Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.

Since the 1970s, Louis Bird, a distinguished Aboriginal storyteller and historian, has been recording the stories and memories of Omushkego (Swampy Cree) communities along western Hudson and James Bays. In nine chapters, he presents some of the most vivid legends and historical stories from his collection, casting new light on his people’s history, culture, and values. Working with the editors and other contributors to provide background and context for the stories, he illuminates their many levels of meaning and brings forward the value system and world-view that underlie their teachings. Students of Aboriginal culture, history, and literature will find that this is no ordinary book of stories compiled from a remote, disconnected voice, but rather a project in which the teller, deeply engaged in preserving his people's history, language, and values, is committed to bringing his listeners and readers as far along the road to understanding as he possibly can.

Telling Our Stories investigates the continuities and divergences in selected Black autobiographies from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. The stories of slaves, creative writers, and political activists are discussed both as texts produced by individuals who are products of specific societies and as interconnected books. The book identifies influences of environmental and cultural differences on the texts while it adopts cross-cultural and postcolonial reading approaches to examine the continuities and divergences in them.

Germany has had a profound influence on English stories for children. The Brothers Grimm, The Swiss Family Robinson and Johanna Spyri's Heidi quickly became classics but, as David Blamires clearly articulates in this volume, many other works have been fundamental in the development of English chilren's stories during the 19th Centuary and beyond. Telling Tales is the first comprehensive study of the impact of Germany on English children's books, covering the period from 1780 to the First World War. Beginning with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, moving through the classics and including many other collections of fairytales and legends (Musaus, Wilhelm Hauff, Bechstein, Brentano) Telling Tales covers a wealth of translated and adapted material in a large variety of forms, and pays detailed attention to the problems of translation and adaptation of texts for children. In addition, Telling Tales considers educational works (Campe and Salzmann), moral and religious tales (Carove, Schmid and Barth), historical tales, adventure stories and picture books (including Wilhelm Busch's Max and Moritz) together with an analysis of what British children learnt through textbooks about Germany as a country and its variegated history, particularly in times of war.

Everyone knows how "Little Red Riding Hood" goes. But Grandpa keeps getting the story all wrong, with hilarious results! "Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Little Yellow Riding Hood--" "Not yellow! It's Red Riding Hood!" So begins the story of a grandpa playfully recounting the well-known fairytale--or his version, at least--to his granddaughter. Try as she might to get him back on track, Grandpa keeps on adding things to the mix, both outlandish and mundane! The end result is an unpredictable tale that comes alive as it's being told, born out of imaginative play and familial affection. This spirited picture book will surprise and delight from start to finish, while reminding readers that storytelling is not only a creative act of improvisation and interaction, but also a powerful pathway for connection and love. Telling Stories Wrong was written by Gianni Rodari, widely regarded as the father of modern Italian children's literature. It exemplifies his great respect for the intelligence of children and the kind of work he did as an educator, developing numerous games and exercises for children to engage and think beyond the status quo, imagining what happens after the end of a familiar story, or what possibilities open up when a new ingredient is introduced. This book is illustrated with great affection by the illustrious artist Beatrice Alemagna (Child of Glass), who counts Gianni Rodari as one of her "spiritual fathers."

Included are 38 stories for audiences of all ages withan outline, performance tips, adaptatoins, props, etc. and ideas on how to create original stories for storytelling.

In this graceful, strong, and groundbreaking book, Barbara Wingard and Jane Lester relate stories of their lives and work as two Indigenous Australian women. These stories offer hopeful and practical ideas in relation to a wide range of issues facing Indigenous Australian families including grief, diabetes, family violence, homelessness, and developing culturally-appropriate services. This book offers stories that will inspire and sustain.