Folklore

• Poems and stories passed along by word of mouth.

• So old that no one knows who first told them.

• Commonly known by many people in a specific culture.

• Useful in helping people feel like they belong together.

• Often found in various versions around the world.

Fables

– short stories featuring animals that teach a lesson about life

Click HERE to find picture book versions.

Fairy Tales

– short stories about magical places and creatures

Click HERE to learn more.

Folktales

– short stories, retold many times by various people, that have become part of a culture

Legends

– short stories featuring the exploits of a hero, sometimes based on an historical person

Myths

– short stories explaining how things came to be on this earth or telling the early history of a group of people

Click HERE to learn more.

Nursery Rhymes

– short poems or songs for young children

Click HERE to learn more.

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A Few Favourites

Codell,Esmé Raji.  Maybe Mother Goose. New York: Aladdin Books, 2016.

McDermott, Gerald. Jabutí the Tortoise: a Trickster Tale from the Amazon. San Diego: Harcourt, 2001.

Murray, Alison. Hare and Tortoise. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2016, c2015.

Opie, Iona, ed. My Very First Mother Goose. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2016, c1996. Illustrated by Rosemary Wells. [Nursery Rhymes]