Three-Minute Tales

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Overview

Anyone who teaches, leads, or speaks in public has had the experience of needing to fill short amounts of time in order to hold the attention of the group. The challenge is familiar to Margaret Read MacDonald, who for thirty-five years told stories weekly to preschoolers. MacDonald has assembled 100 simple, short, pithy tales for all occasions holidays, history or nature walks, public speaking and media appearances, and especially for the classroom.

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More About This Book

Overview

Anyone who teaches, leads, or speaks in public has had the experience of needing to fill short amounts of time in order to hold the attention of the group. The challenge is familiar to Margaret Read MacDonald, who for thirty-five years told stories weekly to preschoolers. MacDonald has assembled 100 simple, short, pithy tales for all occasions holidays, history or nature walks, public speaking and media appearances, and especially for the classroom.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Margaret Read MacDonald gathers riddles, scary stories, folk songs and more in Three Minute Tales: Stories from Around the World to Tell or Read When Time Is Short. A tale from China, "A Lover of Dragons," features a man who professes affection for the creatures (until he meets one) and the Mexican-American story "The Bilingual Cat" stars a feline that catches his dinner by picking up a second language ("Bow wow!"). (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
MacDonald has compiled more than 70 short, easy-to-learn tales that are ideal for beginning a program or filling in short lags that may occur during a performance. Some selections take as little as 30 seconds to tell. They come mainly from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and are subdivided by the occasions for which they are best suited: tales to tell on a walk, scary tales, humorous tales, tales for the very young, participatory tales. A few are even provided in fingerplay form. A useful addition to professional and parenting collections.-Marlyn K. Beebe, City of Long Beach Public Library, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780874837285
  • Publisher: August House Publishers, Inc.
  • Publication date: 6/28/2004
  • Pages: 160
  • Lexile: 590L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 7.20 (w) x 10.18 (h) x 0.67 (d)

Table of Contents

About This Book 7
About the Tale Notes 8
Why Three-Minute Tales? 9
Suggestions for the Beginning Teller 11
Chapter 1 Tales to Tell on a Walk 13
The Sun Sisters. China 14
The Butterfly Robe. China 16
Planting Forget-me-nots. Iran 18
Chapter 2 Tales to Tell on a Museum Tour 21
Siddhartha Encounters Suffering. India 23
Siddhartha Under the Bo Tree. India 26
The Naga Mucalinda Shelters the Buddha. India 28
A Lover of Dragons. China 29
Ganesha Around the World. India 30
Chapter 3 Tales for the Youngest Listeners 33
Coyote's Rain Song. Navajo 34
Pancake Party. Siberia 36
Hiring the Fox as Shepherd. Norway 38
The Frog from Osaka and the Frog from Kyoto. Japan 41
Chapter 4 Participation Tales 43
The Teeny Tiny Man. Canada 44
Two Goats on a Bridge. Russia and Eastern Europe 46
That's Good! No, That's Bad! U.S. 49
Did You Feed My Cow? U.S. 51
The Tailor's Jacket. Jewish 52
Herman the Worm (Song and Chant). American Camplore 55
Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree. American Camplore 59
Lazy John. U.S. Appalachian Folksong 60
Roll Over. American Folksong 61
The Courting Song. American Folksong 62
Story Finger Plays for the Very Young. U.S. and Canada 64
Tommy Thumbs Up
Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Five Little Jack-o-lanterns
Miss Polly Had a Dolly
Chapter 6 Short Folktales for Any Age 67
The Young Reader. India 68
The Maiden in Green. China 70
The Yu Player from the South. China 72
How Two Water Snakes Moved House. China 74
The Story Not Told, the Song Not Sung. India 75
Chapter 7 Riddle Tales 77
Thief and Master-Thief. India 78
The Hare and the Lion King. Burma 80
Pig and Bear in Big Business. Czechoslovakia 82
The Parrot and the Parson. Europe 84
The Clever Old Woman of Carcassonne. France 86
The Fool at the Country Store. Southern Indiana 88
Chapter 8 Humorous Tales 91
Teaching the Horse to Speak. Turkey 92
Talking Turkeys. Syria 93
The Dripping Nose. Southern Indiana 95
The Learned Scholar. Jewish 96
Moving the Stone. Turkey 98
The Man and the Lion Travel Together. Aesop 99
The Best Part of All. U.S. 100
The Tumblebug and the Eagle. Aesop 101
The Well-Read Frog. U.S. 104
Chapter 9 Scary Tales 107
"Look at My Teeth!" Cuba 108
Squeak My Leg. Russia 111
The Ghostly Sneeze. France 114
Painting Ghosts. China 116
Potato in My Hand. U.S. 117
Chapter 10 Stories to Think About 119
Tossing Starfish. U.S. 120
A Storytelling Parable. Contemporary, based on Jewish folklore 121
Rock vs. Plant. Contemporary fable 123
Quarreling Leads to Losses. China 124
The Argument Sticks. Iroquois 125
In a Time Made Out of Twilight. Original, Lenore Jackson 126
Plan of Attack. China 127
The Old Man Who Moved Mountains. China 129
One Word for Happiness. China 131
Medicine to Revive the Dead. Thai 133
Keeping a Promise. China 135
Bad Luck or Good Luck? China 136
Opening Your Ears. U.S. 138
The Miser. Aesop 139
The Wisdom of the Ants. China 140
Chapter 11 Very Tiny Tales! Under 30 seconds! 141
The Man Who Ate Fish. Iroquois 142
The Red Brick Temple. Thailand 143
The Thai Man in the Shade. Thailand 144
Holding Up the Sky. China 145
The Bilingual Mouse. Canada 146
The Bilingual Cat. Mexican-American 147
Chapter 12 Endless Tales and Tales to End the Telling 149
Mother Morey. U.S. 150
Rats of Nagasaki. Japan 151
The Tinkling Bell. Japan 153
The Shepherd and His Sheep. Czechoslovakia 155
The Golden Key. German, Grimm 157
Bibliography: More Short Tales for Telling 159
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