WALKING IN THE WOODS (NON-SCARY) Stories, Songs, Folktales, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Story Lovers World The Story Lovers World home page is at: http://www.story-lovers.com To add to the category below, please e-mail jackie@storyloversworld.com

	WALKING IN THE WOODS (non-scary) Stories, Songs, Folktales, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Scroll down or click on your choice below • SOS: Searching Out Stories-Walking in the Woods Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians

SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES - WALKING IN THE WOODS (non-scary)
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plue original research)

Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them for more information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Storytell posts are added as they are received by Story Lovers World.


1) How about The Mitten by Jan Brett, our own Kate Dudding ( http://www.katedudding.com/ ) has her own lovely version. Lots of animals in this story.

There is also a fun story called Mabela the Clever. Margaret Read MacDonald has made this Limba folktale into a picture book. The little children could be the mice marching into the woods singing "When we are marching we never look back, the cat is at the end Fo Feng!!!" So much fun.

Also, "How the Turtle Cracked Its Shell" is fun as well. There is a turtle, wolf and possum in this tale. Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling) by Holt and Mooney.

"Hunny Bunny" by Ed Stivender in Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling) by Holt and Mooney. (Fox and Rabbit in this funny story.)

"Sody Sallyratus" found in Twenty Tellable Tales: Audience Participation Folktales for the Beginning Storyteller by Margaret Read MacDonald

The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Book & CD).

Take a look at Eleven Nature Tales (World Storytelling) by Pleasant DeSpain, you might find something there.

"Why Bear Sleeps All Winter Long" in Easy-To-Tell Stories for Young Children by Annette Harrison


2) Well, this is an admittedly off-kilter suggestion. But I think Robert Frost's poem Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening contains the kernel of a story waiting to be told. Who is the speaker? What makes him wistful about the woods? What is tugging at him so hard he cannot linger to enjoy them? (Of course, all of this assumes you don1t want to get into any of the death metaphors bounding through the snow.)


3) First story to come to mind is Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock. Anansi went walking, walking, walking in the cool forest." Years ago I remember a story wherein animals join a child. When I went for a walk in the forest." Then there's Peter and the Wolf.


4) My favorite story for the woods is in Anne Pellowski's book, "Why Plants Have Human Parts." Another good woods story is "The Woodcutter," who gets lost in the woods, goes to witch's house, she turns into a snake, he has to escape and can't, birds he saved twenty-five years ago ring church bells to save his life. It's not scary and keeps the listener wide awake. For 6 years and older I'd say.

Created 2003; last update 12/10/09