Library 

Lucie Hill

Library Technician

Hello everyone and welcome to Winter. I have been delighted to see the grades coming into the library each week and choosing books to read in the classroom as well as at home. We have made a slight change to the rules, whereby Grades 4 to 6, can borrow books for home, without a library bag. We ask that they are looked after and returned in the same condition. With the cost of books being quite high, we certainly want to maintain our library collection in the best condition possible.

In this newsletter, I would like to discuss fairy tales and the important role they play in your child’s development.

What is a Fairy Tale?  

A fairy tale is a story, often intended for children, that features fanciful and wondrous characters, such as elves, goblins, wizards, and sometimes, even fairies. The term “fairy” tale seems to refer more to the fantastic and magical setting or magical influences within a story, rather than the presence of the character of a fairy within that story. Fairy tales are often traditional; many were passed down from story-teller to story-teller before being recorded in books. Some have been made into films.

The Importance of using Fairy Tales

“Fairy tales are important because they spark the imagination. They give us an outlet for experiencing things in our minds before we experience them in the real world. It is where the troubles of the real world can meet the supernatural and mix things up. In a fairy tale anything can happen and any kind of creature can exist, and when anything can happen, we can find solutions to things in our real lives. Through imagination, we learn about our world. We can explore outcomes and possibilities”

More recently, the fairy tale has undergone a resurgence and a reinvention. Many popular authors have set out to write fairy tales that are more in line with our time. Neil Gaiman is one of these authors. With books like Stardust and Coraline, he takes the fairy tale to a new place.  Kate DiCamillo is another, with The Tale of Despereaux. Those are only 3 examples, but the list is long!

Probably the most recognisable producer of fairy tales in our culture is Walt Disney. Disney has turned the fairy tale into an industry, producing movies, books, toys, clothing, and just about anything else you can think of and branding them with fairy tale characters.

Recently there have been several movies made that tell more gruesome and dark versions of well-known fairy tales. Snow White and the Huntsman, Maleficent and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters are a few of these.

In art, we also find images of fairy tale characters everywhere. Children’s picture books are an abundant source for these works. Picture books make the fairy tales come alive with their images.

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

Neil Gaiman, Author of Coraline

This congratulations certificate from Scholastic shows how much we earned in rewards points for Kingswood. this is a result of our Book Clubs and Book Fair. Thank yo everyone for all your support.