Traditional Tales: My First Storytime books by Parragon Books.

Publishers Parragon books have created a series of traditional tales as part of their collection My First Storytime. The picture books have been made with beginner readers in mind and the books, created alongside experts, are aimed at 4-7 year olds.

Traditional tales are fun, familiar stories to many children and adults alike. They are stories which open a new world of creativity, question choices, good and bad actions and explore a variety of emotions. There is no denying that as times change some traditional tales are questionable however, the stories in My First Storytime have been chosen well.

The simple story lines and repetitive features make traditional tales great stories to recall and support young ones with their comprehension and writing.

Each book in the My First Storytime collection begins with steps on how the book could be shared with your child.

The aim of the collection is for books to be shared and to instill confidence in young readers, reading and understanding what they have read. Each double page in the books has text for a carer/teacher/older sibling to read and then on the other page is a shorter sentence aimed at beginner readers. Each book also ends with a Puzzle Time page which not only has questions about the text read but also has questions connected to rhyming and illustrations used.

On this double page taken From Goldilocks and the Three Bears you are able to see the simple sentence used on the right page, for younger ones to read. The majority of words in the sentence, (excluding was) are words which can be phonetically sounded out so you can see the books in My First Storytime have been made with beginner readers in mind. The lengthy text seen on the left side not only tells more of the story but also allows a more confident reader to model successful reading and in turn can eventually be read by the beginner reader when they at the stage that they can.

My eldest daughter and I have had great fun sharing all the books together. I appreciate everybody will have read different traditional tales but you can find information below about the six books included in My First Storytime.

The Elves and the Shoemaker illustrated by Gail Yerrill.

Shoes are mysteriously being made each night at a poor shoemakers home. Beautiful shoes await the shoemaker and his wife each morning but who is making these delights and how can the shoe maker and his wife thank them? A lovely story filled with mystery and kindness. There is something so appealing about mini things so I’m sure many little ones will get excited about the elves.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff illustrated by Gavin Scott.

Three Billy Goats Gruff want to cross the river as there is scrumptious grass on the other side. There is a little problem though and under the bridge lives a troll who has other ideas. Featuring a very green looking troll, this is a great story with a repetitive structure that I have used when working with 4-5 year olds.

The Gingerbread Man illustrated by Gail Yerrill.

This story is well loved in our house. The idea of a biscuit coming alive and running away from its baker is always well received by my eldest daughter. The Gingerbread Man thinks no one is able to catch him. He meets so many characters whilst running, a pig, a cow, a horse, a fox. They all think he looks rather delicious but his encounter with the sly fox is the saddest of all. A fun story which often leads to baking.

Jack and the Beanstalk illustrated by Gavin Scott.

Jack and his mother need to sell their cow but when he returns with magic beans rather then money his mother is not impressed. She throws the beans into the garden but the beans soon grown into a tall beanstalk with a castle at the top! Jack continuously steals from the giant who lives in the castle and to avoid confrontation when the giant catches him, he chops the tree down. I would prefer if the giant were to have given Jack things rather then him having to repeatedly steal from him or for the mother to acknowledge that stealing is not right however,  these are the type of conversations I am sure it will encourage.

The Three Little Pigs illustrated by Mei Matsuoka.

Three little pigs say goodbye to their family home and give themselves a task of building their own homes. They each use different materials for their houses but which will withstand the huffs and puffs of the big bad wolf? We love how independent the pigs are in making their own home but Little One has observed that the pigs featured in the story are always boys.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears illustrated by Gavin Scott.

Little One adores the illustrations in this book. All the illustrations used in  My First Storytime are bright and inviting but she thinks Goldilocks looks rather adorable. The number three is rather significant in this book as three bears live in a cottage which Goldilocks discovers. She finds three bowls of porridge and three varying sized beds and even though she is in someone elses home she makes herself rather comfortable. When will the bears return home? How will they react to Goldilocks? This is a fun read featuring, as my daughter describes a rather “cheeky” little girl.

Little One is at the very early stages of learning to read and I look forward to witnessing her becoming more confident and engaging with reading more. The collection of My First Storytime books are a great selection of books that can be shared with your young ones. Reading consultant Geraldine Taylor has worked on these books and the text used through out the books is not only in keeping with its young audience but also with its young readers.

Thank you so much to publishers Parragon for sending us this bundle of books.