Chapter 7: Part 1
These are the "folk" in folk narrative
Who are the "common people"?
Describe the language and style of folk tales.
What is "economical" or simple and direct? No words wasted.
These tales are "blatantly silly" and often have "animal or peasant characters who are portrayed as foolish or gullible" (204). We are supposed to laugh at these tales.
What are Merry Tales?
This teacher lived in Greece around 600 BCE and is best known for a collection of fables.
Who is Aesop?
This 1865 book is considered to be the "first English children's story written purely for entertainment."
Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll.
Briefly explain who "owns" fairy tales/folk narratives and why ownership matters.
Variable answers.
Define "motif"
Recurring thematic element or repeated pattern.
Name two reasons Russell gives for why we (collectively as humans) enjoy ghost stories.
See page 207
Name the man considered the "greatest English writer" from the Middle Ages and the name of his most famous work.
Geoffrey Chaucer--The Canterbury Tales
Why should we read (children's) literature from other countries?
Answers vary.
These are the two major plot types in folk narrative.
What are dramatic and cumulative?
Give an example of a motif.
See page 197 in Russell
This kind of tale "explains the origin of something" and takes its name from the French term for "why."
Pourquoi tale
Children used these objects to learn to read in the Renaissance.
Hornbooks and battledores.
This "era" is when children's literature began to flourish.
Victorian Golden Age or 19th century
True or False: Characters in fairy tales are complex, think deep thoughts, and have complicated backstories.
False.
This is the formal term for when/where a fairy takes place.
What is setting?
See pages 199-200 in Russell Chapter 7.
Name three ways the movable-type printing press, attributed to Johannes Gutenberg, changed the world.
Mass produced books, cheaper books, more plentiful books, increased literacy, advances in learning, ideas spread more quickly (see page 5)
Briefly explain how understanding child development helps us also understand children's literature.
Answers vary.
Name four of the "types" of characters Russell discusses in this chapter. (Hint: see pages 191 and 194 in the chapter.)
See pages 191 and 194.
Define "taboo" and give an example of a taboo.
Taboo = prohibition against doing, touching, or even saying something.
Briefly explain what a myth is and why mythology is important for children to know.
See page 208 for definition. "Why" answers will vary.
These three men particularly influenced children's literature in the 18th century.
John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Newbery. (pp. 8-9)
Russell claims: "our great purpose [as parents/teachers] is to bring the joy of reading to the next generation, giving them to tools they will need to build a better world than their parents have known” (23). What do you think of this?
Answers vary.