Archive for October, 2016

We’re quite vocal about our belief that all reading is good reading. When it comes to getting children reading for pleasure, there’s no such thing as fact versus fiction. We think fiction is a wonderful thing, of course – we make a whole monthly magazine out of it. Equally, non-fiction is a factual and edifying feast for brains young and old. But what really interested us this month is where fact meets fiction. Our Storytime Issue 26 folk tale, The Green Children of Woolpit, is a fine example of this.

This is a folk tale that has survived for over eight centuries. Scrappy historical records ‘prove’ the sudden appearance of strange green children in Suffolk. It has just enough evidence and eccentricity in it to feel true and, most tantalisingly of all, it remains an unsolved mystery. (Though the general consensus is that the children were speaking Flemish and earned their green tinge through eating a poor diet.)

The real pot of gold in this story, as in all folk tales or legends that carry a grain of truth, is being able to tell the story and then surprise your listener with the fact that it might be true. This is where you’ll witness the power of fact meets fiction – wide eyes, gawping mouths and stacks of questions. Kids love ‘true’ stories more than you realise – the idea that the impossible could be feasible is hugely appealing.

Putting realism before fantasy

The Pedlar of Swaffham from Storytime Issue 2 is thought to have been a real person.

In fact, psychologists from Yale and Oklahoma Universities in the USA conducted a study testing whether a group of adults and children aged 4 to 7 preferred stories with magical, make-believe content or stories based on real people, facts or events. You might be surprised to hear that kids largely went for the stories based on reality, and it was the adults who preferred fantasy.

Why is that? It could be that young, inquiring minds prefer stories with an element of truth because they’re eager to learn more about the world around them. Or perhaps they respond better to something they can relate to. It might be that they are already exposed to so much imaginary play with toys and friends, and make-believe characters in films, that truer stories make a welcome change.

Introducing fact meets fiction

Offering stories with some realism could be as simple as choosing bedtime reads that feature kids your children can connect with (there’s more of this type of story coming in Storytime from early next year), reading child-friendly biographies or, as in The Green Children of Woolpit (who were just ordinary kids who got lost and happened to be green), it can come from folk tales and legends based on real people or historical facts.

When you think about it, isn’t it more thought provoking and inspiring for a child to discover that the hero or heroine in a story was or is a real person rather than hearing that the invisible man/flying superhero/mega-robot boy doesn’t exist – and probably never will?

We are by no means discrediting the crucial role fiction plays in the development of imagination and childhood literacy (we make Storytime, after all). We’re merely championing the power of fact meets fiction in stories – and recommending it as part of your bedtime story mix. We know we’ll be considering it a lot more when we plan Storytime in future.

Fact meets fiction stories to try

For now, here are some more fact meets fiction stories we think you’ll enjoy.

Historians can’t agree on whether Arthur existed. Believing he did makes his legends so much richer.

1. Saint George and the Dragon – The dragon was almost certainly a metaphor, but many believe that Saint George was real. He was a brave soldier born in Turkey or Palestine who fought in the Roman army and challenged the emperor when he refused to give up his Christian beliefs. (Read it in Storytime Issue 2

2. King Arthur – There’s still a lot of debate among historians about whether this legendary ruler existed. Many are convinced that there was a brave Arthur. Whether he was a king or not is unsure. Believing that he existed certainly makes the stories more enjoyable for children. (See The Sword in the Stone in Storytime Issue 13 and look out for The Lady of the Lake in Storytime Issue 28.)

3. King Midas – There really was a King Midas who ruled over part of Turkey (then called Phrygia) in the late 8th century BC. There may even have been three of them. It’s doubtful that he could turn things to gold, but he was wealthy and good at trading with Greece. Perhaps this is where the myth came from? (See The Midas Touch in Storytime Issue 8.)

There are also lovely truths and histories hidden behind our Lucky Pedlar story from Storytime Issue 2. As well as the Mermaid of Zennor from Issue 4, the Wise Folk of Gotham in Issue 18 and our Saint Nicholas story in Storytime Issue 27.

When fact meets fiction, it adds another layer of richness to a story, and kids are smart enough to spot that.

We hope you enjoy these stories and we’re always open to hearing more local folk tales, true stories and legends, so get in touch via Twitter or Facebook.

More soon and happy reading!

The all-new Storytime Issue 26 is out this week and, just in time for Halloween, our cover star is Baba Yaga the witch, brought to life in great style with wonderful colours by rising illustration star, Zoe Persico.

If you haven’t heard of Baba Yaga, she’s the main character in many Russian fairy tales and is famous for (in my opinion) some pretty cool things:

• She flies around in a mortar, scooting along with the help of a pestle.
• She has skinny, bony legs. (We love her knobbly knees in this story.)
• She lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs.
• The chicken legs can hop and spin around.
• Her sidekicks are two black geese – and occasionally three horsemen: one white, one red and one black.

What’s not to like? We love a traditional witch, but we thought Baba Yaga, with her quirky name and character, made an interesting change, and will be new to a lot of our readers. We hope you enjoy the story and cheer on Dmitri and Irina, as they try to escape from her bony clutches!

<h3>What else is Inside Storytime 26?</h3>

Sticking with a weird and wonderful (and slightly spooky) theme in this issue, we’ve got a truly traditional folk tale from England. The Green Children of Woolpit is a supposedly true story and mystery rolled into one. It has suitably wacky and creative illustrations from Leandro Lassmar.

Plus, we have the mighty Peach Boy. Known in Japanese legend as Momotaro, he joins forces with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant to defeat some deeply unpleasant ogres. All with the help of dumplings! This story teaches a valuable lesson about how working together and friendship can help you overcome problems. Possibly even ogres! Quang Phung Nguyen skilfully illustrated Momotaro and friends.

For something quite different, we have an abridged version of Mary Hewitt’s classic cautionary poem, The Spider and the Fly. Printmaker Toby Rampton provided the illustrations and works with a limited colour palette to great effect. If you’re a school subscriber, this month’s free resource pack gives you lesson plans for this fantastic poem, plus fun activities too. (You can get more free resources here!)

This issue’s fable is a clever tale. Hidden Treasures makes a convincing case for the value of hard work. Make up your own mind on that one! It should trigger some interesting discussions anyway. John Joven‘s colours in this illustration are just gorgeous. Also check out the animals in his portfolio.

We’re also delighted to have illustrator Marine Gosselin returning to our pages with stunning illustrations for the Middle Eastern tale, Gazelle Girl. Marine previously illustrated a Nepalese story for our October 2015 issue, which featured witches with backwards feet! What I love about Gazelle Girl, aside from the gazelles, is that she uses storytelling to bring truth and justice. Hoorah to that!

Finally, we are thrilled to feature a book extract from one of the most unique characters ever created – Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking, with original 1954 illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman. At the time, her illustration style was considered to be groundbreaking. See more of them here. We have to thank Connie at Oxford University Press for her help, and huge respect to the genius that was Astrid Lindgren.

All that excitement packed into one issue, plus puzzles, activities and recommendations for our favourite Halloween books too! If you don’t subscribe already, think of all the great stories you’re missing! (Don’t worry, you can subscribe here in a flash and be join our gang!) Have a sneak peek here if you want to see more.

We hope you enjoy Storytime 26 – as ever, a whole lot of research and love has gone into it.

Happy reading!

It’s National Poetry Day today and, if you know Storytime magazine, you’ll know that we are passionate about poetry for kids and always feature it in every issue – from well-loved classics to contemporary poems.

In fact, we love poetry for kids so much, our latest issue features a rockin’ Brian Moses poem, The Budgie Likes to Boogie, which also made our cover.

Plus, we’re running a brilliant poetry competition for kids, giving one lucky winner the opportunity to have their work illustrated and published in Storytime.

To support this, we’ve also put together a Poetry for Kids Activity and Resource Pack for parents and teachers, with tips on writing poetry and lots of fun, creative and engaging exercises. It’s free to download from our Storytime for Schools site. There are more resources available from the good people at National Poetry Day.

But, all that aside, we thought we’d celebrate National Poetry Day this year by sharing a poem we put together about our love for books. Yes, we’re a magazine, but one of our long-held ambitions is that we can be a springboard for young or reluctant readers – an enjoyable and accessible entry point to the world of books. That’s not to devalue our content – we’re also deeply committed to keeping short stories alive, but we truly believe all reading is good reading, whatever the format.

The theme for this year’s National Poetry Day is ‘messages’ and that’s our message… poetry, magazines, books – it’s all good! We hope you agree.

Happy Poetry Day to you all – we hope you’ll celebrate with a few poems!