Recommended Folktale Books

All of us in the early childhood education field are aware of the relevance of children's literature. We have to provide a rich literature to young children as it will help them to become a literate adult in the future.



For those who are not convinced of the importance of books to young children, let me state here the reasons of providing a literature rich environment to young children.

1. Children learn aesthetic awareness, growth in literacy through illustrations and text and imaginative abilities.


2. Children develop emotionally as they learn self-acceptance and coping strategies.


3. Children develop multi-cultural awareness and cultural identity when they meet families, settings and cultures that are similar in some ways and or different in others.


4. Children develop intellectuaally when they obtain new information and ask questions.


5. Children develop socially when they explore interpersonal relationships and human motives.

With all the above reasons in mind, I am in a continuous search for good children's books in the library, especially the Bukit Timah Children's Library. It will be going to close by end of this year, but that is another story.

Nowadays, I am so fascinated again with folktales and fairy tales. I have here a list of folktale books which I greatly recommend.

Title: Why Mosquito Buzz in People’s Ears
West African Folktale

Author: Verna Aardema

Illustrators: Leo and Dianne Dillon

Brief Summary:
Mosquito tells Iguana a tall tale that sets off a chain reaction that ends in a jungle disaster. Iguana is so upset that he plugs his ears and is not able to hear Python’s greetings. Python suspects mischief against him by Iguana so he hides in a rabbit hole- which terrifies rabbit. The legend goes, until finally the chain of mishaps reaches mother owl that reacts by refusing to hoot and wake the sun. Eventually, all is resolved and jungle life returns to normal. But although mosquito learns her lesson and gives up telling tall tales, she adapts a worse habit.
Date of first publication: 1975
Recommended age of readers: K2 children (6-7 yrs old)

Theme of interest: consequence of gossiping

Awards: The Caldecott Gold Medal (1976)

*notes on illustration:

Art is in full color using watercolors applied with an airbrush in both fine spray and spatter technique, pastels rubbed on by hand and India ink. The cut-out effect was achieved by actually cutting the shapes out of vellum and frisket masks at several different stages.

TO BE CONTINUED......