What is a Frame Story?

A frame story is like a big picture book that holds smaller stories inside it, just like how your favorite bedtime story has different characters and adventures.

Imagine you’re reading a story about a rabbit who goes on a journey to find a special carrot. But before the rabbit starts its adventure, there’s a friendly owl who tells you this story. And after the rabbit finds the carrot, the owl talks to you again, maybe even asks if you want to hear another story. The owl is like the frame that holds the rabbit's story inside it.

The Big Picture and the Little Stories

The frame story is the big picture, it’s what wraps around all the little stories. Sometimes, the frame story tells you how the little stories happen, or why they’re being told. It’s like having a main character who introduces you to other characters in their world.

You can think of it like a box that holds toys, each toy is a different story, and the box is what brings them all together.

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Examples

  1. A child tells a tale about a dragon, and then the dragon tells a tale about its own adventure.
  2. A teacher starts a lesson with a story that explains why they're teaching math.
  3. A grandpa begins his bedtime story by telling how he met a wizard.

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