Fairy Tales, Folktales, and Tall Tales

For Young Adult Readers

To order any of these titles, contact the library by email, mail or phone. You may also request these titles online through our OPAC. Happy Reading!

Tall Tales

Basket Case by Robert Peck.
BR 6153
Higbee Hartburn, the foremost prankster at Graffiti Prep School, goes to great lengths to make sure the school wins the last basketball game of the season against Pratt Falls High. A good-humored tall tale about basketball, teenage life, and teenage love. For junior and senior high readers.

Ozark Tall Tales collected by Richard and Judy Dockrey Young.
WOC 491
Includes “The Scoonkin Hunt,” “The Best Bait Around,” “Ring That Bell,” “Old Shep,” and other Ozark favorites. For grades 4 and up.

Fairy Tales and Folktales

Arab Folktales by Inea Bushnaq.
RC 25690
This collection of folktales covers the Arab world from Morocco to Iraq. Divided into categories such as animal tales or adventure tales, the text also provides cultural background useful for interpreting the stories. For grades 10-12.

The Arabian Nights: Their Best-Known Tales by Kate Douglas Wiggin.
BR 13413
10 stories from the Tales of a Thousand and One Nights, including such characters as the well-known Aladdin and his lamp, Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, and Sinbad the sailor. Based on earlier translations, especially Jonathan Scott’s edition. For grades 5-8 and older readers.

Beast by Donna Jo Napoli.
RC 52717
Elaborates the tale of Beauty and the Beast from the Beast’s point of view. After he is transformed into a lion for violating a ritual, a Persian prince retreats to France to save his life. For grades 6-9.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
by Robin McKinley.
BR 6800 or RC 14411
An embellishment of the classic tale in which Beauty, a plain but kind and intelligent girl, learns the meaning of love with the Beast to whom she goes as payment of her father’s debt. A thoughtful fantasy for grades 5-8 and older readers.

The Book of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle.
RC 30327
Volume one of the author's four-volume work of the legendary tales of King Arthur and his knights. Here we follow their medieval adventures when Arthur discovers his birthright, when the sword Excalibur is forged and won, when King Arthur and Lady Guinevere wed, and when the Round Table is established. For junior and senior high readers.

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.
RC 33457
Princess Cimorene is curious, energetic, feisty, and not at all the proper princess that her parents—the very proper king and queen—wish her to be. Determined not to marry the vapid prince that has been chosen for her, she runs away and throws herself wholeheartedly into a career as a dragon’s princess. As she fends off nosy wizards and helps out hysterical princesses, she makes a firm place for herself in the dragon world. For grades 5-9.

Favorite Folktales from Around the World edited by Jane Yolen.
RC 25529
A collection of 160 tales including American Indian legends and tales from the Brothers Grimm. For grades 9-12.

Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton.
RC 43189
A collection of folktales, fairy tales, and true stories of legendary women, all taken from traditional African American folklore. These stories are variously humorous, touching, scary, magical, and inspiring. For grades 5-8 and older readers.

The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli.
RC 39230
A midwife-cum-sorceress known simply as the Ugly One narrates this riveting tale of how, tricked by the devil’s minions, she loses her gifts of healing and is forced to become a witch. Escaping from the stake, she ekes out a solitary existence in an enchanted forest, where she has decorated her house with sweets in memory of her beloved daughter. Then she takes in two wandering children named Hansel and Gretel. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

Merlin’s Kin: World Tales of the Heroic Magician by Josepha Sherman.
BR 13116
A collection of 30 international folktales, featuring both the traditional magician, whose power comes from books or spells, and the shaman, who is a priest and healer as well as a wizard. The stories come from the British Isles, Europe, Russia, the Far East, Native American nations, and Africa. For grades 5-8.

Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle.
RC 26766
Living free of care in Sherwood Forest, Robin and his band of outlaws rob the rich to help the poor, and have many an exciting encounter with the king's man and the Sheriff of Nottingham. For grades 10-12.

Old Peter’s Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome.
RC 30848
Old Peter lives in a small hut deep in the forest with his grandchildren Vanya and Maroosia. At night, they sit snugly by the fire and listen to Old Peter’s tales. These tales told in Russia many years ago are of Prince Ivan and his terrifying iron-toothed baby sister the witch; of Martha who never complained of cold even to Frost himself; and of Sadko the poor merchant and his river-bride. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley.
RC 30772
The author retells, in the form of a novel, the adventures of Robin Hood and his band of merry outlaws who live in Sherwood Forest in 12th-century England. For junior and senior high readers.

Proud Knight, Fair Lady by Marie de France.
RC 35799
In the 12th century, 400 years before Shakespeare, a poet known only as Marie of France wrote tales in verse known as lais or lays. Each of the 12 tales included in this collection is a love story set in a courtly world inhabited by brave knights, faithful ladies, and magical devices. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

The Rainbow People by Laurence Yep.
RC 36672
20 Chinese folktales, selected and retold by the author. The book is divided into sections such as "Tricksters," "Fools," and "Love," each of which is prefaced by a short explanation of how the tales relate to the Chinese-American experience. For grades 7-10.

The Silver Treasure by Geraldine McCaughrean.
RC 46792
A multicultural anthology retelling 23 folktales. Contains stories from Bolivia, Togo, Russia, India, Egypt, Alaska, and other parts of the globe. Companion to: The Golden Hoard: Myths and Legends of the World (RC 46791). For grades 6-8.

Tales from the Arabian Nights by N.J. Dawood.
BR 4219 or RC 14535
Translation of 30 traditional Arabic tales about genies, magicians, mythical beasts, and ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations. For grades 5-8 and older readers.

When the Beginning Began: Stories about God, the Creatures, and Us
by Julius Lester.
BR 12503
New versions of traditional Jewish creation stories. Lester's translations from the Hebrew verses in Genesis preface his stories about the world's formation, Adam and the first woman, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. For junior and senior high readers.