Folktales on Stage

Book excerpt: "Folktales on Stage" is a collection of reader's theater scripts for young readers, adapted by award-winning children's author Aaron Shepard from his own folktale retellings. A wide variety of countries and cultures is represented, including Native America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Southeast Asia, and China. While focusing on ages 8 to 15, the collection features a full range of reading levels. The scripts in this collection are "The Adventures of Mouse Deer" (Indonesia), "The Calabash Kids" (Tanzania), "The Hidden One" (Native America), "The Boy Who Wanted the Willies" (Europe), "The Princess Mouse" (Finland), "The Legend of Slappy Hooper" (U.S.), "The Gifts of Wali Dad" (India, Pakistan), "The Baker's Dozen" (U.S.), "Master Maid" (Norway), "The Magic Brocade" (China), "Forty Fortunes" (Iran), "Master Man" (Nigeria), "Savitri" (India), "The Enchanted Storks" (Iraq), "The Crystal Heart" (Vietnam), and "The Sea King's Daughter" (Russia). ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard is the author of many books, stories, and scripts for young people, as well as professional books and resources for writers and educators. He has also worked professionally in both storytelling and reader's theater, as a performer, director, and teacher trainer. Aaron's lively and meticulous retellings of folktales and other traditional literature have found homes with more than a dozen children's book publishers, large and small, and with the world's top children's literary magazines, winning him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. His extensive Web site, visited by thousands of teachers and librarians each week, is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater, while his stories and scripts have been featured in textbooks from publishers worldwide, including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, SRA, The College Board, Pearson Education, National Geographic, Oxford University Press, Barron's, Hodder Education, and McGraw-Hill. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// "Aaron Shepard is a national treasure. He has given thousands of us busy teachers and librarians a gold mine of ready-made plays our students clamor to perform over and over. Aaron's new collection never fails to delight and enthrall. While the experts argue about the 'right' way to teach reading, Aaron is in the middle of the action, inspiring our kids to read aloud with fluency, comprehension, expression, and best of all, joy." -- Judy Freeman, Author, "More Books Kids Will Sit Still For" "Aaron Shepard has done it! Folktales on Stage is a complete package of easy-to-perform, dynamic reader's theater scripts. Pack your passport and take a trip around the world. You and your actors will have a world of fun." -- Dr. Caroline Feller Bauer, Author, "Presenting Reader's Theater" and "New Handbook for Storytellers" "What a gift for the classroom teacher! Pure reading pleasure and not a single script that can't be used with small groups or an entire class. Performance reading builds fluency, but Aaron Shepard's gift for storytelling will also build appreciation. This collection will be a rich addition to reading programs in our balanced literacy classrooms." -- Susan Finney, Author, "Independent Reading Activities That Keep Kids Learning While You Teach Small Groups"