3. Shared Mythology

When kids know a familiar canon of stories — such as “Goldilocks and The Three Bears” or “Rapunzel” — they have a shared foundation, a common mythology. From an educator’s perspective, this is invaluable.

What’s more, this background knowledge helps us to have a richer, more fulfilling literary experience. For example, last year my kids and I read several books about fairy tale lands (The Land of Stories, Ever After High, and Storybound). To fully enjoy each of these books, we needed knowledge of the original fairy tale stories that they reference.