Fictional Texts in the Classroom: Tales, Legends, & Fables

Tales, Legends, & Fables

Criteria for Quality & Selection:

Brief symbolic narratives in verse or prose that show moral codes in a way that may be exaggerated
These may include oral traditions of tales and legends of a certain people group, or magical creatures
Fractured Fairy Tale: A re-working of a traditional fairy tale that retains familiar elements such as characters and plot, but alters the story in unexpected ways, often with a contemporary "spin" or ironic twist."
Fairy Tales:

Legends combine a real even or a real person's life story with an exaggeration and heroic actions

Use in the Classroom

Fables are good to use in the classroom because they involve moral values in the story. It is important to teach the moral value before reading the story. It is also beneficial to discuss any personal experience that the students might have to the particular moral before starting.
I like the idea of rewriting well-known fairy tales or even writing alternate endings to the story
Using this genre in the classroom lends itself to drama and theater exercises, so I might try to strategically combine these two areas
I also like this genre, because when the students get older this genre sometimes disappears from their reading but it is fun to bring them back into it
There are also a lot of variations to the same story, some of the most beneficial are those that look at the same story from the view point of different cultures

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Reference Information

Grade Level

Themes

Qualities of Writing

The use of the three different perspectives in the story. It switches from Delilah being in first person (who is living in the "real world") to Oliver being first person (who is living in the fairy tale story). Then, it also mixes in the actual fairy tale story that Delilah is reading and that Oliver is a character in. Even though this sounds complicated, Picoult does a really good job of keeping the transitions clear (usually they change by chapter). I also thought it was interesting that each point of view had the text printed in a different color. This also kept it clear who was in first person.

Difficult Components of the Book

In the paragraph above, I discussed the switch in perspective. This could be difficult for some students, but I think that at the high school level, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Especially because of the way that Picoult organizes the text.
It might be helpful for students to read completely through just the fairy tale story in the text that way they don't have to read it randomly in chunks. This is something that might lesson stress for some readers who like to know clearly what is going on.

Reference Information

Grade Level

Themes:

Qualities of Writing

I like how the author tells the story from a narrative perspective but also includes speech bubbles. This really brings the characters to life.
The illustrations also work very well with the writing to make the story really engaging.

Difficult Components of the Book

The students have to have prior knowledge of the other fairy tales that are involved with the story in order to fully appreciate the text.
The students have to use their imagination in order to understand the book especially when considering how different this book is compared to traditional narrative texts.