Ages 9-12
Stories suggested for ages 9–12, with longer journeys, competing motives and difficult choices. Some contain frightening scenes or violence described in the page’s guidance. These age suggestions support selection and discussion; they do not make every traditional story equally suitable for every reader.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Iron Hans
A wild man of iron is caged in the courtyard; a prince frees him, gets golden hair, and wins war and bride with Iron Hans's help.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Hansel and Gretel
Abandoned in the forest, Hansel and Gretel find a house of bread and sugar—and Gretel turns the witch's own oven against her.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
The Wedding of Mrs Fox: First Story
An old fox fakes death to test his wife; only a nine-tailed suitor is accepted—until he leaps from under the bench with a cudgel.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Doctor Knowall
A poor peasant named Crabb buys an ABC book, hangs out a sign calling himself Doctor Knowall, and must find a rich lord's stolen money.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Clever Gretel
A merry cook tastes two roast fowls bite by bite while her master's guest is late, then talks her way out of trouble with a clever lie.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Briar Rose
A fairy's death curse is softened to a hundred years of sleep, and a prince reaches the briar-bound castle when that time ends.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
Cat and Mouse in Partnership
A cat and a mouse store a pot of fat for winter, but the cat keeps inventing christenings to sneak off and eat it, one lick at a time.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
How Chanticleer and Partlet Went to Visit Mr Korbes
A rooster, a hen and their unusual travelling companions visit Mr Korbes and arrange a series of painful traps in his house.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Ages 9-12
How They Went to the Mountains to Eat Nuts
Chanticleer and Partlet feast on mountain nuts, then pick up a duck, a pin and a needle on their way home to a very unlucky innkeeper.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Yang Oerlang
The shape-shifting son of a heavenly princess rescues his mother from under the mountains, then crushes nine of the ten burning suns between two peaks.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Women’s Words Part Flesh and Blood
A spiteful sister-in-law boils her brother-in-law’s seed, but one sprout grows huge, and a giant Roc flies him to an island heaped with gold and silver.
Chinese Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Yang Gui Fe
After the emperor’s beloved Yang Gui Fe is killed in a mutiny, a magician searches the Underworld, the heavens and fairyland to bring him word of her.