Folk Literature Collection

Traditional Literature Review
LS 5603.20/Spring 2010
S. Vardell

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cousins, Lucy. 2009. Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763644741

PLOT SUMMARY:
Yummy Eight Favorite Fairy Tales, by Lucy Cousins, is a collection of eight of the most beloved folktales passed down through the ages. Originally orally told, these stories are timeless and continue to entertain and teach lessons.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
The eight fairy tales included in this anthology are: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs and The Musicians of Bremen. All the tales remain true to the childhood originals. The personified animals all play their parts in the good versus evil plots; The Big Bad Wolf is foiled, the Bremen Musicians find a home, the Troll is pushed off the bridge, the crew, working together pulled up the turnip and had a feast, Henny Penny enjoys the results of her labor and Goldilocks runs away. There is no effort to gloss over that the first two pigs, out of the three, get eaten and the wolf boiled. In the end good triumphs over evil.
The illustration, also by Lucy Cousins, fits the book's content. The artwork uses bold colors and thick outlines on white and primary colored backgrounds. Each painted image has a childlike quality. The primitive compositions communicate, not only the stories but, reflect that these tales  have been passed down through generations. Words painted in bold black strokes throughout complement the text of each story. Ms. Cousins' painterly technique is quaint and humorous befitting the dynamics of each traditional story.

If you are faint of heart Lucy Cousins' interpretations are not for you. If you desire traditional interpretation and don't mind a little violent folktale resolution, this is the anthology  for you.

AWARDS WON AND REVIEW EXCERPTS:
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNEL: Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 2—Beloved classics are successfully served by these bold, striking renditions. There's no sugarcoating here, as the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood" is shown receiving his gruesome comeuppance and Henny Penny's friends never return from Foxy Woxy's lair. Large, arresting gouache spreads in Cousins' signature style utilize saturated colors and thick, dark outlines against solid backgrounds. Expressive characters enhance the stories' shifting moods...

The New York Times - Paul O. Zelinsky
Cousins' artistic style, closely resembling tempera painting scrawled by a child, is almost devoid of detail. Why does it feel so satisfying? Because the world of this book is, delightfully, a world made of paint...

CONNECTIONS:
A wealth of information can be found of the web concerning Fairy tales that are traditional, fractured or variants. It would be surmountable to include them all. The following links are sites I pulled up with a general Google search.

American Folklore
                http://www.americanfolklore.net/sindex.html

Lesson Plan Resources:
               http://www.americanfolklore.net/lesson-plans.html
               http://www.cln.org/themes/fairytales.html
               http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4081

Fractured Fairy tales
               http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/wes/projects/fairy_tales_sofie/fractured_fairy_tales.html

Variants of the Three Little Pigs Resource:
               http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/tales/Other3Pigs.htm

Allen County Public Library: Variants of Red Riding Hood
               http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/fairytale.html

University of Saskatchewan Education Library PDF. Titled Fairy tales and folktales
               http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/children/fairytale.html