Archive for July, 2016

To many of us, the summer holidays mean freedom from and rebelling against the routine, rigidity and structured learning of the school environment. They mean all play and no work and, very often, no reading too.

It’s a shame because all the progress made over the school year is put on hold and sometimes even forgotten. For some children, it’s a case of one step forwards, two steps back by the time they get back to school – especially when it comes to literacy. In literacy circles, it’s known as the ‘reading dip’.

So here’s another way to look at your summer holidays, instead of thinking of them in terms of “freedom from”, how about freedom to? The freedom to learn through play and the freedom to read whatever you like, whenever and wherever you like. No reading records to fill in, no comprehension homework, just reading for pleasure.

There’s no better time to do this than now and, to inspire you and keep reading as enjoyable as possible over the break, we’ve put together 20 great places to read this summer. You could read back issues of Storytime, your favourite books or comics, or anything you like – it’s summer, there are no rules, remember? You could even make this part of your local library’s Summer Reading Challenge – another inspiring initiative we love.

20 Great Places to Read this Summer

1. At the local playground, especially on a swing

2. On the beach

3. Under a tree, in the woods

4. In a tent or woodland den

5. In a garden

6. In an indoor tent

7. By the pool

8. In a playhouse or treehouse

9. In the car or on a plane

10. At a picnic

11. At the library

12. In a gallery or museum

13. In a café

14. In your favourite chair (see our favourite Storytelling Chairs here)

15. By a window with a view that fires up your imagination

16. By a campfire in torchlight

17. Under a blanket

18. On a hill

19. In a bookshop

20. At your friend’s house

See how many of these great reading locations you can tick off our list this summer.

We hope it inspires you to keep reading alive over the holidays and, most importantly, we hope you enjoy every second of it. Finding fun places to read isn’t just good for making happy holiday memories – it might just put your child one step ahead when they return to school in August or September.

If you try out any of our 20 great places to read this summer, share your pictures with us on Twitter or Facebook. We’d love to see them!

Happy summer reading!

Here’s a confession: I’m no great lover of famous fairy tales. I’ve heard or read them all so many times that I have famous fairy tale fatigue. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks and co… I understand why they’re so enduringly popular and I appreciate the important role they play in family storytimes and encouraging reading for pleasure, but they’ve lost their sparkle for me.

Of course, we included them in Storytime because, frankly, it would be rude not to. More importantly, it was what our readers wanted, and feedback from our readers is a great motivating force for Storytime. I’m sure, for the same reason, almost every children’s book publisher has issued its own versions (classic, revamped, fractured or funny) of the world’s favourite fairy tales.

The Cinderella Loop

But here’s the thing – we’re caught in a ridiculous loop and, if we don’t do something about it soon, we’re going to lock the library door and throw away the key on hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of forgotten fairy tales. Fantastical stories from diverse cultures will be lost to future generations, never to be read or told again. Even some fairy tales from better known authors, such as the Brothers Grimm, are rarely or never published. All because Cinderella, her great clod-hopping glass slippers, and a dozen or so other stories are trampling all over them. Is that what we want – the same handful of fairy tales told over and over again?

A State of Fairy Tale Emergency

Is it all Walt Disney’s fault? Perhaps, but now’s the time to change the future of fairy tales, rather than dwell on their past. So I declare us all in a state of fairy tale emergency and, at Storytime, we’re more than happy to take action. We’re planning future issues right now which feature more wonderful forgotten fairy tales, with the hope that they’ll be loved and shared – and never lost.

We’re also really interested to hear whether you know and treasure any forgotten fairy tales you wish we’d feature. Do tell me on Twitter or Facebook if so.

Forgotten Fairy Tales Fighting Back

You may have noticed that we’ve snuck a couple of forgotten fairy tales in already: The Little Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen in Storytime Issue 15 was new to many of our readers; and few had heard of the fantastic Diamonds and Toads in Storytime Issue 18, even though it’s classic Brothers Grimm.

In Storytime Issue 23, we’ve got another relatively unknown tale, The Fantastic Fox from the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang (which also goes under the title The Golden Bird).

The story involves an undervalued young prince on a mission to win a golden bird, a golden horse and a beautiful princess – all with the help of an enchanted fox. It’s incredibly rich in detail and is filled to the brim with wonderful imagery. This forgotten fairy tale deserves as much attention as any of the better-known stories – and is ripe for the Disney treatment (though if they could they give the princess a little more sass, that would be great).

Our illustrations for this forgotten fairy tale, as you can see, are utterly stunning. That’s down to the amazing Alexandra Petracchi, who enjoyed putting her own spin on this fairy tale. I think the fact that the story had not been done-to-death by her has resulted in page after page of beautiful illustrations – each one fresh, vibrant and a real feast for the eyes. It must surely get tiresome for the illustration world to have to churn out the same fairy tales again and again? (Incidentally, Alexandra also gave us the exquisite Norse myth Freya’s Golden Necklace in Storytime Issue 10).

In future issues, you can look forward to many more forgotten fairy tales, including dragon kings, pig princes, glass princesses, enchanted swans, clever kids and quests galore. We can’t wait to publish them and very much hope you enjoy them. Coverage of forgotten fairy tales is long overdue and it’s high time that Cinderella and co budged over and made room for some new family favourites.

What do you think? Which forgotten fairy tales should we include? Let me know!

Here’s to trying something new!

Storytime Issue 23 has landed – and it’s a pretty special issue because we got permission from the kind folk at the Roald Dahl estate to join in their celebrations for the new Steven Spielberg BFG film. You can read an extract of The BFG in Storytime in our Brilliant Books section.

I was a little unsure about including The BFG in Storytime at first – not because it isn’t fantastic, but because it feels like one of those books that everyone in the world has already read. I’m glad I ignored that niggle because not only do we have a wonderfully striking Quentin Blake cover to be proud of, I’ve had loads of comments and messages from readers who are dashing to libraries and book shops to get hold of copies for their 3/4/5/6-year-olds, desperate to find out what happens next. (You could also enter our competition to win a bumper Roald Dahl book bundle, of course!)

Job done! That was entirely our intention when we decided to include a Brilliant Books section in Storytime. In fact, there were three things we set out to achieve:

1. Introduce kids to literary classics in a new and accessible way. Research has shown that reluctant readers are more likely to read magazines than books, so what better way to engage them with classics like The Wind in the Willows, illustration on the right is by Birgitta Sif, (Issue 3) and Treasure Island (Issue 7)?

2. Put a new spin on these classics with fresh and exciting new artwork. From Christine Knopp’s exquisite take on The Jungle Book (Issue 5) to Miriam Bos’s utterly charming Bambi (Issue 18), we hope we’ve done that successfully. And, in cases like The BFG and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Issue 13), where the wishes of the estate need to be respected, we’ve adapted the original artwork to work in a magazine format.

3. Inspire readers and parents to read the rest of the book – either by entering our competitions, grabbing it from the library or buying it from a local bookshop. You can never read enough books and we’ll always be passionate supporters of reading in any form. Even reading the back of a packet of crisps!

Over 23 issues so far, we’ve featured everything from The Hundred and One Dalmatians (Issue 12) and The Wizard of Oz (Issue 2) to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Issue 16) and The Secret Garden (Issue 10). With future classics being released on an almost monthly basis, it’s important that these wonderful stories aren’t forgotten.

The BFG in Storytime is the icing on the cake for us and we hope you love our striking Quentin Blake cover – not just that, but all the stories and fabulous illustrations in our latest issue. More thoughts on those in future blogs.

For now, have a hopscotchy week!

Books forever!

The world doesn’t seem a very friendly place sometimes, so it’s more important than ever before that we teach kids the value of empathy – of seeing the world from other points of view. Before, we’ve touched on how fairy tales can help children with difficult emotions, but in this blog, our focus is on how you use fairy tales to help build empathy and help children to develop compassion, kindness and understanding. Something we could all benefit from right now!

4 Fairy Tales To Help Build Empathy

Ask: How did Cinderella feel?

1. Cinderella and the Jealous Bullies

Some fairy tales have been told and retold so often, they lose their shine. At least this is how Cinderella felt for me for a long time, but as we retold it for Storytime (back in Issue 3), I was reminded of why this fairy tale is so enduring popular. More than anything, I was struck by how Cinderella is a tale of hope and escapism for the persecuted and downtrodden. For that reason, it is a great tale to help you start a conversation about bullies and the bullied and why bullying is wrong. How did Cinderella feel when her stepmother and stepsisters were so cruel to her? Can you write a list of her feelings? What would you have done if you were her? Why did the stepmother and stepsisters bully Cinderella? Can you imagine what they were feeling? (Here, you can talk about jealousy, why they feel jealous and why it’s a negative emotion.) Don’t forget that before poor Cinderella is bullied, she also loses her mother and father, so this is also a useful story for discussing and understanding feelings of loss, grief and loneliness. This is one of the best fairy tales to help build empathy.

2. Three Bears and the Careless Intruder

I’ve mentioned before Goldilocks’ rebellious behaviour (she’s not your typical fairytale heroine), and she’s certainly an interesting character to try to empathise with. How did she feel when she went into the bears’ house? Was she guilty or sorry that she ate the porridge and broke the chair? How did she feel when she woke to find the three bears surrounding her? Why didn’t she apologise? Is she thoughtless or frightened? Is she looking after herself or terribly embarrassed? It’s also interesting viewing the story through the eyes of Baby Bear. How did he feel about his favourite chair being broken? Imagine it was your favourite toy – how would you feel? Did he feel better or worse after Goldilocks ran away? Often in childhood, one child will accidentally break the toy of another child. In an ideal world, there’ll be apologies and cuddles to ease the sadness and tears, but life isn’t always like that. Baby Bear’s tale is a good lesson in emotional resilience. Goldilocks appeared in our very first issue and appears again in Issue 49.

Hansel and Gretel: a tale of forgiveness

3. Hansel, Gretel and the Untrustworthy Adults

On the subject of teaching emotional resilience and forgiveness, it’s hard to find a better fairy tale to explore than Hansel and Gretel. Their stepmother instigates dreadful cruelty, but their henpecked father betrays them horribly too. When talking about this story, you can try to imagine how Hansel and Gretel feel at various points in the story:

• When they overheard their stepmother nagging their father to leave them in the woods.
• The moment they heard him agree.
• When their father didn’t come back for them.
• After they had found their way home the first time.
• When they found the birds had eaten the crumbs.
• Their realisation that they were lost in the woods.
• When they discovered the witch’s cottage.
• The horrible moment the witch imprisoned Hansel.
• When they outwitted the witch.
• And, most interesting of all, when they were reunited with their father.

How did they feel about him after everything they had been through? Happy? Angry? Sad? How did they feel about the adults they trusted – the stepmother, the father and then the witch? Now try to think about the events from the point of view of the father. How did he feel as the story unfolded? What were his fears? What or who did he care about most at the beginning and the end of the story? Should Hansel and Gretel forgive him? Who do you feel most empathy for in the story?

4. The Frog Prince and the Pitiless Princess

I’ve discussed this rebel princess before but, if ever there was a tale about being kind and accepting difference, this is it. The princess goes back on her promise to the frog. Why did she do that? Was it right? How did she feel? How did that make the frog feel? Then she is forced to dine and sleep with the frog that she finds so alien and revolting. The princess in this story is too selfish to consider the frog’s feelings and focuses only on herself. What if the princess had been more sympathetic? How would that have changed the story? How about trying to tell the story from the frog’s perspective instead? Or imagine the frog as a person from a different country who speaks a different language. Would the princess have behaved the same way? Can you draw any parallels to real life? How should she have behaved? (You can get our Frog Prince issue in our back issue shop.)

Yes, at their most basic, fairy tales can teach lessons about right and wrong, problem-solving and overcoming fears, but with a little more exploration and the right questions, they can be a springboard for understanding emotions and even helping the next generation grow up to be kinder and more empathic human beings – people who can relate to others and find likenesses instead of differences. Now wouldn’t that be a happy ending?

Let us know if you have any good examples of stories or fairy tales to help build empathy – and whether you’ve used them successfully. We’re always very happy to hear from you!

Until next time!