Find a great story to tell.  Order one of these popular story collections recommended by professional storytellers. Simply copy the title into the search box and click GO!

Search Now:

Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival
August House, 1991

Many Voices: True Tales from America's Past
National Storytelling Association
National Storytelling Press, 1995

More Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival
National Storytelling Press, 1992

Joining In: An Anthology of Audience Participation Stories & How To Tell Them 
1988.

Apples from Heaven: Multicultural Folk Tales about Stories and Storytellers.  
Baltuck, Naomi, Linnet Books, 
a selection of stories that concentrate on the process of listening and getting involved.  

Apples From Heaven: Stories About Stories and Storytelling
Naomi Baltuk
Linnet Books, 1995

Crazy Gibberish
Baltuck, Naomi. 
Lots of audience participation stories. 

Legends of the World 
Richard Cavendish, editor,  Orbis, 1982.
This is a useful reference book.  It contains synopsis of stories taken mostly from traditional literature. It contains no source notes, but does have a lengthy bibliography.

Best-Loved Folktales of the World
Joanna Cole, Anchor/Doubleday, 1982. 
An excellent collection that is highly recommended by many tellers and authors. Some sources are noted in the acknowledgements.

Orpheus: Myths of the World
Padraic Colum, ,   Floris, 1996 (reprinted from Macmillan, 1930). 
A fine selection of powerful myths. With background notes in the introduction, but not specific sources. 

Ride With the Sun: An Anthology of Folk Tales and Stories from the United Nations
Harold Courlander, editor ,  McGraw-Hill, 1955. 
A fine multicultural collection. Includes source notes.

Putting the World in a Nutshell: The Art of the Formula Tale
Dailey, Sheilia 

Eleven Nature Tales: A Multicultural Journey
Pleasant DeSpain
August House Publishers, 1996

Twenty-Two Splendid Tales to Tell From Around the World, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
Pleasant DeSpain, August House, 1994 (reprinted from Pleasant Journeys, The Writing Works, 1979). 
Shortened, simplified folktales, great for beginners of all ages. 

Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell
Pleasant DeSpain , August House, 1993.

Improvisation with Favorite Tales.
Heinig, Ruth Beall. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 1992.
stories with lots of follow up activities,

Beauties and Beasts ed. by Betsy Hearne,  The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series.

Ready-To-Tell Tales: Sure-Fire Stories From America's Favorite Storytellers,
David Holt and Bill Mooney, editors,  August House, 1994. 
A collection of 42 tales from top storytelling performers.  They have included notes from the storytellers on the best way to tell the stories.  This book also includes source notes.

Danny Kaye's Around the World Story Book
Danny Kaye, Random House, 1960. W
These are reprinted stories that were selected under Kaye's supervision. Some sources are inluded..

Livo, Norma, ed.,   Joining in : An Anthology of Audience Participation , Yellow Moon Press 

Tom Thumb ed. by Margaret Read MacDonald Part of The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series. includes many stories.

Twenty Tellable Tales by Margaret Read MacDonald

Wildlife Folklore
Laura C. Martin
Globe Pequot Press, 1994 

The Golden Hoard: Myths and Legends of the World
retold by Geraldine McCaughrean
Margaret K. McEldery Books, 1995

The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series - an excellent series of paperback collections of stories including: Multicultural Folktales: Stories to tell Young Children ed. by Judy Sierra; Beauties and Beasts ed. by Betsy Hearne; Cinderella ed. by Judy Sierra; A Knock at the Door ed. by George Shannon; and Tom Thumb ed. by Margaret Read MacDonald - each having a couple of dozen tales on particular themes.

 Tales for Telling: From Around the World
selected by Mary Medlicott
Kingfisher Books, 1992, 1991

Story Vine, The: A Sourcebook of Unusual and Easy-To-Tell Stories From Around The World
Anne Pellowski, I
Collier Macmillan, 1984

A Harvest of World Folk Tales
Milton Rugoff, editor,  Viking, 1968 (reprinted as The Penguin Book of World Folk Tales,1977). 
This collection includes traditional literature as well as folktales. Includes source notes.

World Tales
Idries Shah, editor,  ISHK Book Service, 1991 (reprinted from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979). 
The reprint is text-only. The original edition (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), has full-color illustrations by a different artist for each story. Includes background notes, but not specific sources.

A Knock at the Door ed. by George Shannon; The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series

Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World
George Shannon
Greenwillow Books, 1985

Trickster Tales: Forty Stories from Around the World
retold by Josepha Sherman
August House Publishers, 1996

Sierra, Judy, ed.,   Cinderella (part of The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series, this book contains many tales on the theme.) 

Sierra, Judy, ed.,  Multicultural Folktales: Stories to tell Young Children, 1991 (Part of The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series)  

Twice upon a Time: Stories to Tell, Retell, Act Out, and Write About by Judy Sierra

Mother Goose's Playhouse: Toddler Tales and Nursery Rhymes, with Patterns for Puppets and Feltboards
Judy Sierra and Bob Kaminski
Media Arts, 1994

Nursery Tales from Around the World
Judy Sierra
Clarion Books, 1996

Homespun Tales from America's Favorite Storytellers
edited by Jimmy Neil Smith
Crown Publishing, 1988

Short and Shivery: Thirty Chilling Tales
Robert D. San Souci
Doubleday, 1987

Wonder Tales
edited by Marina Warner
Strauss & Giroux, 1996

Short-Short Stories
Jean Warren
Totline Press, 1987

Favorite Folktales from Around the World
Jane Yolen, editor,  Pantheon, 1986. 
A highly recommended collection of tellable tales collected by a storyteller. Includes background and source notes.

Favorite Scary Stories of American Children
Richard and Judy Dockery Young
August House Publishers, 1990

The Scary Story Reader
Richard and Judy Dockery Young
August House, 1993

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
Jack Zipes, translator,   Bantam, 1987. 
This translation by a prominent folklorist is possibly the best and most faithful translation that can be found.  Many Grimm translations published have been censored and prettied up for young children's' sensibilities.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Story Collections- Great Stories for Storytellers ] [ Storytelling Reference Books ] [ Story-Telling Technique ] [ Story-Telling Techniques in Special Situations ]