Jump to content

Menu

Recs. for folktales, myths from around the world


Recommended Posts

My 10 year old daughter enjoys to read myths, fairytales, and folktales and wants to incorporate more into this year’s school year.  She has read most of the Lang fairy books and enjoys Native American stories. I know D’Aularies has Norwegian and Norse tales in addition to the Greek myths (she’s read them).
 

Any recommendations of tales from other continents? Anthologies or collections would be wonderful. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of our favorites:

Geraldine McCaughrean has a lot of mythology and folktales - ancient Greek and Roman stories, an Arabian Nights retelling, among others. 

Virginia Hamilton's three collections, The People Could Fly and Her Stories (Black American folktales) and In the Beginning (creation myths from around the world) - these are all beautifully illustrated, the first two by the Dillons and the last by Barry Moser

Julius Lester's Brer Rabbit collection

Padraic Colum's Children of Odin and The Golden Fleece

Roger Lancelyn Green's Tales of Ancient Egypt

Sanjay Patel's Ramayana

Ludmilla Zeman's Gilgamesh trilogy and her Sinbad retellings

This collection organizes folktales geographically and this one, edited by Jane Yolen, by genre 

Edited by LostCove
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, OKBud said:

Dover has good collections. "African Folk Tales" etc.

We once did a little thing where we checked out all the Cinderella retellings from around the world and contrasted them. That was fabulous! Thanks for the reminder 🙂 

That sounds like something she would enjoy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arabian Nights
Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights -- my favorite version for illustrations 😄 
Dover: Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories

Tales from the Arabian Nights (Napoli)

Ballet tales
Tales From the Ballet (Untermeyer) -- my childhood favorite (now out-of-print); other collections of stories from the Ballet:
     The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories (Yolen)
     Usborne Illustrated Ballet Stories
     Illustrated Book of Ballet Stories (Newman)

American Tall Tales / Native American tales
Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale (San Souci) -- this looks really cool!
American Tall Tales (Osborne) -- larger-than-life American folktale heroes
Native American Plant Stories (Bruchac)
Native American Animal Stories (Bruchac)
Myths and Legends: Native American Stories (Bruchac)
Dover: Native American Indian Tales

Animal tales
Native American Animal Stories (Bruchac)
Just So Stories (Kipling) -- "how ______ happened", or "why ________ is like this" type of stories
Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories From Around the World (Sherman) -- the trickster character shows up in stories all over the world
Barefoot Book of Trickster Tales (Walker) -- 9 stories from around the world

Myths
Star Stories (Ganeri) -- 18 tales from around the world, each with a story to go with a star constellation
Treasury of Norse Mythology (Napoli)
Treasury of Egyptian Mythology (Napoli)
Mayan and Aztec Mythology (Ollhoff)
Roman Myths (McCaughrean)
Dover: The Story of King Arthur, and, Robin Hood -- these are really well-known mythologies/tales

Folktales / world and individual nations or peoples
A Year Full of Stories: 52 Classic Stories From All Around the World (McAllister) -- multiple countries
Tales of India (Kohli) -- India
The Ch'i-Lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories (Fang) -- China
Korean Children's Favorite Stories (Kim So-Un) -- Korea
Tales from the African Plains (Gatti) -- various African tribes
Favorite African Folktales (Mandela) -- various African nations
Stories from the Billabong (Marshall) -- Australian Aboriginal

Fairytale story collections all on one particular creature/being
Mermaid Tales from Around the World (Osborne)
A Book of _________ by Ruth Manning Sanders -- out-of-print, but over 20 books that are collections of 12-18 well-written stories from around the world, with each book a collection of stories featuring a different being: Giants; Dwarves; Dragons; Witches; Wizards; Mermaids; Ghosts & Goblins; Devils & Demons; Ogres & Trolls; Magic Horses...

And finally, fun new spin on a traditional fairy tale
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Velde) -- 6 fun short stories of Rumpelstiltskin, all from different character perspectives, with different endings

________________________________

And if your DD likes collections/anthologies, you might consider investing in one of these lovely, out-of-print children's anthologies with a treasury of classic literature and stories:

My Book House -- 12 volumes
The Children's Hour -- 16 volumes
Collier's Junior Classics Young Folks Shelf of Books -- 10 volumes
Journey Through Bookland -- 10 volumes

These past threads will help you sort through what is in each, and which anthology set might be the best fit:
My Book House vs. The Children's Hour?
Anthologies vs. Young Folks Library vs. ?
My Book House vs. Journeys Through Bookland - compare
What vintage reference and anthology type sets do you recommend?

And these past threads with ideas on using the various anthologies:
"How to use "My Book House Set"?"
- "Junior Classics anthology -- what now?"
"Just wanted to share again how much I really like Journeys Through Bookland"  

Edited by Lori D.
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/4/2020 at 8:54 AM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

If you like beautiful illustrations, Gennady Spirin has some of the most gorgeously illustrated folktales and myths that exist, in my opinion. Unfortunately most you have to find used. But they are stunning and worth it. 

LOVE Gennady Spirin's illustrations.  We own quite a few.  Here are a couple of our favorites:

Firebird

Sea King's Daughter

I also LOVE Kinuko Craft's illustrations:

Beauty and the Beast

Pegasus

Cupid and Psyche

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...