How Folk and Fairy Tales Aid Children’s Growth and Maturity: An Analysis of Their Need Fulfillment Imagery

Author: 
Year:
Pages:212
ISBN:0-7734-4706-7
978-0-7734-4706-6
Price:$179.95 + shipping
(Click the PayPal button to buy)
This work investigates folk tales and their significance to childhood development. The author examines how the folk tale addresses basic needs of children, their depiction of life, and what their resolutions reveal about the problems children encounter as they mature. This book contains five color photographs.

Reviews

“. . . reports on a carefully conceived and systematically written research project that adds to our understandings of the folk tale as used for children’s literature. It defends, if indirectly, the use of such tales for children, while it provides thematic analysis of a large body of material, rendering it more easily understood and appreciated. This book will be welcomed by many.”
Prof. Frank de Caro, Louisiana State University

“Not only does Ali introduce a number of folktales which may be unknown to many readers, but his close analysis of each one also illuminates the stories’ deeper meanings for all readers. Particularly compelling is his even-handed discussion of the historical controversies surrounding folktales, which have been attacked by a range of sources from Puritans to Enlightenment philosophers. Ali compares such attacks to those made on contemporary children’s author J.K. Rowling who argues that children have the intelligence to discern between fantasy and reality. Ali’s study suggests that folktales provide children with a psychological map to negotiate the conflicts and emotions of reality from within the safety of a fictional world.” – Prof. Kirstin L. Squint, Southern University

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Review of Related Literature
3. Design and Methodology of the Study
4. Analysis of Selected Folk Tales
5. Discussion of the Findings, Conclusions & Recommendations
Appendix: List of Selected Books Analyzed
References
Index

Other Folklore & Folk Studies Books