Archive for April, 2016

In Storytime, when we share favourite fairy tales (which we do in every issue), we try to deliver them in a way that will satisfy our reader expectations. By that, I mean that we honour the formula and stick with the versions that are known and loved. No twists or surprises, no rewriting the rule book, and no reverting to the gore and darkness of original versions.

We’ve spoken to our readers about this and we know that they feel reassured and comforted by stories that are safe and familiar. Stories that they recognise from their childhoods, which they delight in passing on to their own children. There’s a lot to be said for the warmth and constancy a classic fairy tale can give – especially for young children who are encountering fairy tales for the first time. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Naughty or nice?

But don’t be fooled, not everything or everyone is perfect in Fairy-Tale Land. There is still darkness and peril, there are still wicked stepmothers and wolves, and some of our most popular fairy-tale characters – the fairy-tale rebels – display some quite questionable behaviour. This is something that interests me greatly because in storytelling sessions – whether at home or at school – they’re so often brushed over in the desire to deliver a classic story to an edge-of-the-seat audience. For me, the fairy-tale rebels are central characters who are widely considered to be the hero, but when you think about it a little more deeply, are actually just a bit, well… naughty!

Here are three fairy-tale rebels who, if they had been better behaved, might have given us some very boring stories:

Our Favourite Fairy-Tale Rebels

The beanstalk: ye olde getaway car.

1. Jack the Thrill-Seeking Thief
Jack and the Beanstalk (in Storytime Issue 5) is an all-time favourite fairy tale and familiar to most early years or KS1 children. We all know the story, but what about Jack? In my mind, he’s a cross between Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He ignores his mum’s advice to gamble their cow for five beans. Risk-taker alert!

Then, he proceeds to raid a giant’s castle, not once, but three times, using the beanstalk as his getaway car. After grabbing the gold, did he really need to go back a second time? After bagging a hen that will offer a lifetime’s supply of golden eggs, did he need to go back a third time? Is Jack greedy or just a thrill-seeking adrenalin junkie? And does he get away with it? Yes, he does – with the exception of a mild telling off from his mum and foregoing supper. He doesn’t even endure a heroic battle at the end – a quick swoop of his axe brings the giant’s downfall.

Jack is a seriously interesting character and is, in fairy tales I think, the ultimate rebel hero. Some of this might be too advanced for younger children to grasp, but there’s certainly a lot to think about in terms of nice and naughty behaviour – and some interesting adjectives that could be used to describe him. For instance, is Jack brave? For more thought-provoking materials, lesson ideas and teaching resources for Jack and the Beanstalk, download our latest pack from our Storytime for Schools site.

Goldilocks: housebreaker chair breaker.

2. Goldilocks the House-Breaking Prowler
When we were in the early stages of developing Storytime, we surveyed our potential readers and asked them which fairy tale they wanted to read first. Goldilocks was the hands-down winner. This alone fascinated me. In an age where the free-range kids movement caused an uproar and made headline news, everyone was still enthusiastic about reading a story which sees a little girl essentially break into a stranger’s home – all alone – and steal their breakfast. She stalks around their living room, destroys their furniture, climbs into their beds and runs away without even saying sorry.

Is the message in this story to allow innocent curiosity to unfold – something that kids have in spades and is so often quoshed by adults? Are we all vicariously acting out our naughtiness through Goldilocks? Or is it simply a mild cautionary tale? Because, let’s face it, there are no real consequences to Goldilocks’ break-and-enter behaviour. Unless you count waking up to find three bears looming over you. Are we supposed to think Goldilocks is naughty or nice? I think she’s somewhere between a trickster and a rebel – and ripe for discussion. What might have happened if she’d stayed and apologised?

A princess with attitude in Storytime Issue 21.

3. The Promise-Breaking Princess
Not all fairy-tale princesses wait around for a dashing prince or fairy godmother to save them. Not all of them are even nice. The princess from The Frog Prince (coming in Storytime Issue 21) is a superlative example of that. She makes a promise to a frog, allows him to do her dirty work, then abandons him without fulfilling her side of the bargain.

She is selfish, dishonourable and deceitful. To make matters worse, after he hops all the way to the castle, she slams the door in his face. When she is eventually shamed into allowing him in by her father, she is rude, spoiled and stroppy. The only real consequence to her bad behaviour is that she is forced to spend time with the frog, which she agreed to in the first place. And, somehow, after all of this, the prince falls in love with her and they get married!

As fairy-tale princesses go, she’s a real rebel – the reprobate who gets away with it. I must admit that when working on this story, I couldn’t resist making the princess a little bit repentant – I just felt so sorry for the prince! If ever there was a princess who broke the mould though, and gave you lots to discuss in terms of good and bad behaviour, it’s this one.

Hopefully, this has given you some food for thought and has inspired you not to take some of our most famous fairy-tale characters at face value. Each of the characters above can be a great starting point for some really interesting and valuable discussion about right, wrong, good and bad. And what constitutes a hero in the first place.

Do you have a favourite fairy-tale rebel? Or, more precisely, a rebel in the guise of a hero? I’d love to know. Get in touch via Twitter or Facebook. I always love to hear your thoughts.

Rebels forever!

We do love good creation myths here at Storytime – especially ones that are less familiar to us and our readers. Not only do they offer a fascinating insight into other cultures and beliefs from long ago, they’re often richly imaginative and just begging for brilliant visuals. The perfect combination – a real treat to write, a joy for illustrators to work on and, hopefully, a pleasure to read.

And where fairy tales satisfy the need for happy endings, creation myths once brought certainty to uncertain beginnings – often in the most incredible and far-fetched ways.

One of the dragons that later became one of China’s greatest rivers.

That lack of hard science forced civilisations to come up with some impressive explanations for their own existence and for everything in the world around them.

No science to explain how Australia happened? We’ll put it down to a Rainbow Snake! (Storytime Issue 5)

No science to explain China’s four biggest rivers? Must be down to the dragons trapped under the mountains. (Storytime Issue 10)

Creation Myths Make Creative Kids

The sheer ingenuity and unexpectedness of creation myths is to be applauded. It should be treasured and shared with kids, who, as they make sense of the world, are quite frankly the masters of coming up with original ideas about how and why things came to be.

I also think creation myths offer huge possibilities for learning about indigenous cultures and beliefs, the real science and geography behind the places in the stories, plus a whole load of subject-related, spin-off activities to explore from art and P.E. to literacy and maths. You can really go to town with a creation myth.

A Maui Myth with Free Teaching Resources

In our Storytime Issue 20, we’ve featured a wonderful creation myth from New Zealand. It’s called Maui Goes Fishing and it explains how New Zealand’s North Island came to exist. Naturally, a young boy (soon to be demigod) fished it out of the sea.

We’ve put together a teaching resource pack for this story, along with lesson ideas and some fun printable activities, which we’ve sent out exclusively to all schools who subscribe to Storytime. (In fact, we’re now sending out a free monthly teaching resource pack to all of our school subscribers. Find out more about it here. You can also access some of our other sample resources here.)

Our marvellous Maui Myth from Storytime Issue 20.

You can download our Maui Goes Fishing Resource Pack here – it includes:

• Maui Goes Fishing story
• Lesson Ideas for literacy, PE, Geography and Art
• Word Wise Sheet
• New Zealand Fact Sheet
• Maui’s Moko Sheet (design a Maori tattoo)
• Maui Colouring Sheet
• Maori Factfile Sheet
• Maui Goes Fishing Game Sheet
• Two Storytime Picture Frames

We hope you can put it to good use at home or in the classroom, and that our creation myths inspire busy minds, brimming with questions and intrigued by the ideas behind each story. Creation myths are an example of enormous creativity and, in turn, encourage creativity in kids.

Off to see if I can fish a new country out of the Thames.

See you next time!

Earlier this week, I was getting all excited about our new Storytime issue (with stunning Sleeping Beauty artwork by Alessandra Fusi, above), when I stumbled upon a random social media comment that ruffled my editor feathers. “Sick of stories that begin with ‘Once upon a time?'” it said, and it went on to suggest how clichéd it was as a story opener.

Sorry, but I can’t agree. A phrase as loaded with promise as “Once upon a time” doesn’t deserve to be in the same sentence as the armchair critic’s favourite word: cliché. Yes, perhaps it is sometimes used without much consideration, but here’s what those four emotive words – “Once upon a time” – have come to mean to me, and I think, to many young readers too:

• Excitement and anticipation – They tell you that magic and adventure lie ahead. And going back to the post I wrote on repetition, the more children hear or read “Once upon a time”, the more they come to associate it with great stories and reading for pleasure.
• Comfort and reassurance – The story will be warmly familiar. It’s predictable in a positive way.
• Being transported – There’s no need to question the reality of the story; you know you’re going to a place when or where anything is possible.
• A sense of wonder – Disbelief placed firmly aside, you’re open to and appreciative of a fictional world of possibilities.

Once Upon A Time Magic

When we launched Storytime magazine, I made a conscious decision to begin every Favourite Fairy Tale with four potent words: Once upon a time.

As much fun as it is to be clever and kick off every story with an original or creative opening, I believe that “Once upon a time” are words worth honouring and passing down the generations. They deliver a special magic to children everywhere – the familiar and the fantastic – and this is no mean feat. So, when it comes to overused words in children’s literature, I think “Once upon a time” should earn a special dispensation – a free pass to the world of fairy tales!

And instead of casting it as the bad guy of story openers, we should be acknowledging it at home and in the classroom. Rather than telling kids (or adults, for that matter) that they aren’t allowed to use it, we should be saying, “Once upon a time is a brilliant way to start a story, but perhaps you could try something different today?”

10 Fun Fairy Tale Openers

On that note, I’ve pulled together 10 fun and creative alternatives, gathered along the way during hours of fairy and folk tale research. Hope these inspire you!

1. Once upon a daydream

2. Once upon a time and a time before that

3. Once upon a time – not yours or mine

4. Once upon a time and twice upon a time and all the times I can remember

5. Back when the world was full of wonder

6. Back in the days when pigs could fly

7. Long ago and far away

8. So long ago that no one remembers when

9. A long time ago or perhaps it was just last week

10. Before the world was round

You can download and print out some more familiar fairy-tale openers from our new, free Teaching Resources page to stick on your classroom wall. You’ll find them in our Fairy Tale Classroom Deco Pack, along with Once Upon A Time bunting, bookmarks, and lots of setting and character prints. Plus we have a whole pack of Fairy Tale Lesson Ideas too. We hope you find them useful!

Issue 20’s Sleeping Beauty, like all our fairy tales, begins with “Once upon a time” and so it shall be for evermore. Hope you enjoy this new issue! It’s packed with great stories for kids.

Until next time!

We’re excited to announce that we’ve just launched free teaching resources on our Storytime for Schools website.

We’re kicking off with several free packs to help you write your own Fairy Tales and Fables in the classroom. These packs include story planners, storyboards, picture frames, fact sheets, games, activities and lesson ideas. Plus we have a pack of printable Fairy Tale-themed decorations to make your classroom look magical – all beautifully illustrated.

We’ve also put together a brilliant pack for our Crow and Pitcher Fable from Storytime Issue 19. It includes lesson ideas for maths, science, art and literacy, plus a mask and sock puppet kit.

We have a special pack coming soon for Storytime Issue 20 and a whole load of Myths and Legends resources coming your way! Our resources are free and, in coming months, we’ll also be putting together special and exclusive resource packs for any schools ordering Storytime.

We hope you’ll find our new teaching resources helpful in the classroom, but we would love home educators, libraries and parents to use them too. They’re free, so please download, print off and enjoy!

Stories open the door to learning in a wide range of subjects, so do¬†make the most of our resources. We’d love your feedback and really appreciate your comments.

If there are any specific stories featured in Storytime that you would like to see as teaching resources, please let us know. Likewise, if there are an specific story or poetry-themed resources you would find helpful, don’t hesitate to contact us. Drop us a line at hello(at)storytimemagazine(dot)com.

Have fun and happy Storytimes!

A little light relief and some inspiring quotes this week. There are two things we do in every issue of Storytime magazine: we feature an extract from a brilliant children’s book and we run a competition to win copies of that very same book. To enter, all you have to do is tell us which featured story the quote on our magazine spine comes from.

We’ve had good feedback on this from parents and teachers – kids seem to revel in recognising the quote from the stories in our mag. But sometimes, we can’t fit the quotes we love on the spine or even in the extract, so here are nine special and inspiring quotes from classic books we’ve featured about reading, writing and stories – all the stuff we love. Enjoy!

1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversation?”

Lewis Carroll’s Alice – the original picture book fan. We featured an extract in Storytime, Issue 1 along with wonderful art by Mirdinara.

2. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal.”

L Frank Baum’s foreword, written in Chicago, April 1900. Maybe one of my favourite inspiring quotes. This under-rated story was beautifully illustrated by Alex Wilson for Storytime, Issue 2.

3. The Wind in the Willows

“Presently the tactful Mole slipped away and returned with a pencil and a few half-sheets of paper, which he placed on the table at his friend’s elbow.

“It’s quite a long time since you did any poetry,” he remarked. “You might have a try at it this evening, instead of – well, brooding over things so much. I’ve an idea that you’ll feel a lot better when you’ve got something jotted down…””

Writing therapy, issued by Mole. Award-winning illustrator Birgitta Sif brought Kenneth Grahame’s Mole and Ratty to life for us in Storytime, Issue 3.

4. Five Children and It

“It is useless to tell a story unless you do tell it properly.”

E. Nesbit wisdom – agree or disagree? The Psammead was one of our Storytime, Issue 4 stars, with illustrations by super-talented, Ella Bailey.

5. Pinocchio

“Today at school I will learn to read at once; then tomorrow I will begin to write, and the day after tomorrow to figure. Then, with my acquirements, I will earn a great deal of money…”

Pinocchio (by Carlo Collodi) understands the importance of childhood literacy in Storytime, Issue 8, with colourful illustrations by Chiara Nocentini.

6. The Secret Garden

“They had looked at the splendid books and pictures and sometimes Mary had read things to Colin, and sometimes he had read a little to her. When he was amused and interested she thought he scarcely looked like an invalid at all…”

Until Mary gave Colin a secret garden, books were all he had. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic tale featured in Storytime, Issue 10, with gorgeous artwork by Felicita Sala.

7. Peter Pan

“You see, I don’t know any stories. None of the lost boys knows any stories.”

“How perfectly awful,” Wendy said.

“Do you know,” Peter asked “why swallows build in the eaves of houses? It is to listen to the stories. O Wendy, your mother was telling you such a lovely story.”

Christine Knopp created a Peter and Wendy to match J.M. Barrie’s magical words in Storytime, Issue 11. Wendy’s response says it all really.

8. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

C.S. Lewis’s dedication to his goddaughter, Lucy, at the beginning of the book. We were lucky enough to feature an extract and original artwork by Pauline Baynes in Storytime, Issue 13). By the way, we are all old enough to read fairy tales.

9. The Water-Babies

Finally, a fine sentiment from Charles Kingsley for fairy believers everywhere from Storytime, Issue 19, imagined beautifully by Adolfo Serra.
Hope you’ve found some motivation for reading or writing with your kids in these inspiring quotes. Do you have any favourite reading-related inspiring quotes? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. And don’t forget to keep checking our spines and entering our competitions – we have brilliant books for the taking!

See you soon!