Traditional Literature

Traditional literature deals with stories that were passed down through oral storytelling or have been around for a long time. They often include magic, once upon a time, and morals.

Fairy tales, legends, fables, etc. are all contained in this category.

 

 

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

Eric A.Kimmel
Characters: Anansi, Little Bush Dear, other animals

Setting: Outdoors

Summary: Anansi is a spider who is mischevious. He comes across a trick rock that will put anyone out who says “isnt this a strange moss-covered rock?” When he realizes what happens, he decides to trick other animals in the forest to take their food while they are knocked out. He does this to quite a few animals but Little Bush Deer has seen what he is doing and devises a plan to counteract him. She lures the spider with coconuts and when he tries to trick her, she gets him to say it and Anansi gets knocked out. She gets the friends and they all steal their food/belongings back from the greedy spider.

Theme: Greed, Laziness

 

Cendrillon

Robert D. San Souci

Characters: Cendrillon, Godmother, Paul, Vitaline

Setting: Carribean

Summary:  In this Caribbean version of Cinderella, the story is told from the godmother's perspective. Cendrillon's mother dies after she has her and her father marries again to Madame and has another daughter named Vitaline. Madame treats Cendrillon like she is a servant and loves her own daughter. Cendrillon has a godmother who has inherited a wand of mahogany which has magic. She helps her get to the ball that is happening after her stepmother refuses, and changes breadfruit into a carriage, agoutis into horses, lizards into footmen, and a a manicou into a coachman. She meets Paul, who the ball is for and danced with him until she had to return home by midnight. Paul came searching for her after the ball with the slipper she left behind and found her after her sister Vitaline tried it on and failed. Cendrillon and Paul get married after he finds her. There is a list of words and what they mean in the back.

Theme: Be true to yourself, Good conquers evil, Love

Goldie and the Three Bears

Diane Stanley

Characters: Goldie,

Setting: 3 bears’ home

Summary: Goldie is a little girl who is very picky about what she likes, which makes things difficult for her like finding nice clothes, good food, and great friends. Every day after school she eats a snack, reads a book, and takes a nap in her perfect bed. Her parents always suggest playdates, but she doesn’t think anyone is good enough. One day, she gets off at the wrong bus stop and finds a nice looking house. She goes in and sees food on the table, so she eats the one she likes best. Then she finds her favorite book laying around and reads it. Later, she picks the best bed and falls asleep in it. Three bears that live there come back home and see that someone has been eating their food, sitting in their chairs, and her sleeping in their bed! The little daughter bear runs and jumps on the bed and giggles with Goldie. Goldie even calls her mom and tells her she will be coming home late because she’s made a new friend – who she thinks is just right.

Theme: Friendship, Taking things that aren’t yours

La Tortuga: a Mexican Folk Tale

Elizabeth Lane

Characters: Turtle, children

Setting: Mexico

Summary: A very old turtle in a Mexican village always gets tricked and teased by the children there. She knows that they want to lure her out of her house to make her into turtle soup. The children sing to her, lure her with grapes, and shovel her into a box. The turtle plays her flute to convince them to let her out to dance. She dances out the door and back into her house. The children later come to her house to dance to her music and stop harming her.

Theme: Respect

Puff the Magic Dragon

Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton

Characters: Puff, Jackie

Setting: Honalee

Summary: Puff the Magic Dragon lived in Honalee. He plays with a boy named Jackie and they have great times together. One day, Jackie stops coming because he’s gotten older and doesn’t play around anymore. Puff is sad and just sits around until one day a new girl comes into Honalee and brings joy to him again. The Puff the Magic Dragon song tune is the same rhythm as this story, and some of the words are the same. There is also a map of Honalee in it.

Theme: Friendship

Tom Thumb: Grimms' Tales Retold

Eric Carle

Characters:  Varies by story

Setting: Various

Summary: This book contains 4 Grimm Brothers fairy tales, with classic Eric Carle illustrations. A quick summary of the mostly known tales: Tom Thumb is no bigger than the size of a thumb and his parents have him after wishing for a boy just like that. He helps greatly with his parents and people want to buy him. He reassures his dad that he’ll be back and he tricks/steals from the robbers and does return home to his parents. The Fisherman and His wife is about the greedy wife whose husband found a talking fish but let him go back into the water. The wife is angry and makes him go get the fish again so she can make wishes. She wishes for better things and to be powerful, and the water gets stormy until the fish revokes everything. In Hans in Luck, Hans has worked hard and wants to return home with his money. He makes many bad trades for various animals and objects as the value of them becomes less and less, and he finally gets home with nothing left. Lastly, in The Seven Swabians, 7 men decide to travel to seek adventure, but only one of them brings a sword. They are very dumb and they become frightened by a rabbit, and 6 of them drown in the river except for one who goes home to tell the tale.

Theme: Greed, Bravery, Value of things

 

The Frog Prince, Continued

Jon Sciezka

Characters: Frog Prince, Princess, a few witches

Setting: In a fairytale land

Summary: The Frog Prince and his Princess were supposed to live happily ever after, but they are anything but. He decides he wants to be turned back into a frog so he can escape his wife. He runs out and looks for a witch to put the spell back on him, but he only comes across witches from other fairy tales. The prince knows these stories, so he avoids Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel’s witches. He comes across Cinderellas fairy godmother who agrees to cast a spell, but changes him into a carriage. He is very upset that he is alone in the woods as a carriage, and realizes he has made a mistake. At midnight, the spell comes off and he runs back to his castle and to his wife, kisses her, and they both turn into happy frogs.

Theme: Love what you have

 

The Lion and the Mouse

Jerry Pinkney 

 Characters: Lion, mouse

Setting: Outdoors

Summary: Told entirely in pictures. The mouse escapes from an owl but ends up on a lion’s back. The lion wakes up, picks him up and growls but lets him go. When poachers set up a rope trap, the lion unknowingly steps into it and is caught in the net. The mouse that he saved earlier scurries up and nibbles on the rope until the net breaks and the lion can fall out.

Theme: Treat others as you want to be treated

 

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia)

C.S. Lewis

Characters: Lucy, Edmund, Susan, Peter, Aslan, the Queen, Tumnus, the Beavers, among others

Setting: Mostly in the world of Narnia

Summary: Four siblings stumble upon a magic world that is found in the back of a wardrobe. After some individual visits, the four of them go together and help the world of Narnia end the evil White Witch/Queen and bring peace and order back with the help of the King Aslan.

Theme: Don’t lie, Imagination, Courage, Gluttony

The Magic Porridge Pot

Madge Tovey

Characters: Girl, mother, old lady

Summary: A young girl and her mother are hungry and an old lady gives them a pot that will make porridge if the magic words are used to start and stop it. They are never hungry again. One day, the girl is gone, and her mom gets hungry but forgets the words to stop the pot. It boils all over the house and out through the town. The girl eventually sees this and runs to stop it. It takes a long time to eat the porridge throughout the town.

Theme: Gluttony, Listening

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Beatrix Potter

 Characters: Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, Mother rabbit, Mr. McGreggor

Setting: Peter’s home, Mr. Mcgreggor’s garden

Summary: When Mother goes out, she tells her four children to stay away from Mr. McGreggor’s garden. The three rabbits listen, but Peter crawls under his fence to eat some good food. The man sees Peter and chases after him. Peter loses his shoes and jacket by getting stuck, but some birds help him escape before getting caught. He runs to a tool shed but gets found there too. Peter doesn’t know where to go or how to get out of the garden without being seen again. He eventually finds the fence and bolts across to get under it just in time – or he would have been the man’s dinner just like his father. When he gets home, he gets sent to bed without a yummy dinner like his siblings because he doesn’t feel well.

Theme: Listen to your parents

 

The Three Pigs

David Weisner

  Characters: Three little pigs, dragon, cat

Setting: Various storybooks

Summary: The book starts out as the normal three little pigs story. The first pig escapes being blown down by jumping out of the page and into the white space. The second pig does as well. The third pig follows, confused on how they were still there. They run around in the white space and one of the pigs folds up the pages to make a paper plane that they fly on. They enter into the “hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle” world, but soon leave taking the fiddler with them. Then they enter a world where a dragon is going to be slayed, but they save him. The group finds the pig story again and flattens the pages out until the wolf is threatening the brick house- and when he does the dragon busts out and scares him away. The new friends all hang out in the brick house happily ever after.

Theme: Work together

 

The Three Snow Bears

Jan Brett

  Characters: Aloo-ki, snow bears

Setting: Outside in the Arctic

Summary: Aloo-ki loses her huskies on an ice floe. Meanwhile, a family of three snow bears goes outside of their igloo for a stroll. Aloo-ki finds the igloo and tries their soup, boots, and beds (favoring the baby bear’s in each try). The bears find the dogs and push them to safety by their igloo. When they go back in their house they see that their soup is gone, boots are messed, and beds are being slept in. Aloo-ki wakes up to see them and runs out and gets away with her dogs while the bears say goodbye.

Theme: Respect for other’s property