Delving through my basket of emotion books, I realise that there are a few in there that do sit closer to the notion of a morality tale.
The main deal of a morality tale, it often seems, is that children are dreadful – and if they stay dreadful, they reap the consequences of it.
While I enjoy the likes of the classic poem about Matilda, I don’t really want dreadful things to happen to those I read to. I do want to offer some useful life lessons along the way, yes, but in a less heavy-handed way.
So how is the modern morality tale for children to operate? Some take the classic instructional stories and add a new twist. Others turn the morality tale on its head, and have the children telling off the parents for poor behaviour.
And a few others take things that parents protest about in children’s behaviour – and show the positives in it.
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The Boy Who Cried Wolf – Tony Ross
We are big fans of Tony Ross – the illustrator for the wonderful Doctor Xargle and many others. But Ross writes plenty of stories of his own too, and here he takes on a classic injunction: do not tell lies.
If your tinies are concerned about ravenous wolves in general, you may want to check this out first. The wolf is not scary in looks – in fact, he appears to be quite the epicure, putting on a dinner jacket for his trips over the mountains in search of food.
The child in the story understands that the grownups are just as afraid of the wolf as any, so he spends much of his time scaring them. This gets him out of baths, violin practice and other questionable activities.
Part of why I like the book is the way that the wolf himself responds to the grownups’ moralising:
“At last the wolf caught up with Harry.
‘You shouldn’t have told so many lies!’ said the grown-ups sternly.
The wolf heard the grown-ups and changed his mind about eating Harry…”
I’ll leave you to find out the climax of the story for yourself, but it tackles a familiar story in a much more ingenious way.
Another of our favourites sees the parents under the microscope for poor behaviour.
Naughty Parents – Joy Gosney
Here the children have to keep tabs on the parents, who are doing all the things they are normally telling children not to do: dribble ice creams, run away in the park, and so on.
Children love the joke being turned round – there is a lot of scope for more dramatic, finger-wagging versions if you do this as a read-aloud.
The visual style is bright and loosely drawn, giving a sense of the energy of the miscreants. (I would like a little of that energy – maybe I need to run off and eat ice cream more often myself.)
Why? – Lindsay Camp, Tony Ross
Tony Ross gets a second mention in one post. It’s always worth it with Ross, but especially so with this delicious tale which shows why it’s sometimes good to have someone prepared to keep asking why.
The heroine Lily asks why after why, in time-honoured fashion. Her dad accompanies her through her day, doing his best to keep up with all the questions, but even he gives up at points:
” ‘I wish you wouldn’t always say “why”, Lily.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it drives me mad.’
‘Why?’
‘It just does, Lily. It just does.’ “
If I simply tell you that the next day, it all changes, it’s only because I really need not to give away just why that little question is so important.
But I can tell you that I had one of those laugh out loud moments, in a completely un-internetty kind of way, because what happens next in the story is so unexpected – and so great.
Those junior readers who like a bit of code cracking will also be happy to decipher a little of what is included.
By the end of the tale, ‘why?’ moves on from becoming irritating – and Lily’s dad changes his mind about his daughter’s ‘why’ habit.
I should tell you that ‘it just does, Lily, it just does’ has entered the family collection of stock phrases. It’s that good.
I highly encourage you to seek this one out. Even when you know what’s coming on a reread, it’s still definitely worth it.