Essential Reading

I am writing an original fairytale for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month).  It is my second middle grade novel. Although the characters and plot are my own, the story is based on a very old fairytale.  I have always been fond of fairytales. I believe that fairytales are essential reading.  Apparently I am not alone in my conviction that fairytales should not be forgotten. Melissa Taylor's Imagination Soup blog lists 8 reasons why fairy tales are essential to childhood.  Here are just two reasons of my own:

Fairytales are imbued with old values and ideas that are still as valuable as ever

Fairytales show us that any problem can be solved and that help will always be given

So please go to your bookshelf.  Find a fairytale collection that you have neglected.  Dust it off and open it again.  You will be drawn into the story again, just as you were years ago.

Here are just a few of the fairytale books on my bookshelf.

The Jack Tales collected and retold by Richard Chase
Treasury of North American Folktales edited by Cathareine Peck
Celtic Myths and Legends by T.W. Rolleston
Cinderella Tales from Around the World by Ila Lane Gross
Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino

So have fun re-reading them.  I've got to go make some progress on my novel.