooth fairy and it is hard to know where the students beliefs lie.  I think that this story would be a great book to read with a child before bed to learn about the different tooth traditions around the world.  I think you could put this story in a folk tale grouping as well as multi cultural because of all the in depth explanations around the world.

Note: This book is one of my Traditional/Folk Literature books

Fearless Jack by Paul Brett Johnson

The story Fearless Jack by Paul Brett Johnson is considered a folktale.  The story best fits in this genre because, it contains a mythical character which is a unicorn.  The story also contains a hero.  The story is based from famous stories called, "Jack Tales".  In the beginning of the book the author explains that when early Americans settled they used Jack Tales and then they tapered off until the 1940's when they reappeared in mostly Appalachian versions.  In the story the main character Jack is sent off to find a job because his family is poor and he is the able worker.  The work Jack ends up finding is capturing wild varmints.  Jack ends up stumbling on each creature and capturing them by pure luck.  At the end of the story Jack has all the money he could need and more but, before it ends he is challenged with a group of giants.  The story ends after that but, it left me thinking he would surely stumble u[on the giants as well.  I think it is really neat that they have brought these stories back and I really enjoyed reading Fearless Jack.  I would incorporate this story into my classroom if i wanted to explain the history and origins of fairy tales and folk tales.  I think this would be a good story because in the beginning it explains how the story, "Fearless Jack" came to be.

Note:  This is one of my Traditional/Folk Literature books

Duffy and the Devil By Harve & Margot Zemach

The book Duffy and the Devil by Harve and Margot Zemach would fall under the genre of Folktale.  The reason it is a folktale is because the story has good vs. evil, characters of royalty, contains magic and a happy ending.  This is common for this genre.  In this story the main character Duffy is hired for a job in which she is required to knit and spin clothes for her boss.  Duffy takes the job with out any knowledge of sewing, spinning or knitting.  In order to stay there Duffy calls for the devil and as soon as she does, the devil appears.  The devil makes a deal that he will sew, spin and knit anything she want for the next three years as long as she agrees to go with him at the end of the three years.  He also tells her that the only way that she can get out of her deal is by guessing his name.  Duffy gets away with everything for just about three years and in those three years she ends up marrying her boss and becomes well known aruund town for her sewing, knitting and spinning.  At the end of the three years Duffy confesses her wrong doings to a friend, Miss Jone.  Miss Jone helps Duffy to find out the Devils name and breaks the curse on her forever.  I liked this story and would use it when teaching my students about fairy tale/folk tales.  I would read this story as a class and have the students give me a thumbs up when they thought I read something that clued them in on the genre.

Note: This book is used as one of my Traditional/Folk Literature