Folk tales provide insights into the values, customs and behaviors of a society.
Levette Davidson, in his book A Guide to American Folklore , states that comparative studies in folklore provide a bridge from one folk culture to another. The purpose of this unit is to reiterate the essential unity of diverse cultures and to help seventh-graders understand their own culture and those of their neighbors. Four different categories of folk tales will be studied, and in each section will be found a variety of activities that have been designed to bring about greater understanding and appreciation of differing ways of life. An extensive annotated bibliography has been provided. We will also study Cinderella stories in versions of the classic tale from twenty-one different cultures.