New Folktale Versions to Storytell Our school is lucky to have Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton, two talented storytellers working with our third grade children this month. Each student in Mrs. McDaniel’s third grade classroom will learn to tell a story to an audience. It’s exciting to see the children gain confidence as they practice their storytelling techniques with encouragement from their classmates and teachers. Listening to others’ stories encourages students to come to the library to find the stories to read.

Mitch and Martha have also been busy publishing their own versions of folktales. We now have these books they authored in our collection: The Hidden Feast is a tale told originally in our country’s south. In this story barnyard animals have a good time at their neighbors’ party until dinner is served. Rooster, not happy with the cornbread served, rudely storms out. The twist ending explains why, ever since, Rooster scratches in the dirt. Tricky Rabbit A Story from Cambodia to Read and Tell tells of a banana-loving rabbit who devises a clever plan to fill his tummy with his favorite fruit. Two pourquois tales they have retold are How Fox Became Red, A Folktale from the Athabaskan Indians of Alaska, and, Why Animals Never Got Fire, A Story of the Coeur d’Alene Indians.

And, Two Fables of Aesop is both fun to read and fun to tell!  ¶ 2:20 PM