MYTHS, LEGENDS AND FAIRY TALES
FOR SCHOOL LITERACY SCHEMES
Over many years I’ve contributed numerous ‘myths, legends and folk tale’ books to literacy schemes published by: CUP, OUP, Ginn, Heinemann, Pearson and Rigby. I’ve also written traditional tales for Scholastic’s Literacy Time magazine and for many publishers’ reading scheme anthologies . Some of these have been translated into different languages, ranging from Malay to Gaelic. Others have gone into ‘English as a Foreign Language’ (EFL) editions, for use in the Far East, India and Norway.
These offer a great way for young children to discover traditional tales - though a shame that they might appear as primarily educational!
CAMBRIDGE READING
This was a wonderful project to work on. Each title was commissioned to be a 'real' book rather than looking like part of an educational reading scheme, and a lot of effort went into editing the books and choosing outstanding illustrators. My three contributions for this level come from the Native American Hopi people, Siberia and Hawai.
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
HOW DID THE WORLD BEGIN?
Contains four creation myths:
Baskets of Magic (Native American pueblo people, New Mexico)
Good and Evil (Iran (ancient Persia)
The Chain of Gold (Yoruba, Nigeria)
The Mud People (China)
JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS
Contains four folk tales:
The World of the Night Sky (Native American)
The World Below the Water (Kenya)
The World of the Magic Ring (Arabian)
The World of the Sleeping King (Welsh)
'SUNSHINE MYTHS AND LEGENDS'
I was series editor for this complete set of twelve books. I was also commissioned to write three of them myself, retelling myths from Uganda, Mexico (ancient Aztecs) and Australia (Aboriginal)
SOME 'EASY READERS'
Two books for Pearson Bug Club about Sinbad the Sailor
from The Arabian Nights.
Folk tales from Italy, Malaysia and England
STORIES FOR MORE CONFIDENT READERS
Folk tales from Wales, Native America, Tibet, the Caribbean and India
