Modern Fantasy/Fractured Fairy Tale Picture Book

 Fractured Fairy Tale Picture Book Project 3: Fractured Fairy Tale Picture Book Write an Original Fractured Fairy Tale Assignment: Write and illustrate (or give directions to an illustrator) a fractured fairy tale. Fractured fairy tales or folktales are traditional tales with a contemporary twist or a tale told from a new perspective as in Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A.Wolf. 1. Write a short introduction to your book telling the reader the inspiration (the original fairy tale or legend) for your story and why you chose the story. Do not omit this. Think about it as the author’s note that many writers use as a preface to a book. 2. Write the text for a fractured fairy tale picture book. Form: Your book may have about 16 to 32 pages of text combined with illustrations. Although they do vary, 32 pages is the standard size for a picture book. (Count the pages of a picture book to verify this for yourself.) 3. Create illustrations for your book or suggest illustrations for an illustrator. You may create the book by hand or on the computer. You may use computer images or photos. Some students have enjoyed using storyjumper.com. If you prefer to give suggestions to an illustrator, that is perfectly okay and will be considered equally valuable. Publishers frequently assign illustrators unknown to the authors of books they are producing. I have found interesting insights in suggestions. Do put the suggestions approximately where the illustrations would be. 4. Design: Layout the book with the text and illustrations (or suggested illustrations). Remember that illustrations are an integral part of a picture book, not just decorations. You may have text and illustrations on the same page, preferably, or on different pages if your art work requires that. Prepare the text on a computer. If you are creating the book by hand, do not use a light colored pencil for the text or illustrations. I’d suggest writing your text somewhere else first, so you can proofread and make changes easily. If you do use a regular pencil then go over it with a dark color. You are looking for readability as well as proofreading. 5. Proofread very carefully. Expanding on the Definition: A fractured fairy tale is derived from or inspired by traditional literature stories. “It is a story that uses fairy tales you know and changes the characters, setting, points of view or plots.” (readwritethink.org) The new tale can be a spoof or embellishment of traditional stories. The new spin or outlook provided by the fractured fairy tale frequently is a satire of the original story challenging the assumptions in that story. Yet, it is not always humorous. You will: Follow the classic form of an original folk tale. You will: Change the story in some unexpected way You may: include a contemporary spin. Fractured fairy tales are considered modern fantasy because they have known authors. Some examples: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Jon Scieszka The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf by Jon Scieszka The Three Pigs by David Wiesner The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, The King’s Equal by Katherine Paterson Bubba the Cowboy Prince: A Fractured Texas Tale by Helen Ketteman. NCTE has a nice list here: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson853/FracturedFairyTalesBooklist.pdf Preparation for Writing a Fractured Fairy Tale In Class and Beyond: 1. Read or listen to several fractured fairy tales. 2. Practice changing a tale using the Fractured Fairy Tale Tool online at www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/fairytales/ (Note: this is a joint National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Literacy Association (ILA) site. Consider joining one or both of these associations.) Example: In my story the main characters are/the setting is/my story takes place/my story is told by…… 3. Select a fairy tale (or legend) as the basis for your fractured fairy tale. Use some of the sources given at the beginning of the module/weekly notes if you are uncertain what to do. 4. Check with the instructor if you are unsure of your topic or strategy. 5. Things to consider doing (based on the readwritethink.org site): change the main character, have the story take place somewhere else, have the story take place in another time, tell the story from a different character’s point of view, make the problem of the story different, change an important item in the story, change the ending of the story. 6. Review story line graphs for the elements of a standard story. 7. Begin writing. Some of you will know exactly how you want your story to work. Others will struggle at first – that’s ok. Inspiration doesn’t always come on command. But begin writing something… 8. Review Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 in your textbook Children’s Literature, Briefly. Use suggestions from those chapters to help you improve your mix of illustrations and text .