Journey Cake

A really good illustrative example of the point I want to make is the book Journey Cake, Ho! by Ruth Sawyer, based on a traditional folk tale. Teachers often read this aloud to their classes, showing the pictures to the children as they do so. They are, of course, using the words of Ruth Sawyer, and presenting the story just as the artist has visualised it. But other teachers do it differently . Instead of reading, they tell the story from memory. This gives the children a much richer experience - they can freely use their own imaginations , visualising the story, the characters and the scenes in their mind's eye in any way they like. And, this is much closer to the way in which folk tales were passed from generation to generation - orally, without any words or pictures to restrict the imagination.