Sunday, March 15, 2015

Another Look at Fairy Tales

Yeah, we'll start this post by typing the words: Frozen Two.

Also, Cinderella.

Upcoming movie re-tellings of very old fairy tales are part of the context that's inspired authors to hold forth on the relevance (or not) of fairy tales today. For example, Alan Cummings last week in the Globe and Mail "Great Stories, Like Cinderella, Need to Be Rebooted"and recently on NPR "A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella". The Guardian noted this fall that retelling fairy tales for different audiences is "very much in vogue".

Of course, it's not only the world of cinema and in vogue retellings that prompts us to ponder these stories that have lasted for generations. The essay "Strange Birds" by Kelly Barnhill, posted on Nerdy Book Club, discusses how fairy tales formed her as a writer and reader. The Scottish Book Trust, a source of many interesting resources, posted these 5 Reasons Why Fairy Tales Are Good for Children over the summer. Scholastic has brought together contributions from multiple authors in their Myths, Folktales and Fairy Tales project for educators.

Last spring local librarian Meg Allison gave us a tour of France, Italy, and Fairy Tales in her workshop Why Fairy Tales Still Matter. Check out this Pinterest Board of fairy tale books that we made to go with the workshop. The books are also below (they link through to a full page that's easier to read).

We'll keep our eyes open for more fairy tale discussions.

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