Introduction to Literature: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, and How They Shape Us

Reviewed by Jeremy Birkline, Associate Professor, Worcester State University on 6/7/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text contains a lot of interesting material for an introduction to fairytales and folk tales and chooses stories that students will likely have some familiarity with, which is good for deeper consideration.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Literary terms are well defined and accurate. Material is not biased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The stories and discussions in this text are focused on how originally spoken stories affect and make us who we are, but the discussion on these stories and elements are spoken of in a modern way that allows students to better understand how these types of stories have helped to establish and influence our minds and cultures well after they were spoken/written down.

Clarity rating: 5

the text is easy to understand and explores commonalities in many fairytales/folk tales so that the concepts are easier to understand through examples. Literary terms are used, but generally understandable through breaking them down through examples.

Consistency rating: 5

The text uses the same terminology throughout and builds the understanding of the type of stories explored with each chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

with the focus of each section clearly defined and separated by fairytales or folktales, it makes it easier for students to understand what similarities they contain and their differences. The separation of the stories and discussion of the elements of fairytales/folk tales is particularly useful for assigning/choosing material to cover.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text is organized clearly and does a great job of separating topics for clarity and logical order of progression.

Interface rating: 1

The links in the main part of the text all seem to work, but almost none of the folktale links work or are hidden behind university specific access walls, which is kind of disappointing since the stories are largely what give the rest of the text its meaning.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Any typos or grammatical errors are not particularly noticeable if seen at all.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

This book explores how folktales and fairytales make us who we are. There appears to be a variety of cultures explored, but most of the links to the actual folktales do not work or are hidden behind university specific walls and unaccessible. Given that these stories should all by in the public domain it was surprising to not see more actual stories here, especially the non-European stories in the folktale section.

Comments

While the discussions around critical responses are all useful to students, professors should be cautious when assigning these sections as the text explains how these assignment types should be graded, which is usually unique to the class/professor and the system it describes is completely different than my own and I would have to go over this with students and have them leave corrective notes in order to avoid confusion if I were to assign these sections of the text.

Reviewed by Cody Lumpkin, Visiting Assistant Professor, Marshall University on 5/21/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

While this text is by no means a comprehensive study or examination of fairy tales and folktales, it does nicely serve as a introductory text that uses fairy tale and folk tale traditions as a way for students to begin to read and think critically about literature. It also does a good job of introducing literary terms and concepts in clean, straightforward prose.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The text does a solid job of defining the various literary terms and concepts and nicely explains the cultural and historical contexts for the fairy tale and folks tales that are examined.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Although the text deals with stories and tales that emerged from the oral tradition with some of the narratives hundreds of years old, the writing and commentary about these works make it relatable to the contemporary issues of our time in a way that is comprehensible and relevant to first or second-year college students.

Clarity rating: 5

The writing is exceedingly clear. The text does a fine job of breaking down and defining the elements of literature in a way that any college reader should be able to understand. Any jargon used is provided with a precise and understandable definition.

Consistency rating: 4

As a whole, the text does a really good job of building upon ideas as one reads through the book. Each chapter builds off the previous one. Also, if one starts reading from a chapter later in the book, each chapter references and calls back to concepts and terms introduced in previous chapters.

Modularity rating: 4

Overall, each chapter of the text can serve as a standalone unit, but reading the text from the beginning to the end (and reading the relevant fairy tales and folks towards the end of the book) is the best way to get the most out of the material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

In general, the topics are chapters are rather well-organized. Each chapter provides a gradual and steady development of concepts and ideas. There was never a part when I was reading this that I felt overwhelmed or lost interest. The quality and clarity of the writing certainly helped with that.

Interface rating: 4

The interface and links all worked well, and there was little trouble with the display of images and other visuals.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are a few typos here and there, but the vast majority of the writing in the text is grammatical correct

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

While I wish there were more examples of fairy tales and folk tales included and discussed in this text, there is a nice variety of fairy tale and folks tales from African, Asia, Europe, and North America included that highlight both the differences and commonalities in these various traditions.