Wordless books offer a bounty of riches. The format is accessible to everyone regardless of language or reading ability, making the books ideal for use in international settings, classes with nonnative speakers, or families with adults or children who are struggling or emergent readers. They enrich the aesthetic lives and literacy skills of…

Describes the experiences over the past 11 years of the FOLKTELLERS, two librarians who became traveling storytellers. A sidebar offers several storytelling tips and lists Folktellers recordings and upcoming performances. (MES)

Discussion of retellings, reillustrations, and reinterpretations of folk and fairy tales focuses on Beni Montresor's version of "Little Red Riding Hood." The oral origins of the tale which were influenced by historical events are explained; varying views on female autonomy and sexuality are examined; and selection criteria for librarians…

Undoubtedly, primitive man sat around the campfire sharing lessons of survival while telling tales of dangerous animals, ferocious storms, and other scourges of nature. We can well envision these early storytellers embellishing their escapades with waving arms and other exaggerated expressions, but these accounts effectively increased man's…

Discusses the benefits of storytelling by teachers or librarians to elementary and middle school students. Topics include listening; sharing versus performing; finding stories, other than folk tales; guidelines for telling stories; and resources, including print sources and Web sites. (LRW)

This exploration of the two leading varieties of nonsense literature defines strict nonsense as that in which the laws of nature are suspended and replaced by new laws which the author decrees, and loose nonsense as usually comic writing about a singular unlikely event. Examples of these two types of verse in children's literature are cited. (22…

This second article in a two-part series on picture book folktales focuses on the balance between the tradition from which a text is drawn and the one that it is entering. Topics discussed include folktale selection; cultural authority; cultural variations in storytelling criteria; illustration authenticity; and oral tradition. (Contains three…

Argues for the importance of authenticity in children's picture-book folktales. The need for source notes, authors' and publishers' responsibility to provide them, and librarians' responsibility to consider them when selecting, using, and reviewing folktales are stressed. Source acknowledgment practices are explained, and examples with…