A groundbreaking collection of essays on a hitherto underexplored subject that challenges the existing stereotypical views of the trivial and innocent nature of children's culture, this work reveals for the first time the artistic and complex interactions among children. Based on research of scholars from such diverse fields as American studies, anthropology, education, folklore, psychology, and sociology, this volume represents a radical new attempt to redefine and reinterpret the expressive behaviors of children. The book is divided into four major sections: history, methodology, genres, and setting, with a concluding chapter on theory. Each section is introduced by an overview by Brian Sutton-Smith. The accompanying bibliography lists historical references through the present, representing works by scholars for over 100 years.

Children have their own games, stories, riddles, and so forth. This book gives students and general readers an introduction to children's folklore. Included are chapters on the definition and classification of children's folklore, the presence of children's folklore in literature and popular culture, and the scholarly interpretation of children's folklore. The volume also includes a wide range of examples and texts demonstrating the variety of children's folklore around the world. Children have always had their own games, stories, riddles, jokes, and so forth. Many times, children's folklore differs significantly from the folklore of the adult world, as it reflects the particular concerns and experiences of childhood. In the late 19th century, children's folklore began receiving growing amounts of scholarly attention, and it is now one of the most popular topics among folklorists, general readers, and students. This book is a convenient and authoritative introduction to children's folklore for nonspecialists. The volume begins with a discussion of how children's folklore is defined, and how various types of children's folklore are classified. This is followed by a generous selection of examples and texts illustrating the variety of children's folklore from around the world. The book then looks at how scholars have responded to children's folklore since the 19th century, and how children's folklore has become prominent in popular culture. A glossary and bibliography round out the volume.

Front cover: A book of rhymes, games, jokes, stories, secret languages, beliefs and camp legends, for parents, grandparents, teachers, counselors and all adults who were once children.

In captivating text and illustrations, this beautiful multicultural children's book presents a collection of cherished fables, myths, legends and fairy tales from Thailand that have been passed down through generations of Thai families. The nine charming stories in this book feature clever princesses, warring gods and goddesses, foolish kings, and wily tigers, against a backdrop of traditional Thai village life. They deal with the universal values that parents everywhere want to teach their children, such as good versus evil, right versus wrong, and wisdom versus foolishness. Stories include "How The Thais Learned to Be Calm," when a small village argument escalates into a terrible war; "Princess Golden Flower and the Vulture King," in which a brave princess saves herself from an evil king; and "The Gold Harvest" in which a wise father-in-law tricks his lazy son-in-law into working hard for his family. Curated and narrated by Marion D. Toth and illustrated by Thai artist Patcharee Meesukhon, this collection will provide children with an insight into the traditional Thai culture, and the values and lifestyle of its people. This book will be enjoyed by children ages six to ten, as well as by their parents. Other Thai stories in this book include: How the Bay of Bangkok Came to Be Why Do We Have Thunder and Lightning? The Wisest Man in Siam There is No Such Thing As a Secret How the Tiger Got its Stripes The Footprint of the Buddha

Nestled within our green and pleasant land lies pockets of emerald trees. Their roots search deep into the ground and the branches reach high towards the sun. For centuries some of these have stood watching and listening to the human creatures living among them, hearing their stories and remembering. What mysteries could these woodlands tell if the trees could speak? Stories of brave deeds and foolish, star-crossed lovers, of monsters, giants and witches, hobs and kings. Discover the secrets of our forests in this engaging collection of folk tales.

The purpose of this book is to show how children use their traditional lore to cope with the stresses of their lives and to learn what it means to be a member of a human society. The subjects' ages ranged from grade-school children through college freshman, located in forty-three states, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American military bases abroad. The materials in this collection were drawn from a random sample.

“[A] well-researched and well-written book . . . linking traditional folklore studies to current scientific research and to thinking about human behavior.” —American Journal of Play Wiggling a pencil so that it looks like it is made of rubber, “stealing” your niece’s nose, and listening for the sounds of the ocean in a conch shell—these are examples of folk illusions, youthful play forms that trade on perceptual oddities. In this groundbreaking study, K. Brandon Barker and Claiborne Rice argue that these easily overlooked instances of children’s folklore offer an important avenue for studying perception and cognition in the contexts of social and embodied development. Folk illusions are traditionalized verbal and/or physical actions that are performed with the intention of creating a phantasm for one or more participants. Using a cross-disciplinary approach that combines the ethnographic methods of folklore with the empirical data of neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology, Barker and Rice catalogue over eighty discrete folk illusions while exploring the complexities of embodied perception. Taken together as a genre of folklore, folk illusions show that people, starting from a young age, possess an awareness of the illusory tendencies of perceptual processes as well as an awareness that the distinctions between illusion and reality are always communally formed. “With clear focal points, sound and carefully explained methodology, and thought-provoking, substantial analysis, this book makes an excellent contribution to children’s folklore and related fields.” —Elizabeth Tucker, author of Children’s Folklore: A Handbook “A compendium of perceptual illusions, gathered from performers across the country, sorted into formally related perceptual categories, and analyzed under various theories of perception.” —Journal of Folklore Research