The Primary English Encyclopedia: The Heart of the Curriculum, Third Edition
See also creation stories, fairy tales, fiction, folk tales, narrative, realism in children’s books, traditional tales
Short stories are a genre in their own right and those specially written for children share many of the characteristics of the versions for adults. The setting and the characters have to be communicated swiftly and there is not space for the long descriptions of scenery and introspection possible in a full-length work. Nevertheless, good short stories offer insights into the human condition and can awaken children’s own wish to write.
They provide a bridge between the picturebooks for the very young and the novels enjoyed
| Elaine Shiel, an Edinburgh primary teacher, wanted to create an exciting context for children’s writing. While on holiday in London she bought a little brown bear from Hamley’s and brought it to school to show her class of seven year olds. Her intention was to base story telling and story writing round the bear’s pretend adventures. The children’s imaginations shifted into top gear as they reflected on what it must have been like for Cocoa when he was pushed to the back of the shelf when no-one wanted to buy him. Night time was worst as he could not see a thing.
The children and teacher began to construct stories about his adventures and his thoughts and feelings as he adjusted to life in Primary 3’s hut. The scene was set for the teacher to direct the children’s interest and enthusiasm towards different kinds of writing. There were stories about visiting the teacher’s home and meeting Happeny the puppy, Posh Giraffe and One-eyed Duck and about going on holiday. One day when the class came into school Cocoa had disappeared. This led to a flurry of activity and meetings to decide how to track him down. Then the children made posters asking for his return and they put up notices, sent messages and wrote letters asking the school secretary and the caretaker to help find him.
On another occasion the children wrote about Cocoa going to A Teddy Bears’ Picnic at Corstorphine Fair with the children’s teddy bears.
After a while the children wanted to make a book about Cocoa and the teacher took up the role of editor. Their joint work led to the children learning about chapters, how to engage the reader’s interest and how to match illustrations to the narrative. This was the final structure of the book.
The Adventures of Cocoa
Chapter 1. In the Toyshop
Chapter 2. The Journey to Scotland and Primary 3’s Hut
Chapter 3. A weekend at Miss Shiel’s House
Chapter 4. Meeting Happeny, Posh Giraffe and One Eyed Duck
Chapter 5. Cocoa Disappears
Chapter 6. Cocoa Tells of his Adventures
Chapter 7. Cocoa Acquires a Rug
Chapter 8. Cocoa’s Camping Holiday
Chapter 9. A New Friend
Chapter 10. The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
And to give a flavour of this work the first page of Chapter 1 is displayed here. For a more detailed account of this interesting project see E. Shiel’s article in English 4-11, No. 9, 2000. |
by older primary children. Their relative shortness allows teacher and children to look at global aspects of the text – the development of the characters and the situation for example. A number of teachers have mentioned to me that the stories in The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales by Jay Williams seem to encourage discussion with different age groups. Gervase Phinn’s annotated short story suggestions for younger children include tales about a range of human experience. There is Philippa Pearce’s entertaining collection – Lion at School and Other Stories, Dick King-Smith’s animal stories – Sophie’s Snail and Berlie Doherty’s lively Tilly Mint Tales (Phinn, 2000).
For older children there are fantasy collections, for example Nicholas Fisk’s edited The Puffin Book of Science Fiction and, for a mixture of different genres by well-known children’s writers – The Turning Tide and Other Stories edited by Gervase Phinn. When older primary school children have enjoyed many folk tales from around the world they become able to identify common themes that interest and ‘speak to’ human beings everywhere. Oxford University Press has reissued its well-known collections of folk tales in paperback, for example Kathleen Arnott’s retelling of Tales from Africa and Philip Sherlock’s retelling of Tales from West Africa.
Phinn, Gervase (2000) Young Readers and Their Books: Suggestions and Strategies for Using Texts in the Literacy Hour London: David Fulton.
Short-term plans – see English Co-ordinator, planning
This is the complete article, containing 756 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
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