Thematic Book List: Pourquoi Tales

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A student reads a pourquoi tale independently.

Pourquoi tales, from the French word for why, are a genre of traditional literature. These folktales from around the world explain how natural phenomena came to be. When I taught a pourquoi tale unit to my students, I first prepared a collection of books to use for read-alouds, mentor texts, and for students' independent reading. Here are many of the books I collected.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are books that I found readily and inexpensively available for purchase online. I wanted stories from a wide range of cultures, and I also gathered some paired stories that explain the same natural phenomena from various cultural points-of-view.

Pourquoi Tale Anthologies

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When the World Was Young: Creation and Pourquoi Tales by Margaret Mayo
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How & Why Stories by Martha Hamilton
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How the Animals Got Their Colors: Animal Myths from Around the World by Michael Rosen

Pourquoi Tale Single Story Picture Books

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Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky by Elphinstone Dayrell (African)
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Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa by Gerald McDermott (West Africa)
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How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Joseph and James Bruhac (Native American)
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How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend by Jerrie Oughton
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The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola (Native American)
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The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaula (Comanche)
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The Legend Of The Lady-Slipper by Lise Lunge-Larson and Margi Preus (Ojibwe)
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The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale by Yumi Heo (Korea)

Teaching Guides

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Folktale Themes and Activities for Children, Volume 1: Pourquoi Tales by Anne Kraus