LibGuides: Folk and Fairy Tales: Home

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Children's literature

Also called juvenile literature, a genre of writing intended for children.

"fairy tale pic" by Kjirstin is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Reference Books

Telling Children's Stories by Michael Cadden (Editor)
ISBN: 9780803215689
Publication Date: 2011
The most accessible approach yet to children's literature and narrative theory, Telling Children's Stories is a comprehensive collection of never-before-published essays by an international slate of scholars that offers a broad yet in-depth assessment of narrative strategies unique to children's literature.
Children's Literature by Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication Date: 01/01/1972 - 05/28/2021
Encouraging serious scholarship and research, Children's Literature publishes theoretically-based articles that address key issues in the field.

Search Tips:

To find children's literature, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

("children's stories" OR "children's literature" OR "juvenile fiction")

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

fable
a story, often with animals as major characters, that incorporates elements of myth and legend and includes a moral.

"Fables III" by helena_perez_garcia is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/2.0/jp/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

Aesop's Fables

Gulliver's Travels

A Little Fable (Kafka)

Reference Books

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Seventeenth Edition by John Ayto
ISBN: 9780061121203
Publication Date: 2006
At the heart of the dictionary lie entries on the meaning and origin of a vast range of words and expressions, from everyday English phrases to Latin tags. Alongside these are articles on people and events in mythology and religion, and on folk customs, superstitions and beliefs.

Search Tips:

To find resources focused on fables, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

("children's stories" OR "children's literature") AND fables

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

fairy tale
a children's story featuring imaginary beings and lands, magical elements, fairies and other mythical creatures.

"British Fairy and Folk Tales 4" by thecmn is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

The Little Mermaid

The 12 Dancing Princesses

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

Reference Books

Fairy Tale: a Very Short Introduction by Marina Warner
ISBN: 9780199532155
Publication Date: 2018
Drawing on an array of examples, from classics such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and The Sleeping Beauty, the Grimm Brothers' Hansel and Gretel, and Hans Andersen's The Little Mermaid, to modern-day realizations including Walt Disney's Snow White, Warner forms a persuasive case for fairy tale as a crucial repository of human understanding and culture.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales by Donald Haase
ISBN: 9780313334412
Publication Date: 2007
3 volumes. A broad, multicultural survey of folk and fairy tales from around the world. Included are hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries written by numerous expert contributors. Entries cover themes and motifs, individuals, characters and character types, national traditions, genres, and a range of other topics..

Search Tips:

To find resources on fairy tales, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

("children's stories" OR "children's literature") AND "fairy tales"

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

folklore
traditional tale of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth, often including supernatural elements, occasionally explaining how specific things, traditions, or communities came to be. Sometimes includes animal characters or deities, and sometimes includes transformations.

"Grandmother's Fairy Tales 8" by thecmn is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

The Crane Girl

The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story

The Frog Mountain Story

Reference Books

Folklore by Charlie T. McCormick (Editor); Kim Kennedy White (Editor)
ISBN: 9781598842418
Publication Date: 2010
Written by an international team of acclaimed folklorists, this reference text provides a cross-cultural survey of the major types and methods of inquiry in folklore.
The Annotated African American Folktales by Henry Louis Gates (Editor); Maria Tatar (Editor)
ISBN: 9780871407535
Publication Date: 2017
Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar assemble a groundbreaking collection of folktales, myths, and legends that revitalize a vibrant African American past untainted by romantic antebellum sentiment or counterfeit nostalgia. Beginning with introductory essays and 20 seminal African tales as historical background, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like "The Talking Skull" and "Witches Who Ride," out-of-print tales from the 1890s Southern Workman, and stories that finally incorporate Caribbean and Latin American literature within the canon. With illuminating annotations and revelatory illustrations, The New Annotated African American Folktales reminds us that stories not only move, entertain, and instruct but, more fundamentally, inspire and keep hope alive. color throughout; 160 illustrations

Search Tips:

To find resources focused on folktales, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

("children's stories" OR "children's literature") AND (folklore OR folk tales)

On the results screen, add this second line for an even narrower list of options.

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

legend
a traditional story or epic about people and their heroic actions, sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

"King Arthur's Knights 15" by thecmn is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

King Arthur

Odysseus

Beowulf

Robin Hood

Reference Books

Search Tips:

To find resources more focused on legends and epics, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

(tale OR story) AND (legend* OR epic*)

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

myth
ancient stories concerning the early history of a people, typically involving supernatural beings such as deities or events.

The garden of the Hesperides" (360 BC; detail) - krater made in Puglia by Lycurgus painter - from Ruvo di Puglia (Bari) - Ruvo, Archaeological Museum, now at Exhibition "Myth and Nature" at Archaeological Museum of Naples, until September 30, 2016

Examples include:

The Great Race

Prometheus and the Theft of Fire

The Myth of Oisín and the Land of Eternal Youth

Reference Books

Search Tip:

To find resources more focused on mythology, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

(tale OR story) AND mythology

Note: Databases sometimes use keywords like legend, folktale, fairytale, mythology interchangeably, so use a combination of these keywords in your searches to bring up the best results. Searches provided on each tab are examples, not comprehensive.

parable

A short story or prose work that is true to life, fictional, specifically features human characters, not fantastic or supernatural, and is intended to impart a truth or answer a question. Often included in religious or morality texts.

"Sower - Rooted" by madison.murphy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Good Samaritan

The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Theravada Buddhism)

Reference Books

Search Tip:

To find resources more focused on parables, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

parable AND story

urban legend
a humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true, especially one purporting to involve someone vaguely related or known to the teller. Often containing superstitious or supernatural elements.

"cash landrum" by mysteries illustrated is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Examples include:

The Vanishing Hitchhiker

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Ring (Ringu), see also origins of Ringu

Reference Books

Search Tip:

To find resources more focused on urban legends, try these keywords in the Onesearch:

("urban legends" OR "urban folklore") AND myth

Folk and Fairy Tales

LCCC Library Research Staff

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