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The runaway wok
Compestine, Ying Chang
Ming lives in a poor family. He goes to the market to trade and receive food so he and his neighbors can share a Chinese new year feast. Instead of buying food, Ming chooses a magical wok. The wok rounds up the food and prized possessions of the rich to bring food to Ming's family and poor neighbors. Ming celebrates a wonderful new year, and he sells more woks to help other poor families.

The old woman who lived in a vinegar bottle
MacDonald, Margaret Read
An old woman complains about living in a vinegar bottle. A fairy friend helps her to grant her wish. But the little old lady is still unhappy and wants more wishes granted by her fairy friend.

The girl who wore too much: A folktale from Thailand
MacDonald, Margaret Read
This folktale from Thailand follows Aree as she prepares to go to a dance. Shes believes that by wearing all of her pretty dresses and fine jewelry, she will look her best. She realizes that too many clothes can be hot and cumbersome and does not make it to the dance with her friends. After missing the dance, she gives many of her nice things away and decides that it is better to wear one simple dress than to try too hard to look special with all her pretty dresses and fine jewelry.

Why the chameleon had two toes
Mashiri, Pascal
An older woman, named Gogo Senne, tells interesting stories to the children of a small, quiet South African village. She weaves the mythical take of how the chameleon got his two toes and red eyes. Read about the value of strong friendships, the importance of trust, communication and respecting each other.

The golden rain
Mashiri, Pascal
A young child learns from his mother's stories about decision making and choices. He comes to understand that choices make some people happy and leave some disapointed. The child also realizes that help is sometimes needed for the decision making, but ultimately it is up to the individual.

Hosni the dreamer: An arabian tale
Ben-Ezer, Ehud
Hosni is a shepherd who spends his days telling stories to his sheep and his nights dreaming about the city. When he finally has the opportunity to travel to the city, his life changes. He hears some special words of wisdom from a wise old man.

The children of LIR
MacGill-Callahan, Sheila
When the evil new wife of King Lir becomes jealous of his children and turns them into swans, the two sets of twins must make new friends and problem solve to go back to their beloved father.

In the time of the drums
Siegelson, Kim L.
Mentu and Twi tell the story of an African family newly arrived in the Americas. Twi never gives up on returning to her native Africa. Twi tells stories of cooking, planting, music and dancing from her native land.

The man who called the crocodiles
Mashiri, Pascal
Gyiii-eee! This is the sound that calls a crocodile. In this land, the wealthy king takes Lulaba as his new wife. She eventually has Gobango as her only son. She tells Gobango of stories about her father calling crocodiles. Eventually Gobango has to flee from his mom or the dead kingメs enemies will kill him. He flees to meet Lulabaメs father, his grandfather. He goes on a fishing trip and meets one of the fishermanメs beautiful daughters, Nanjobe. Gobango asks her father if he can marry her. He says no because he isnメt rich enough to take care of his daughter. Therefore, he works to raise money for her. Six months later, Nanjobe is to marry an old man. Gobango and Nanjobe both hate this idea and flee to Gobangoメs boat. Nanjobeメs father sends people after the two, so Gobango calls the crocodiles, Gyiii-eee. Crocodiles surround their boat. The rest of the people search for the lovers and assuming they are dead, take their boats back to the village.

Mzimba and the crowned cranes
Mashiri, Pascal
Chief Mzimba was very old, but he still had magical powers. He used his magic on the animals. Sometimes it helped the animals, sometimes it didn’t. What does Mzimba have to learn about giving gifts?

Sun mother wakes the world: An Australian creation story
Wolkstein, Diane
The indigenous people of Australia believe their ancestors created the world through the sun shining on all living things to wake them up, bringing them to life. Sun Mother then creates the Morning Sun and the Moon to watch over ther children living on Earth in this spiritual, emotional, and multicultural story of creation.

How the moon regained her shape
Heller, Janet Ruth
Influenced by Native American folktales, this fascinating story deals with bullying, self-confidence, and understanding the phases of the moon. After the sun insults and bullies her, the moon gets very upset and disappears - much to the chagrin of rabbits who miss their moonlight romps. With the help of her friends, the moon gains more self-confidence each day until she is back to her full size.

The wisdom bird: A tale of Solomon and Sheba
Oberman, Sheldon
Queen of Sheba, the wisest woman in the world, travels to Jerusalem after hearing about King Solomon, the wisest man in the world. She hopes to learn something new, but after asking for a palace made out of bird beaks, they both learn something important. This folktale is derived from Jewish, African and Biblical tales.

Arijole
Mashiri, Pascal
Arijole's stepsisters are envious of her beauty. They do not want Arijole to be chosen as a wife in a nearby village, so the stepsisters turn her into a dog. When only Arijole (the dog) is left, a mother takes her home for her son to hunt. Soon they realize that Arijole is not a dog but a beautiful woman. She and Obondo are then married.

The village of round and square houses
Grifalconi, Ann
In a village in West Africa, women live in round houses and men live in square houses. After supper, grandmother tells a story about the origin of these houses aand how it is related to the rupturing of volcanic mountain, Naka.

Amy unbounded: Belondweg blossoming
Hartman, Rachel
Through comic book style illustrations, Amy of Eddybrook Lodge encounters many exciting adventures with her best friend. During the summer between her ninth and tenth birthday, Amy and her friend learn many lessons about life. The most important ones are that love does not solve everything and even heroines sometimes need help.

How sitali learned a lesson
Mashiri, Pascal
As the oldest in his family Sitali is supposed to hunt and provide for his younger sisters. He learns a lesson about self-control and hard work after being made chief and then losing it all.

Mother goose
Moses, Will
As assortment of Mother Goose rhymes and riddles. Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep, Humpty Dumpty has a great fall, and find all your favorite rhymes, one and all.

Big bad wolf
Marurel, Claire
Things aren't always what they seem. The villagers keep talking about a big, bad wolf and describe him. Their details are accurate, but skewed a little. The wolf has a family just like them and kisses his children good night after a run in the forest.

The legend of mulan: A herione of anvient china
Jiang, Wei and Jiang, Cheng An
War breaks out in China and the men are summoned from each family to come fight. A young girl secretly disguises herself as a boy and fights in her brother's place. She has colorful adventures.

Goldilocks and the three bears
Aylesworth, Jim
A curious little girl sometimes forgets what her mother tells her. Sometimes this gets her into trouble. One such time found her deep into the woods at a cottage belonging to three bears. You probably know the rest of the story.

Why the bush fowl calls at sunrise
Tredgold, Margaret
In this folktale from Zimbabwe, a repeated sequence of inadvertent events between people, animals, and objects lead to the bush fowlメs eggs being crushed. The bush fowl is too sad to call the sun in the morning so the Great Spirit intervenes. As each participant is questioned by the Great Spirit, the sequence is repeated and deconstructed. Finally, the buzzing fly is restricted to saying only モBUZZヤ and the bush fowl promises to always call the sun in the morning.

Mufaro's beautiful daughters: An African tale
Steptoe, John
The king of Zimbabwe is choosing a new wife. Mufaro sends his two beautiful daughters to be considered. The main difference between the daughters is that one has a kind temperment and the other has a bad temper.

Lazy lion
Hadithi, Mwenye & Kennaway, Adrienne
Lazy lion orders everyone to build him a house, but he is not satisfied with it. When a big rain comes, all the other animals go into the house that was built for the lion to keep dry. This is why lions must roam the earth.

Hush harbor: Praying in secret
Evans, Freddi Williams
Simmy is both excited and nervous for his job as Scout during the community meeting. Simmy is excited because this means the elders trust him, but he is nervous because slaves are not supposed to gather and sing together. Simmy must be very careful and listen for the master during the meeting.

Roy makes a car: Based on a story collected by Zora Neale Hurston
Lyons, Mary
Roy Tyle is known around town as the best mechanic in Florida. Roy makes it his mission to create a car that will be accident proof. No one in the town believes him, but Roy proves them wrong time and time again. Roy's creativity and perseverance leads to the making of the best cars in the area.

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly
Rounds, Glen
During this familiar folksong, an old lady swallows all sorts of animals. In each instance, she swallows another animal in hopes of catching the previously swallowed animal.

Each peach pear plum
Ahlberg, Janet//Ahlberg, Allan
A peach, pear, and plum spy on Tom Thumb. Then the story continues with each folktale spying on another. It lists about ten different fairy tales including Cinderella, Robin Hood, The Three Bears, Baby Bunting, Bo-Peep, Jack and Jill and so on.

The secret of the stones
San Souci, Robert D.
John and Clara work very hard all day, but they have no children to love. One night Clara finds two little white stones and brings them home with her. When they came home the next night all of the chores had been done, and John and Clara must find out who their helpers are and how to help them!

The bakers dozen
Forest, Heather
Jan Van Amsterdam is a well known baker. People travel from all over to buy his goods. When he begins to get greedy, he starts to use less ingredients in his cookies. When a woman asks for a bakers dozen, he only gives her 12 She puts a curse on him and his baked goods. When he finally realizes that a bakers dozen is 13, the curse is broken.

Chanukah in chelm
Adler, David A.
Mendal, the caretaker of the Chelm synagogue must find a table to set the menorah on. He searches the synagogue and cannot find one. Rabbi Nachman sends him to a carpenter to get one. Preparation for Hanukkah in this town of Chelm is remarkably eventful and fun.

The morning the sun refused to rise
Rounds, Glen
Although it seems impossible, there once was a day when the sun did not rise. As it turns out, the Earth's axle froze at the North Pole and the world stopped revolving. With the help of Paul Bunyan and a few friends, the earth was set in motion again.

Tony's bread
dePaola, Tomie
In order to win the hand of Serafina, Angelo helps Tony the Baker, who is Serafina's father, create the best tasting bread in Milano, Italy. The bread is a success, and Angelo and Serafina marry.

Ola

Ola

D'Aulaire, Ingri//D'Aulaire, Edgar
A story about a boy, his travels, and his adventures through Norway.

Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears
Aardema, Verna
A myth about why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears. A mosquito causes problems in the forest so everyone is mad at the mosquito. Mosquitoes now buzz in people's ears because they want to know if everyone is still mad at them.

Stone soup
McGovern, Ann
A young man is hungry and convinces an old woman that he can make soup from a stone. By the time the soup is ready, the woman has added several things from her garden to the soup. They eat the soup and when the boy leaves her house, he pulls the stone out of his pocket.

Stone soup
Brown, Marcia
Three hungry soldiers walk down the road. They stop at several houses to ask for food, but nobody has any extra to share. One of the soldiers tricks the townspeople and says he can make stone soup. By the time the soup is finished, all of the townspeople contribute some type of food to the soup.

The little blind goat
Wahl, Jan
Casimiro, the hero, overcomes his disability in this tale of perserverance. The world is not always kind to our disabled friends, but with a little hard work anything can be overcome.

Rosie's fiddle
Root, Phyllis
Rosie O'Grady loves being by herself, but people can't stay away when she plays her fiddle. She is so good that they say she could out-fiddle the devil himself!One day, the devil shows up to challenge Rosie to a contest, the devil's golden fiddle for Rosie's soul!

Faraway drums
Kroll, Virginia
Jamila has the important responsibility of watching her little sister when their mom goes to work. While trying to ignore unfamiliar creepy sounds, Jamila comforts her sister and herself by recalling their grandmother's stories about their native homeland, Africa.

The worry stone
Dengler, Marianna
When growing up, Amanda loved her Grandfather and his stories. But now that Amanda is old, she feels lonely. One day at the park she befriends a lonely boy. She is able to give the boy something very special. Then he gives her something in return.

The tale of the turnip
Alderson, Brian
With the help of his family, a farmer grows an oversized turnip and presents it to the King. The King gives the farmer a cartload of gold for his turnip. The King's gift entices a squire to present the King with a horse, but the reward is not what the squire has in mind.


Dragon kite of the autumn moon
Reddix, Valerie
Every year, Tad-Tin and his grandfather make a special kite to fly on Kite's Day. This year Grandfather is sick, so it is up to Tin to sacrifice his special Dragon kite in order to carry all their misfortune away.

Gone is gone
Gag, Wanda
A man wishes to trade a days work with his wife who does nothing all day. He soon learns he was wrong.

The monster and the tailor
Galdone, Paul
A tailor is asked by the Grand Duke to make a suit. For good luck, the tailor must sew it at a grave yard at night. Even though a monster appears, the tailor works hard and completes his task. For the completion of the suit, he receives a bag of gold.

Ming lo moves the mountain
Lobel, Arnold
Ming Lo and his wife do not want to live by the mountain anymore, so they ask the wise man how to move the mountain. After trying different plans, they finally move themselves from the mountain.

The stingy baker
Greeson, Janet
Jan is a stingy baker. When a woman enters his cookie shop and asks for a bakers dozen, Jan refuses to give her an extra free cookie. The woman puts an evil spell on Jan. When Jan finally gives her a bakers dozen of cookies, the spell is broken.

Go tell aunt rhody
Aliki.
This illustrated version of the children's folk song tells about a goose that dies and is then used to stuff a feather bed.

Raven: A trickster tale from the pacific northwest
MacDermott, Gerald
A raven flies into a dark world and wants to bring light to the people. He journeys to the house of the Sky Chief. After exploring he takes the sun in his mouth and places it in the sky giving light to the world.