Fractured Fairytale versus Legend

I have had the pleasure of diving deeper into the world of Folklores. There are several different subcategories that go into this large genre of books. This includes nursery and Mother Goose rhymes, folktales, noodlehead tales, fairytales, tall tales, fables, myths and parquoi stories, hero tales such as epics and legends, and even folk songs. For this post we will be focusing on the following two sub-genres of Folklores: Fractured Fairytales and Legends.

I chose to look at two specific books in each of these categories. I looked at The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! as told by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. We can look at differences by first taking a look at what fairytales and legends are. A fairytale is considered to be a traditional folktale that has been written down in order to entertain children. Legends on the other hand, have more realistic elements to them. They are stories that are told as though they are true and are set in the real world. This is a key difference between these two types of folklores.

In regards to these two specific books, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! is a book that is geared more towards younger children with its half and full page illustrations on every page and the fact that it is a retelling of a well known fairytale that children more than likely have grown up hearing about. Although the illustrations have a dark background, the remainder of the pictures have a wide range of color.
With The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, The illustration on the cover is very striking and intriguing, but as you read through the text, you see that there are not pictures on every page and when pictures do appear, they are in black and white. This is also a chapter book, meant for students who are a bit older and who are able to read more words independently. Another difference, as the definition suggests, is that this type of story is set in a realistic setting. In this case, that setting is New York.

When looking at similarities between these two books, it's hard to see what those may be. But, if you look real close, you see that both stories do have animals in them. They both also have unrealistic aspects in them. For example, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs has animals walking and talking like they are people and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle has a headlesss horsemen ghost riding around.

Both books are great children's book to read to children or have them read independently. I think that The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is a great book to read to younger children and it is always neat to see them react and discuss similarities and differences between this book and the original story that they have been told before. Whereas, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle is a spooky love story that older students may enjoy reading independently.