Growing up, I have distinct memories of always having a book with me. I can remember waiting with my parents at restaurants and having my nose in a book the whole time. In fifth grade, I will never forget being called into the hall by a teacher for reading “secretly” at my desk while she was teaching. While I have spent nearly all my life surrounded by books, I feel very inept when discussing and teaching them, particularly fairy stories.
Enter a lovely guide written by Junius Johnson. Johnson introduces himself as a scholar, musician, writer, and teacher. His book, On Teaching Fairy Stories: A Guide to Cultivating Wonder in Students through Great Literature, reads like you are sitting and having a conversation with Johnson himself. It is a compilation of essays, reading guides, and even some simple teacher training that is perfect for lay readers, homeschoolers, or classroom teachers.
He starts by defining what a fairy story is. As soon as someone mentions the word “fairy” you might think of Fairy Tales or Tinkerbell. Johnson declares that the “Scope of fairy stories is much broader than that of fairy tales.” He defines fairy stories as, “Stories that are fantastical in nature, whether that fantasy derives from setting, plot or character.”
Fairy stories are us entering another realm, be that walking through a wardrobe, a stream that suddenly appears beside our bed, or even as simple as remaining in our neighborhood, but adding a “natural or supernatural power” that takes us out of our world. Johnson expands on his definition of fairy stories by giving specific examples to support his definition. From Ovid’s Metamorphoses, to Shakespeare, to Tolkien, each of these stories are what Johnson defines as fairy stories.
He moves from a discussion of what fairy stories are to a defense of why read them. As a former homeschooling mom and now second-grade teacher, the one thing I constantly strive to encourage is imagination. Imagination is so terribly lacking in our world, and a loss of reading great stories has contributed. We need stories to help us make sense of this world that we live in. Johnson writes that we are the ones that are upside-down and that fairy stories help us bring the world right side up. Fairy stories shake us from us; from our short-sighted, individualized view of the world. They grow a sense of wonder.
“The sense of wonder can only thrive if it is fed wonder: you cannot substitute any other fare…If we do not educate to the sense of wonder, we are not educating the whole person, and we are destroying the person as a result. Children need wonder because humans need wonder…”
The last half of the book includes a detailed section of resources and ways to foster wonder through fairy stories in your classroom specifically. He spends chapter four detailing nine different resources including The Hobbit, Narnia, and a few newer fantastical stories. For each, he gives coordinating texts along with describing the themes present. Two chapters dive into deeper details of a poem by Rossetti and of The Hobbit.
While Johnson’s book is specifically geared toward classroom teachers, he offers much to those just wanting a guide to closer reading, or a homeschooling parent. Johnson’s words are a great reminder that we all need stories; and not merely to say we are filled with knowledge, but rather wisdom. Wisdom “is the skill of knowing how to be in the world correctly.”
Ultimately fairy stories point us to the true, good, and beautiful.
“All the joys of Fairyland and its every tale of redemption are but retellings of the Great Story of redemption.”
She savors quiet moments with a cup of tea when she’s able to catch those words and find the courage to write them down.
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How can we order the book “Painting Wonder”? It has been mentioned twice in The Story Warren, and I would like to see it, perhaps purchase it.
Thank you
Debra
Hi Debra! It looks like this might be a good place to start: https://waxwingbooks.com/painting-wonder/
The book doesn’t release until April, but you can preorder now. Hope that’s helpful!