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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.

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.

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.

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.

This land is your land
Guthrie, Woody
The traditional lyrics of the popular song, This Land Is Your Land, are combined with painted illustrations that represent the words and meaning of the song. America and her countryside are portrayed in a positive light through the text and illustrations.

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 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.

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.

The terrible troll-bird
D'Aulaire, Ingri//D'Aulaire, Edgar
Four brothers and sisters are sent to the woods to get firewood and encounter a troll-bird. This causes a lot of trouble and they have to kill it which brings even more trouble!

The teeny tiny teacher
Calmenson, Stephanie
The teeny tiny teacher and her teeny tiny students have a school day full of teeny tiny things. However, they are frightened by a voice coming from the closet asking for the bone the teacher found on their teeny tiny walk. Find out who the voice belongs to.

The tale of Willie Monroe
Schroeder, Alan
Willie isn't a smart man, but he sure is strong. He decides to enter a contest to prove it. However, Delilah and her granny have to get him in shape first. Now Willie's reputation and Delilah's love depend on his winning the contest. Do you think he can do it?

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.

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.

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 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 rain door
Hoban, Russell
Harry goes through the rain door and meets a man and his horse, Lightening. They are chased by a thundering lion and the man sprays water on it to keep it away. They create a rain storm

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

The legend of the veery bird
Hague, Kathleen
A shy boy with a stuttering problem loses his father. After he runs to the forest to get away, the keeper of the Forest helps him by giving the world a bird with a beautiful voice.

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.

The hare and the tortoise: A fable from aesop
Ward, Helen
Just like Aesop's original folktale, the hare and the tortoise are going to race. The quick but lazy hare takes his speed for granted when he challenges the tortoise. However, when the hare becomes too confident, the tortoise creeps past him to win the race.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Rip van winkle: Adapted from washington irving
Locker, Thomas
Rip Van Winkle drinks the brew of Henry Hudson and sleeps for twenty years. When he awakens, his own daughter does not recognize him.

Rip van winkle
Moses, Will
Could you sleep 20 years of your life away?Well, Rip Van Winkle didn't think he could. One day he was walking around his old familiar town, talking with his old familiar friends, and hunting with his old familar dog. The next day (or so Rip thinks) his old familiar town, friends, and dog are no longer famliar. Come find out what happens when Rip sleeps for 20 years.

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.

Paper john
Small, David
Paper John is a man who everyone loves. He also has a great talent for making things out of paper. He runs into a devil who appears in town as a thief. Paper John captures the devil before it destroys the town.

Ola

Ola

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Johnny appleseed
Lindbergh, Reeve
On his way to the western frontier, Johnny Appleseed stops to eat and chat with Hannah Goodwin and her family. His adventures bring many encounters with pioneers, Indians, and nature. When he is old, he returns to visit Hannah Goodwin who continues to tell children about Johnny Appleseed.

Jack, skinny bones, and the golden pancakes
Helldorfer, M.C.
An orphan boy befriends Skinny Bones, the dog of a hot-tempered old lady named Granny Trick. Together the boy and the dog must not only out smart Granny, but even the devil himself!

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.

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.

Hush little baby: A folk song with pictures
Frazee, Marla
The baby will not hush and the family can't take it any longer. A peddler, who has a wagon filled with toys and animals, tries to aid the family. Nothing works, until exhaustion takes over and the loving family has the sweetest baby in town.

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.

How the rabbit stole the moon
Moeri, Louise
All of the animals in the forest were sad because at night they could not see. All of the animals tried to get the sun to give them a little bit of light for the night. The rabbit stole some sun and created the moon and stars.