"Children's Book week is the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading." It is celebrating it's 96th anniversary this year. It is the longest running national literacy initiative in the United States, having been created in 1919. It is administered by the non-profit group Every Child is a Reader, which strives to instill a love of reading in all children.
Here is the official website for Children's Book Week with lots of information for teachers and children. There are events to attend, awards, and other fun features on this website. There are also some nice bibliographies to give you ideas for classroom use and student recommendations.
This falls on the birthday of one of our most loved children's book authors, Hans Christian Andersen. Started in 1967, it is sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), an international non-profit organization.
World Book Day is a celebration! It's a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it's a celebration of reading. In fact, it's the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world
Tell a Fairy Tale Day is always observed in the United States on February 26th of each year. There is no official record as to the origin of this day. Encourages family time telling tales and getting away from television and other hectic activities. What is a Fairy Tale? Here is the Wikipedia article to get you started. News story from wtop about 7 stories that show the twisted truth behind fairy tales
Go outside
for recess or listen on city sidewalks and you will hear rhymes, jump rope
songs, insults, riddles, chants, etc. Cinderella dressed in yellow jump rope rhyme:
Children’s
first introduction to literature is often through the nursery rhymes adults
recite while playing with baby., vocabulary is obscure and dated, but the
rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and other musical qualities, continue to appeal
Many beautiful illustrated
traditional anthologies; also rhymes from other cultures are available Arabic Nursery Rhyme:
Legends
with the added element of exaggeration. Focus on individuals usually male who
accomplish impossible tasks using great strength and then become famous for
exploits. US is where they have flourished. Paul Bunyan (Disney):
May be any piece of fiction or drama that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. May refer to any kind of scary story.
May serve many purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often appear as prophets of things to come.
Belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world.
Stories about a person who folklorists are fairly sure actually
existed. Differ in length and narrative style, with epics defined as longer
stories that are often written in verse rather than in prose style as legends
are. Influenced by cultural aspects of time and setting.
Main character is often enduring
symbol for an important value in society or is used as role model
Complex struggles, decisions, and
foibles of human nature
Traditional
stories that arose to explain specific characteristics of animals, terrain, or
climate. Pourquoi stories, religious stories, best known are Greek and Roman
origin, but all groups have myths. Picture book retellings are popular
Creation stories to describe how the
world or specific culture was created
Pourquoi tales evolved to explain
how things came to be in the natural world, focus more on everyday phenomena
Short tales
designed to teach moral lessons and values in order to transmit a cultures
accumulated wisdom. Aesop, John La Fontaine. Typically have animal characters
referred to by the name of the animal. Moral at the end of the tale, many
collections are beautiful illustrated, also individual fables are available.
Learning stories also teach cultural
values and moral lessons but are longer, more complex texts that feature both
human and animal characters, morals not explicitly stated, different listeners
often gain different insights from learning story.
Aesop's Fable: The Tortoise and the Hare, read by Levar Burton:
Stories that
focus on the customs, beliefs, and traditions of ordinary humans and describe
how people cope with the events of everyday life; crisis or conflict to
resolve.
Cumulative/Chain Stories
Trickster Stories
Stories of Fools and Simpletons
Fairy or Wonder Stories
Beast Stories
Distinction between folktales that
have been passed down and collected and stories that resemble this literature
but were written by known authors.
Wonder Story/Simpleton story: Strega Nona
Another Simpleton Story: The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
