You can’t fly. You’rea TOY!

The QuestionPeople always say to my“What do you think you’d like to beWhen you grow up?”And I say “Why, I think I’d like to be the skyOr be a plane or train or mouseOr maybe be a haunted houseOr something furry, rough and wild...Or maybe I will stay a child.”Karla Kuskin

Modern fantasy refers to the body of literature in which the

events, the settings, or the characters are outside the realm

of possibility.

A fantasy is a story that cannot happen in the real world.

Types of Fantasy

• Animal - animals talk and have other human characteristics, Charlotte’s Web, White

• Toys and Objects - Toys that talk and have other human characteristics, Winnie the Pooh, A.A.Milne

• Extraordinary Worlds, reality but taken to the ridiculous or exaggerated, Alice In Wonderland, Carroll

• World of Little People, miniature people are threatened by “real” humans, Gullivar’s Travels, Swift. Or in the movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

• Supernatural Events, most common in children’s books is the ghost story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving

• Tricks with Time/science fiction, usually a present-day protagonist goes back in time to a different era, A Wrinkle in Time, L’Engle________

Values of Fantasychildren….

• develop imagination

• become divergent thinkers

• take a vacation from everyday life

• are entertained

are inspired!

The author’s main job is to make the reader “suspend” reality for a

while and “believe” the “unbelievable”.

to do that, the author must...

• firmly ground the story on reality,

• pay careful attention to detail,

• use appropriate language and real objects.

Many authors will….

• write in the first person, and

• have one character mirror the disbelief of the reader.

• or have a major character “believe” the fantasy.

DiscussionRead or watch the video of the

Polar Express. Van Allsburg uses many of the techniques describe to make this fantasy believable. Can you identify them? How do his illustrations help make the book more believable? Many parents today, feel that telling their children about Santa Claus is lying to them and will ultimately lead to distrust. What do you feel about this?

The primary concern in evaluating fantasy is the way the

author makes the fantasy believable.

One of the best known and best respected pieces of children’s literature is Charlotte’s Web, by E.B.White.

Differences between fantasy and realistic fictionFantasy Realistic Fiction

Creating believablestories

Authors must encouragereaders to suspend disbelief

Authors may rely on everydayoccurrences

Plot development Conflict may be againstsupernatural powers; problemsmay be solved through magicalpowers

Conflict develops ascharacters cope with realproblems; antagonists may beself, family members, societyor nature

Characters Personified toys, little people,supernatural beings, realpeople who have imaginaryexperiences, animals

Characters act like realpeople; animals alwaysbehave like animals

Setting Past, present, or future,imaginary world, may travelthrough time and space

Contemporary world as weknow it.

People to know...Natalie Babbitt author of Tuck Everlasting, a book about immortality; read in

many classrooms.

Roald Dahl British author of many popular fantasies known for humor andexaggerated characters. James and the Giant Peach; Charlieand the Chocolate Factory

Kenneth Grahame author of the Wind in the Willows; the British classic aboutanimal life on a riverbank.

Robert Lawson author of animal fantasies & fictionalized biographies. RabbitHill; Ben and Me

Madeleine L’Engle noted for a popular science fiction milestone book, A Wrinklein Time, and its sequels

C.S Lewis British author of the Chronicles of Narnia, a series ofadventure quest stories. The Lion, the Witch and theWardrobe.

Astrid Lindgren Swedish creator of the irrepressible Pippi of PippiLongstocking.

Anne McCaffrey science fiction author who writes of Menolly, a youngwoman with special musical talents in Dragonsong.

A.A Milne British author of the classic, Winnie-the-Pooh

George Selden author of humorous animal fantasies; The Cricket in TimesSquare

J.R. Tolkien British author of the Hobbit, a fantasy set in Middle-earth,an imaginary world

E.B. White author of classic animal fantasy, Charlotte’s Web

continued….

Milestones in Modern Fantasy

1726 Gulliver’s Travels, Swift1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth, Verne1865 Alices’ Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum1908 Wind in the Willows, Grahame1926 Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne1937 The Hobbit, Tolkien1945 Pippi Longstocking, Lindgren1950 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis1952 Charlotte’ Web, White1962 A Wrinkle in Time, L’Engle

The Mirror of the Mind

“Come with me, readers,”said the creator, “together we will explore unknown worlds, unusual creatures, and fanciful objects.

Come with me readers, I will be at your side.”