Repetition in children’s Literature

Last summer I worked at a daycare and everyday after the children came inside after playing on the playground me and all of the other daycare teachers would give them their snack. Occasionally, the children would ask one of us to read them one of the stories that were on the shelf. After awhile, I noticed that the children loved hearing the same stories over and over again and they also loved the stories that they could recite along with. Also, I observed in many of the fairy tales do the same thing, for example in Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland’s Daughter, Lasair repeats “…They made me swear three baptismal oaths, that I would not be on foot, I would not be on horseback, and I would not be on the green earth the day I told on it…” to her three unchristened children three times. Many new and many old folk tales, stories, and novels repeat phrases and sounds and it looks like they will continue to do the same for much longer.