Once again, hello to all! This is week five of literature for children and adolescents! This week we studied chapter 7: modern fantasy. And here we go...
Fantasy is something we have all used to escape the harsh reality of the world. Fantasy stories are fabulous because they allow us to travel to places and meet people and creatures we can only visit in our wildest dreams. By altering a few characteristics of everyday reality, authors easily create the fantastic. First, one must suspend disbelief. What does that mean? You may ask... Well this is when the reader willingly accepts the impossible in order to read, and enjoy, the story. A person must do this with characters, setting, and plot. Once this has been achieved, the reader can thoroughly immerse themselves in a world that could never truly exist.
Modern fantasy is quite like traditional literature in the fact that they involve supernatural beings, amazing adventures, and magic. However, where most of traditional literature is based in fact, modern fantasy is far from truth.
Modern fantasy has several subclasses including the following: literary folktales- traditional tales where good is rewarded and evil punished. They usually begin with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after" in order to replicate traditional folktales. Religious/ethical allegories are the strongest link between traditional and modern lit. They reflect the religions prominent in that part of the world at the time. Mythical quests and conflicts are probably most common and popular. They involve adventures to search for lost or stolen objects of value or power and the battle to overcome evil.
Of course within these stories you must have characters. The most common types of fantastical characters are "articulate animals", animals who act and behave in a human manner. "Toys", which is quite self-explanatory are toys who come to life and behave like people. "Preposterous characters and situations" are exaggerations of people and events and tongue-twisting language. "Little people" involves characters who are small gnomes, trolls, fairies, or other small people usually with some magical ability. "Spirits" are tales of ghosts or goblins, and they can be either friendly or frightening. "Time warps" allow us to travel through time and discover what places, whether far away or at home, looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago. And finally "science fiction." Science fiction, which relies on hypothesized scientific advancements and imagined technology, mainly creates worlds where science interacts with every aspect of everyday life. Most science fiction also involves space travel, far away galaxies, and creatures from other planets.
My picks of favorite books of modern fantasy include Winnie the Pooh, any of the Harry Potter series (but it's best to read them in order), No Flying in the House (this is an old one, but it's worth the time to track it down, it's about a tiny talking dog), Blood and Chocolate (for those who like werewolf tales), Silver Kiss (Vampires), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (no not the movie!), and the Chronicles of Narnia (also please read in order).
Well that's it for now, but if you have any questions about the books I have listed in this or any post feel free to leave me a message. Have a good day!