Maybe it’s the chill in the air sparking collective historic memories of sitting around thousands of fires, listening to thousands of stories through time; or maybe it’s that the veil is thinner between this world and other possible worlds in this season; but to me, Fall is the best time for reading and hearing folktales, fables, fairytales, myths, and legends. It therefore felt like fate when these two enchanting new books came across my desk:
Legendary Creatures: Mythical Beasts and Spirits from Around the World
By Adam Auerbach
Arab Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook
By Karim Alrawi, illustrated by Nahid Kazemi
Inspired by these two titles, I would love to share my favorite single stories and collections of folktales, fables, fairytales, myths, and legends—perfect for all your Fall gatherings. There are a great many oral and print versions of all these stories – which tellings are your favorites?
Single stories:
The Bremen Town Musicians, as told by Ilse Plume
Lon Po Po, as told by Ed Young
The Opossum’s Tale, as told by Deborah Duvall, illustrated by Murv Jacob
Beautiful Blackbird, as told by Ashley Bryan
The Weather’s Bet, as told by Ed Young
Anansi and the Golden Pot, as told by Taiye Selasi
Stone Soup, as told by Marcia Brown
It Could Always Be Worse, as told by Margot Zemach
The Turnip, as told by Jan Brett
Grandma and the Great Gourd, as told by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Collections:
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairytales, and True Tales, as told by Virginia Hamilton
Aesop’s Fables, as told by Jerry Pinkney
The Hungry Clothes and Other Jewish Folktales, as told by Peninnah Schram
Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales, as told by Lucy Cousins
The Three Princes of Serendip: New Tellings of Old Tales for Everyone, as told by Rodhan Khalidi
The Book of Mythical Beasts & Magical Creatures, by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Pham Quang Phuc
Full Moon Stories, as told by Eagle Walking Turtle
Classic Tales from India, as told by Vatsala Sperling and Harish Johari
Ask the Bones: Scary Stories from Around the World, as told by Arielle North Olson
How the Animals Got Their Colors, as told by Michael Rosen
And graphic novels!
Jim Henson’s The Storyteller graphic novel series, based on the incredible TV show: Tricksters; Witches; Sirens; Ghosts; Dragons
Gamayun Tales I: An Anthology of Modern Russian Folk Tales, by Alexander Utkin
The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America, by Jaime Hernandez
Cautionary Fables and Fairytales series:
Tamamo the Fox Maiden, and other Asian Stories
The Night Marchers, and other Oceanian Stories
The Girl Who Married a Skull, and other African Stories