alternatives for Norse myths

[EmilyGF]

We've been working our way through myths with Greek Myths last year and are now on Norse myths. I hate them, ds9 hates them. 

Any good alternative myth suggestions for this year, especially if you can recommend a neat book to read them from? 

Emily

[Lori D.]

Arabian Nights
- Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights 
- Dover: Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories
- National Geographic: Tales from the Arabian Nights (Napoli)
- Eyewitness Classics: Aladdin and Other Classics from The Arabian Nights

Ballet tales
- Tales From the Ballet (Untermeyer)
- The Barefoot Book of Ballet Stories (Yolen)
- Usborne Illustrated Ballet Stories
- Illustrated Book of Ballet Stories (Newman)
- Random House Book of Stories from the Ballet

American Tall Tales
- Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale (San Souci)
- Tales of Uncle Remus (Lester) -- Brer Rabbit collection
- American Tall Tales (Osborne)
- American Tall Tales (Stoutenberg)

Native American Tales
- 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
- Myth Atlas: Maps and Monsters, Heroes and Gods, from Twelve Mythological Worlds (de Moraes)
- 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)

King Arthur / Robin Hood mythology
- Great Classics Illustrated: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Pyle)
- Classic Starts: The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Pyle)
- Dover: The Story of King Arthur
- Robin Hood 

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

Fairytale story collections:
- National Geographic: Treasury of Magical Tales from Around the World - variety
- 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; Ogres & Trolls; Magical Beasts; Magic Horses...

Edited November 23, 2021 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

Also, the version and type of "retelling" makes a big difference. A natural storyteller will pull you in. Also, lovely artwork helps draw you in. A dry retelling is like having to memorize "myth facts", lol.  

What version are you using for your Norse myths? I was SO excited for Neil Gaiman's Norse myths book to come out... And I *hated* it. So boring and uncreative in the writing, I just was NOT drawn in or the least bit interested in the characters and plots. Which is too bad, because there's a lot of interesting stuff in the Norse myths. It was really a matter of a poor retelling on Gaiman's part.

And, did you both enjoy your Greek myth study last year? And if so, what kind of version did you use?

Edited November 22, 2021 by Lori D.