Children's Folklore
Children's Folklore
ed. Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson, & Felicia R. McMahon

Published: 1999

ISBN 978-0-87421-280-8
paper $26.95

ISBN 978-0-87421-357-7
e-book $20.00

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Children's Folklore

A Source Book

ed. Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson, & Felicia R. McMahon

Above and beyond its appeal for folklorists in general, Children's Folklore is an indispensable introduction to its own subject... This volume contains a wealth of guides and sources that will benefit any interested scholar.
—Journal of American Folklore


A collection of original essays by scholars from a variety of fields—including American studies, folklore, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education—Children's Folklore: A Source Book moves beyond traditional social-science views of child development. It reveals the complexity and artistry of interactions among children, challenging stereotypes of simple childhood innocence and conventional explanations of development that privilege sober and sensible adult outcomes. Instead, the play and lore of children is shown to be often disruptive, wayward, and irrational. The contributors variably con-sider and demonstrate "contextual" and "textual" ways of studying the folklore of children. Avoiding a narrow definition of the subject, they examine a variety of resources and approaches for studying, researching, and teaching it. These range from surveys of the history and literature of children's folklore to methods of field research, studies of genres of lore, and attempts to capture children's play and games.