Finding Stories

One thing I've really enjoyed about the course so far is the opportunity we have to look for and enjoy different stories.
I've spent time perusing the 398.2s and Parent/Teacher collections and have enjoyed reading the different tales available. One of my favorite resources right now is Margaret Read MacDonald's Three Minute Tales: Stories from around the world to tell or read when time is short. It contains different situations one might be in when a story is just the right thing to fill time, or to make a point such as going on a walk, or on a museum tour. The tales are short (3 minutes or under, with the "time it takes to tell" estimated at the top.) From the discussion boards I can see that we have lots of Margaret Read MacDonald fans in the class, so you can now count me in as one as well. (I've checked out her "Twenty Tellable Tales" and will start on that soon.)

A publisher that I'm starting to notice is "August House" with their "American Storytelling" and "World Storytelling" series. Those stories are also nice at a couple of pages each with black and white pictures along with them. Something from the same publisher I ran across this spring break was called "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" which followed the school-yard chants, and camp songs that may not be appropriate for adult ears. I don't believe they count as Storytelling in any way (as they don't tell a story), but reading through the article on Folk Literature for class, most defiantly fall into that category, as they are passed from person to person with only slight modifications, and so fall into the storytelling tradition.

There are many other books I'm using as well that I pulled out of the 398.2s. Right now I'm searching for stories that I can tell to fit the story time themes "Days of the Week" and "pop corn". Any Suggestions? (The little Mouse, ripe red strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear was a great hit-- I used the book as the illustrations are what make that story.)

Today's Books:

MacDonald, Margaret Read, 1940-. (2004.). Three-minute tales : stories from around the world to tell or read when time is short. Little Rock, Ark. : August House Publishers. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy0710/2004046257.html

Sherman, Josepha. (1995.). Greasy grimy gopher guts : the subversive folklore of childhood. Little Rock, AR : August House Publishers.