100 books like Once Upon a Time... Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying

By Elisa Davy Pearmain,

Here are 100 books that Once Upon a Time... Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying fans have personally recommended if you like Once Upon a Time... Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Story Vine

Margaret Read MacDonald Author Of Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling

From my list on storytelling for teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about the importance of telling stories in the classroom. My career has been as a children’s librarian in public libraries, but with much time spent telling stories in schools. My daughter and her husband followed in my footsteps as storytellers and found that using storytelling in the classroom has so many benefits. We all offer workshops for teachers, write articles encouraging storytelling, and try in any way possible to grow the corps of teachers who discover this joyful addition to the classroom.

Margaret's book list on storytelling for teachers

Margaret Read MacDonald Why did Margaret love this book?

I found some wonderfully unusual formats for storytelling here. The book includes string figure stories, drawing stories, finger play stories, riddle tales, and tales told with dolls and incorporating music. I use some of the simple stories like the mosquito string figure tale when I’m teaching beginning tellers. My students find them easy to learn and fun to use.

By Anne Pellowski,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Story Vine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Anne Pellowski gives readers instructions to use a variety of methods to show and tell stories from around the world in this fascinating and informative collection.

The Story Vine is an unusual collection of stories that have been loved by youth and elders alike around the world, each of which requires the storyteller to use string, nesting dolls, sand painting, drawings, or musical instruments to help embellish the tale.

With stories from Africa, Japan, America, Australia, and Central Europe, each story is accompanied by clear, step-by-step instructions, as well as line illustrations, so even a beginner can grow into a…


Book cover of Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom (Multimedia DVD included with the book)

Margaret Read MacDonald Author Of Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling

From my list on storytelling for teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about the importance of telling stories in the classroom. My career has been as a children’s librarian in public libraries, but with much time spent telling stories in schools. My daughter and her husband followed in my footsteps as storytellers and found that using storytelling in the classroom has so many benefits. We all offer workshops for teachers, write articles encouraging storytelling, and try in any way possible to grow the corps of teachers who discover this joyful addition to the classroom.

Margaret's book list on storytelling for teachers

Margaret Read MacDonald Why did Margaret love this book?

It is exciting to encourage students to start telling stories too. This book had lots of good ideas that I use in my storytelling classes for children. Kids enjoyed activities like rolling a yarn ball back and forth across a circle as they add to a story. The book includes 25 easy-to-tell tales for student beginners. And I learned from watching the DVD Children Telling Stories: A Storytelling Unit in Action that was included.

By Martha Hamilton, Mitch Weiss,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Children Tell Stories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The revised edition of this award-winning guidebook on storytelling in the classroom includes over 80% new material. The authors provide compelling rationales for the value of storytelling, links to state standards, detailed storytelling unit tips, uses throughout the curriculum, and bibliographies. Includes a multi-media DVD with demonstrations of storytelling by the authors, teachers and students, plus related materials and resources.


Book cover of Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development

Margaret Read MacDonald Author Of Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling

From my list on storytelling for teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about the importance of telling stories in the classroom. My career has been as a children’s librarian in public libraries, but with much time spent telling stories in schools. My daughter and her husband followed in my footsteps as storytellers and found that using storytelling in the classroom has so many benefits. We all offer workshops for teachers, write articles encouraging storytelling, and try in any way possible to grow the corps of teachers who discover this joyful addition to the classroom.

Margaret's book list on storytelling for teachers

Margaret Read MacDonald Why did Margaret love this book?

This book contains twelve easily told tales that can be used to discuss character development. The Norfolks include suggestions for classroom use of the tales. I like to recommend this to the teachers in my storytelling classes as the advice comes from a teacher who has written several other books on using stories in the classroom.

By Bobby Norfolk, Sherry Norfolk,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Moral of the Story as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

To kids everywhere, in the hope that their elders will never stop telling stories.

Throughout history, traditional cultures have recognized the role of storytelling in teaching values to children. This user-friendly, hands-on guide to using storytelling and folktales in character education provides not only rationale for this approach, it includes stories. These twelve stories are fun, time- and audience-tested, and accessible to a wide range of listeners, from preschool to high school.

The tales are enhanced by suggested activities or informal lesson plans, source notes, and extensive bibliographies that point the reader to additional sources of folktales suitable for character…


Book cover of The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story

Margaret Read MacDonald Author Of Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling

From my list on storytelling for teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about the importance of telling stories in the classroom. My career has been as a children’s librarian in public libraries, but with much time spent telling stories in schools. My daughter and her husband followed in my footsteps as storytellers and found that using storytelling in the classroom has so many benefits. We all offer workshops for teachers, write articles encouraging storytelling, and try in any way possible to grow the corps of teachers who discover this joyful addition to the classroom.

Margaret's book list on storytelling for teachers

Margaret Read MacDonald Why did Margaret love this book?

This book is written specifically for those telling stories in religious settings. However, the advice on learning and presenting stories is so clearly and usefully presented, that I would suggest this as a good read for anyone hoping to share stories with children. If you are planning to tell stories in a religious setting, this is definitely your go-to book.

By John Walsh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Art of Storytelling as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Can you captivate an audience with your story?

Many of us would love to hold the attention of a crowd, a classroom, or just a group of our friends by telling them a great story. We have felt the pressure of a public presentation or the disappointment of telling a story that others ignore. We are ready to be heard, ready to captivate.

In The Art of Storytelling, John Walsh takes us through the steps to presenting a compelling story—outlining the strategies that helped him move from stutterer to storyteller. This book will help any person with a story to…


Book cover of Earth Care

Allison Galbraith Author Of Dancing with Trees: Eco-Tales from the British Isles

From my list on environmental storytelling for folklore freaks.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I spent summers looking for adders on the Common and winters walking through snowstorms pretending to be a Hobbit in Tolkien's Middle Earth. My travels and studies taught me the importance of respecting different cultures and our planet. Glasgow Libraries gave me my first storytelling work in 1992, and I have a Master's degree in Scottish Folklore. I live in Scotland, sharing stories through writing and storytelling. Having collected hundreds of traditional folktales about our ancestors' wisdom and folly, I co-authored my first book, Dancing With Trees, Eco-Tales from the British Isles, to reflect our need to understand nature's wisdom and help us live sustainably on Earth.

Allison's book list on environmental storytelling for folklore freaks

Allison Galbraith Why did Allison love this book?

This book has over forty traditional folktales from thirty-one countries that speak of our relationship to the Earth.

This was my first Eco-Storytelling book, which I often return to because the stories are brilliantly retold. MacDonald is an American folklorist and storyteller who structures tales skilfully for oral telling - she also includes great tips for telling to live audiences.

Researchers, folklorists, and storytellers will appreciate the amazing detail and professionalism of the Bibliography and 'Tale Notes'.

I discovered my all-time favourite environmental folk story in this book, Mikku, and the Trees, a tale from Estonia that tells why trees no longer speak to humans unless you learn to listen very carefully. MacDonald is one of our most generous and highly respected folklorists.

By Margaret Read MacDonald,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Earth Care as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Highlight the environment with these thought-provoking stories and activities!


Our relationship to the planet earth is at the heart of the single largest problem we face today. We have a choice: hurt mother earth and we hurt ourselves; care for the earth and we reap its bounty. People from ancient times have always known this and have expressed it in their traditional stories.

Here are more than forty stories from thirty cultures that touch upon ecological themes: "Caring for the Land," "Caring for Other Creatures," "All Things Are Connected," "No Thing is Without Value," and "Planning for the Future." These…


Book cover of Jim Henson's The Storyteller: The Novelization

Loquacious McCarbre Author Of The Legends of Grimous Ironblood: Curious Bottle Book 1

From my list on fantasy folktale campfire stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer and performer, I’ve always loved live storytelling! Stories really come alive when performed and there’s an unexplained magic that bonds an audience with the storyteller and connects us to our collective past. Having performed countless times in plays, murder mysteries, and storytelling, the joy and excitement felt crackling in the air is like nothing else. I’ve plenty of fond memories of storytelling over the years, from terrifying ghost stories around the campfire of Camp Wing in America to the fantastical folktales of my stage play The Storyteller’s Apprentice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So, next time you’re sitting at a campfire, give it a go! 

Loquacious' book list on fantasy folktale campfire stories

Loquacious McCarbre Why did Loquacious love this book?

I fell in love with these folktales after watching the television series of the same title when I was a child. I was ecstatic to be hypnotised all over again by the magic, charm, and wisdom contained within each gem. I found each story conjured up a sense of wonder, mystery, and the need to know what happened next within me.

I loved how the characters were beautifully portrayed. Each faced their own intriguing quest and struggled to overcome outlandish obstacles, and I was fascinated by how they would eventually achieve their goal no matter what the cost to themselves whilst learning a valuable lesson along the way.

The behind-the-scenes look at the show’s production from the Jim Henson Archives at the back of the book is a nice touch too.

By Anthony Minghella, Eva Eskelinen (illustrator), Hannah Christenson (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jim Henson's The Storyteller as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

The official novelization of Jim Henson's Emmy Award-winning television series along with a behind-the-scenes look at the show's production from the Jim Henson Archives.

Timeless tales, beautifully told. Presented in a stunning new edition, Jim Henson's The Storyteller features nine folktales based on Henson's Emmy Award-winning television series, written by Academy Award winner Anthony Minghella. This edition features stunning new illustrations by Hannah Christenson and Eva Eskelinen and photographs from the Jim Henson Archives that provide a rare look behind-the-scenes of JIM HENSON'S CREATURE SHOP during the filming of the beloved series.


Book cover of Tales of Wisdom and Wonder

Allison Galbraith Author Of Funny Folk Tales for Children

From my list on world folktales for reading to everyone over six.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a storyteller and folktale collector. All my jobs have involved telling stories – as a community librarian, in theatre, in education, and since 2006 as a professional storyteller and writer. I work in schools, festivals, and outdoor education with all sorts of people and their animals. I have honed my skills to find the most enjoyable traditional tales that can be shared widely. I live in Scotland, where I encourage families to read and tell their favourite stories together. Storytelling is a living art form that belongs to everyone. More than anything, I love the natural world, and I bring the magnificence of nature into all my work.

Allison's book list on world folktales for reading to everyone over six

Allison Galbraith Why did Allison love this book?

This magical picture book presents seven of the best folk stories from around the world.

Retold by Hugh Lupton, a veteran of storytelling and an inspirational writer. Some stories are deliriously funny, and others contain golden nuggets of universal truth. I've repeatedly told these stories, and they enthrall and delight audiences. They come with a CD of Hugh telling the tales orally, which is fantastic for non-readers, busy families, and people learning English.

Niamh Sharkey's beautiful bold pictures take this book of tales to another level of enjoyment. It's a visual and rhythmical feast of storytelling that can be shared with ages six up to seniors. If I had to choose one favourite book of stories for oral telling, then this is it.

By Hugh Lupton, Niamh Sharkey (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tales of Wisdom and Wonder as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Beautifully captured by Niamh Sharkey's quirky and perceptive illustrations, these tales have all the color and vigor of the countries and cultures they represent. At the same time, they each remind readers how vast and mysterious the world is, and how lives can be transformed by the most unexpected circumstances. Full-color illustrations.


Book cover of Kamishibai Man

Sanae Ishida Author Of Little Kunoichi, The Ninja Girl

From my list on Japan.

Why am I passionate about this?

My parents were both born and raised in Japan but met in New York and eventually settled in Los Angeles, where I grew up. My first language was Japanese and as a nisei (second generation), I am deeply steeped in my Asian heritage. I am continually inspired by the art and storytelling that originates from Japanese culture and love to incorporate them into my own work.

Sanae's book list on Japan

Sanae Ishida Why did Sanae love this book?

I grew up reading about and experiencing “kamishibai,” which is a Japanese storytelling format using illustration boards. This book by Allen Say gorgeously renders the life of a kamishibai man and what seems like his dying art of sharing stories. I remember trying to make my own kamishibai in elementary school and I’ve been toying with the idea of making one again. The book is a gem!

By Allen Say,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Kamishibai Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Kamishibai man used to ride his bicycle into town where he would tell stories to the children and sell them candy, but gradually, fewer and fewer children came running at the sound of his clappers. They were all watching their new televisions instead. Finally, only one boy remained, and he had no money for candy. Years later, the Kamishibai man and his wife made another batch of candy, and he pedaled into town to tell one more story—his own. When he comes out of the reverie of his memories, he looks around to see he is surrounded by familiar…


Book cover of The Diamond Throne

Gary J. Martin Author Of Knight of Gaelgara

From my list on immersive world-building and possibilities.

Why am I passionate about this?

For me, one of the most exciting things about a great book is discovering the world in which the story takes place. I absolutely love it when I find a story with a rich tapestry into which the characters are woven and which brings the story to life. If the world created by an author tantalizes the senses and feels believable (no matter how fantastical), it makes the characters and story feel real. This makes it feel like the stakes and the consequences of the character’s actions matter in the context of the world and brings us along on the journey and all the possibilities that await the reader.

Gary's book list on immersive world-building and possibilities

Gary J. Martin Why did Gary love this book?

This is the opening book of the Elenium series and is an excellent example of the heroic quest-type tale. The cynical but lovable Pandion Knight, Sparhawk and his fellow companions must venture to find a cure for a mysterious illness that is besetting their queen.

The mixture of personalities of the companions in the questing group and how they play off one another is what I felt made this book such an excellent read. The world-building is strongly written and realistic for the characters to traverse, and the pacing of the story never lets the reader forget about the ticking clock counting down the seconds of life remaining to the queen, making the stakes of the character's actions all the higher.

By David Eddings,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Diamond Throne as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Way of the Clans

Aer-ki Jyr Author Of Star Force: Origin Series (1-4)

From my list on that defined great storytelling for me as a kid.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Aer-ki Jyr and I’m the creator of the Star Force Universe. I started writing because most of the new books coming out just plain sucked, so I figured if I could do better, then I should…and I did. What people only partially realize is that Star Force is filled with references and homages to the past great works. There’s far more in there than they realize, but those who have also read them will know when they see them. This list gives you the biggest influences that shaped my childhood mind, and why there are literally statues in the Star Force Universe to a lot of this stuff. 

Aer-ki's book list on that defined great storytelling for me as a kid

Aer-ki Jyr Why did Aer-ki love this book?

When I read this book, it was the full Jade Phoenix trilogy put into one paperback, so for me it was a really long book that showed someone completely fail in life, then drag himself back up and crawl his way to the top. It also exposed me to the ‘Clans’ and what they meant. 

Position by merit. Earning your place through combat. A desire to prove yourself and gain power, but not by sucking up or backstabbing. Imagine a nation led by warriors instead of politicians. Even though the Clans aren’t the ‘good guys,’ there’s a huge difference between this book and all others. Enough that it stuck with me and the concept was reused in my own book as an homage to these Battletech books.

Book cover of The Story Vine
Book cover of Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom (Multimedia DVD included with the book)
Book cover of Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development

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