Once upon a Time: Writing Your Own Fairy Tale

by Nancy Loewen

Ready to build a fairy tale? First, you’ll need the right tools. Open this title in the Writer’s Toolbox series and discover plenty of tips and tools to get you started. Soon you’ll be writing magical adventures like a pro!

Genres: Picture Books, Writing, Childrens, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She's published more than 140 books for children. FOUR TO THE POLE (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) and THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her WRITER'S TOOLBOX series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Nancy lives in Saint Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She has two adult children and a cat who sometimes bites her knees under the table as she writes.

Reviews

[Brittany Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writers need the right tools in order to build a story. In this book, Nancy Loewen explores which tools are used in writing fairy tales. She builds a list of thirteen different tools or characteristics found in common with most fairy tales. These tools include: settings, characters, plot, dialogue, warnings, magic, greed, tricks, secrets, repetition, mistakes, problem solving, and a pleasing ending. Throughout the book, the author writes part of the story of Little Red Riding Hood and pairs each section with different tools. She then writes an explanation of how the tools are used in the fairy tale.

I thought that this book was awesome! It did a great job of not only describing the different characteristics of a fairy tale, but also showing the reader how it is used by giving examples from Little Red Riding Hood.

This would be a perfect book for a fairy tale unit. I think that this would be great to not only teach the students different characteristics of fairy tales, but also this would be a great resource to help students write their own fairy tales. This book could be used to teach students how to write fairy tales which could then become a performance task.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picture book guide to writing a fairy tale story teaching parts of a story with examples from Little Red Riding Hood.

This is a good intro to parts of a story in general, but I found it lacked something in writing fairy tales specifically. If you followed the formula here, you'd really just get a fantasy story not necessarily a fairy tale. Anyway, if you're teaching kids how to write a story or identify aspects of a story, this may be helpful.

[Kim Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once Upon a Time: Writing Your Own Fairy Tale by Nancy Loewen and illustrated by Christopher Lyles provides thirteen guidelines for students to compose their own fairy tales. It uses "Little Red Riding Hood" as the mentor text alongside the literary tools: settings, characters, plot, dialogue, warnings, magic, greed, tricks, secrets, repetition, mistakes, solution to the problem, and a happy ending. The final pages include a review of the tools as well as “getting started exercises” to have students compose their very own stories.
Each tool is clearly outlined and paired with the appropriate event and example from Little Red Riding Hood. The fairy tale itself does not deviate or add unconventional elements to the basic Little Red Riding Hood story, so if you are hoping for a “new twist” to this fairy tale, you won’t find it here. The book also includes final writing tips and a glossary, which would be helpful for younger students.
This book is part of the Writer’s Toolbox series, which I am now curious to get my hands on. My AP Literature students have just wrapped up a unit on fairy tales and what better way to showcase their mastery than by writing their own? I will be using this as both a manual and a mentor text in future fairy tale units.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre
Traditional Literature (Fairy Tale)

Awards
No awards were given to this book

Audience
Written for Pre-K-2nd

1. How are the main characters described?
The main character in this book is Little Red Riding Hood and she is decided as just a little girl who wants to make her grandma feel better. She runs into a problem with the big bad wolf who portrays the bad villain in this story and wants to take away her cakes and bread.

2. What other versions of this story are you familiar with
I have only really heard one version of this story but in class when we went through this book some of my classmates said there was a different version of this book.

3. Would you use this story for storytelling to a child/group? Why or why not?
No, I would not because the end of this fairy tale is scary. I would not want to scare any children with this book and do not want them to be afraid that a wolf is going to eat them.

[Amber Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book! As I read through this book, I loved how the author incorporated tips and tools for the reader throughout the story. I also loved how the book had a glossary and an index. This book would be a great tool in a classroom when presenting texts to students, along with teaching students about fairytales. The book is written with the intent of teaching the reader to write his or her very own fairytale. I loved the creativity that was behind the text of this book! I highly recommend this book if you are in need of learning to write fairytales or if you need to become more familiar with text features!

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for introducing writing and the art of storytelling. It breaks down the story and explains 13 story elements very well. Highly recommended for elementary school.

[Haaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your typical Little Red Riding Hood, except for the end.
Gives Tips on how to write a fairy tail- explaining each part.

[Little Seesaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this to Hazel and she was not a fan. Her rating was not as good as mine. ha ha I think maybe older kids might like it better, especially if they have interests in writing.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loewen explains the craft behind what makes a fairy tale by expertly diagramming 'Little Red Riding Hood', identifying every part of the story in a way young readers can easily grasp.

[MissInformation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun concept for presenting how to write a story in general, and fairy tales in particular. Alongside a telling of Little Red Riding Hood, sidebars explain the components of a story: character, plot, repetition and The Pleasing End.
Also includes a review of the concepts on a single spread, and exercise ideas to put them to work. There are writing tips, a glosssary, recommended related books, and an index- making it a great introduction to writing and how to use a non-fiction reference. Suitable for grade 1-4.

[Priscilla Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book we learn about the all time favorite fairytale called "Little Red Riding Hood."

This is a "WOW" book for me because it teaches students how to create a fairytale on their own. This text is part of the Writer's Toolbox for this company. On each page there are talking points for the teacher to use while reading the text. I think its a great text to help teachers learn more about fairytales and how to teach them to their students. I've also read several other books from the Writer's Toolkit and they are all really good.

[Brenna Hanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly trying to think of a way to use this for Fairy Tale Day at the library.

Great simple story and writing instructions, but the age group might be misleading.

Possibly an older elementary group.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book to help students write a fairy tale

[Gypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

read with Daylon

[Nazmi Yaakub]

Buku panduan menulis untuk kanak-kanak yang bagus. Naskhah yang pasti menjadi bacaan wajib kepada anak.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reference for students wanting to write fairy tales!