From Cover to Cover by Kathleen T. Horning

Smith have set the standard for fractured fairy tales, beginning with their popular recasting of “The Three Little Pigs,” The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf. They turn the original on its head by telling the story from the wolf’s point of view. He was merely trying to borrow a cup of sugar from his porcine neighbors so he could bake a cake for his grandmother. Was it his fault that their houses were so poorly constructed that they fell down when he sneezed? Smith’s illustrations add to the humor by consistently contradicting the wolf’s claims of his innocence. David Wiesner uses illustration to twist the same story in a completely differentdirection in The Three Pigs by inviting us to look beyond the borders of the page itself. In his fractured tale, the wolf huffs and puffs and blows the pigs right out of the story. Outside the tale, they become realistic, three-dimensional pigs who look right at the reader before they wander through other traditional tales, taking on the characteristics of the various art styles represented in each one.
    “The Three Little Pigs” seems to be a favorite target for fracturing, but any familiar tale can find new life when an author and artist play with setting, characters, point of view, or a reversal of standard elements. For fractured fairy tales to be completely successful with children, they must begin with traditional tales that children know well. Otherwise, the humor will probably fall flat. Happily, authors have a wealth of traditional tales from which to choose.

CHAPTER 4
Poetry, Verse, Rhymes, and Songs
    Rhythm, rhyme, and the pleasurable sounds that words make can appeal to children from a very early age. It is no accident that lullabies are sung to soothe babies and nursery rhymes are recited to entertain them. Children of all ages like the sounds of poetry in language. Older children chant rhymes as they play games and jump rope. They revise the lyrics of commercial jingles to amuse their peers and twist names and words to taunt their enemies. They re-create the rhythms and rhymes of popular music to pass the time as they wait for the school bus in the morning. We find an appetite for poetry everywhere we find children.
    Yet many children claim to dislike poetry. In all likelihood what they dislike is the study of poetry. Because poetry is defined in part by form and structure, over the years, children in school have been forced to think about poems in these terms. Many adults themselves have unpleasant memories of being forced to dissect a poem to analyze its meaning, and they have come to associate this unpleasantness with poetry in general. But poetry need not be picked apart to be understood and appreciated. Poems speak to children through sound, images, and ideas.
    THE SOUND OF POETRY
    Poetry uses words in musical, rhythmic patterns that delight small children, even before they understand the meaning of the words. As children get older, they are better able to appreciate the subtleties of poetic form and content, but young children seem to be especially attracted to the regular structured patterns, more aptly called verse .
    Rhyme , the repetition of the same or similar sounds, is an important part of verse and, to some extent, poetry. There are many kinds of rhyme, but when most people use the word, they are generally referring to end rhyme only. End rhyme is the regularly occurring echo that is used in a uniform pattern at the conclusion of lines, and it is the hallmark of conventional verse, particularly verse that is aimed at very young children. While it can be pleasing to the ear and may make a poem easier to listen to and remember, it can also lead to a singsong regularity that deadens the senses. In fact, many believe that end rhyme is such an artificial and unnatural way of using language, in the hands of a lesser poet, it can destroy the essence of poetry. Writers can easily become so bound to rhyme that it dictates the word choice, and the