Formula tales

· Includes short tales which follow a definite formula (see paper on "Plots"); most common type is cumulative tales, which are very popular with preschool children.

· Includes some tales which do not fit into other categories, such as the tale of "The Gingerbread Boy" and its variants.

 

↑Cumulative Tales

Cumulative tales are simple stories with repetitive phrases. There is not much plot involved, but the rhythm structure of these tales is very appealing to children. Events follow each other logically in a pattern of cadence and repetition, sequentially repeating actions, characters, or speeches until a climax is reached. Examples of cumulative tales are "The House That Jack Built" and "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly."

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Dial, 1980)

Written by Verna Aardema. Illus. by Beatriz Vidal

One Fine Day (MacMillan, 1971)

Written and ills. by Nonny Hogrogian

The House That Jack Built (Dial, 2000)

Illus. by Jeanette Winter

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (Viking, 1997)

Retold and illus. by Simms Taback

↑Jataka Tales

Sometimes referred to as birth stories, Jataka tales are accounts of the previous lives of the Buddha in various animal and human forms. They have been absorbed into the folklore of many countries. Jataka takes have many similarities with the Panchatantra and Aesop's Fables.

The Brave Little Parrot (Putnam, 1998)

Retold by Rafe Martin. Illus. Susan Gaber

Buddha Stories (Holt, 1997)

Retold and illus. by Demi

Foolish Rabbit's Big Mistake (Putnam, 1985)

Retold by Rafe Martin. Illus. by Ed Young

I Once Was a Monkey: Stories Buddha Told (Farrar, 1999)

Retold and illus. by Jeanne M. Lee

↑Trickster Tales

Trickster tales are humorous stories in which the hero, either in human or animal form, outwits and foils a more powerful opponent through the use of trickery. Anansi the spider is a trickster figure in African folklore; Iktomi, which means spider, comes from the United States Plains Indians and is generally in human form; Coyote is a trickster figure from southwestern Native American folklore; and Raven is a trickster figure from the Pacific Northwest in the United States.

Iktomi and the Boulder (Orchard, 1988)

Retold and illus. by Paul Goble

Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest (Harcourt, 1993)

Retold and illus. by Gerald McDermott

A Story A Story (Atheneum, 1970)

Retold and illus. by Gail E. Haley

↑Parodies

Parodies, sometimes called fractured fairy tales, are humorous and exaggerated imitations of an author or literary style. Parodies are popular among fairy tales, especially Cinderella tales.

Cinderella Skeleton (Silver Whistle/Harcourt, 2000)

Written by Robert D. San Souci. Illus. by David Catrow

Cinderella's Rat (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)

Written and illustrated by Susan Meddaugh

Cinderhazel: The Cinderella of Halloween (Scholastic, 1997)

Written and illustrated by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella (Harpercollins, 2000)

Written by Susan Lowell. Illus. by Jane K. Manning