This week I chose to read Aseop for Children (Winter). I found it very interesting that these stories were on the
verge of being morbid for children to read. Each story tried to teach a lesson
about not being greedy, or too full of yourself, etc. I did like that the stories
used mainly talking animals to get the point across. I feel like if they had
used children instead of animals it would have been too much for younger
readers.
The story I keep thinking of the
most is The Tortoise and the Ducks.
This poor little tortoise just wants to see the world without worrying about
his house (i.e. shell) being carried with him. Then these birds decide to take
him on a flight by having him bite a stick. All of a sudden this tortoise goes
to speak and he falls to his death. I think I could label this as a “tragedy”.
I felt bad for the little guy.
The one thing I did keep comparing
these stories with was the cartoon series LittleBear. I grew up watching the show. It was a show that had talking animals
that interacted with humans as well. The characters throughout the show would
learn lessons about life the same way the characters in Aseop for Children did
but the way the cartoon was made, it was less morbid. The setting for the
cartoon was the same for these stories as well. It had a very 1800s feel to all
the episodes.
 |
| Little Bear |
The more I read these short stories
the more I wondered what it was like growing up almost 200 years ago. I feel
like the parents were very blunt with their kids. Both of my parents are
elementary principals so I will have to ask them what they think about this
book and how it could be used today without overbearing parents completely
freaking out.
Dylan, I had to laugh when i read your post. I would definitely be curious how your parents handle all those demands (often CONFLICTING demands) from parents! Teaching college is hard enough when I am just trying to find good things to share with all of you in class... but for the K-12 teachers, where parents are an important part of the picture, life is so much more complicated!
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, Aesop's fables were not really originally for children at all. It's only much later, in modern times, that "talking animals" got downgraded to being "just for kids" ... originally, Aesop's fables are stories by and for adults, and it's been an awkward process to turn them into children's stories. Some of the ancient fables are outright pornographic... which is definitely not what people would want to share with their children, either then or now!
Same also goes for the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm: some of them are children's stories, sure, but the majority of them are actually stories by and for adults. Back before television, fairy tales WERE the equivalent of TV shows, and they covered the whole range of subject matter that our TV shows do today: comedy, fantasy, crime, you name it... you'll find it in the Brothers Grimm!
I agree with you that some children’s stories are really not appropriate for kids! Some of the ones that are still beloved today have dark origins or are actually just really inappropriate. For example, the game Ring around the Rosie is about people dying from the Black Plague for crying out loud! It’s always funny for me to go back and watch, read, or listen to something I loved as a child and realizing I probably shouldn’t have loved it as much as I did!
ReplyDelete