Ages 9-12
Complex tales exploring justice, courage, and wisdom. Ideal for developing critical thinking.
Russian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa
The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa: In the days when the world was young and magic flowed through forests like rivers of starlight, there lived a great Tsar
Russian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Three Kingdoms: Gold, Silver, and Copper
The Three Kingdoms: Gold, Silver, and Copper: Long ago, when the earth was still young and caves held wonders beyond counting, there lived a noble prince named
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
The Tale of the Merchant and the Genie
The first tale Shahrazad ever tells: a merchant condemned to die for an accidental killing is ransomed from a demon's wrath by three strangers who pay with nothing but wondrous stories.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
Sinbad the Sailor – The First Voyage
Sinbad the Sailor - The First Voyage: In the ancient city of Baghdad, where palaces rose like mountains and the markets overflowed with the riches of the known
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
The Fisherman and the Genie
A poor old fisherman draws a sealed copper jar from the sea and frees a furious ifrit who vows to kill him - then must use his wits alone to survive. A classic tale of the Thousand and One Nights, retold with full scholarly attribution.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The world-famous orphan tale of the Thousand and One Nights: a poor woodcutter, the magic words Open Sesame, forty robbers, and the quick-witted servant Morgiana who outwits them all.
Arabian Nights
Ages 9-12
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
A scholarly retelling of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, the famous orphan tale of the Arabian Nights told to Antoine Galland in 1709 by Hanna Diyab of Aleppo, and the story of how a poor, idle boy grows worthy of the power he finds.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The World’s Reward
The World's Reward is the Cape South African form of the Bremen Town Musicians: seven cast-off old animals join forces, frighten a band of robbers out of their house, and keep it for themselves.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Story Of Hare
The Story of Hare is a Xhosa folktale from South Africa. Five careless watchmen die guarding the animals' fat from the monstrous inkalimeva, until the clever hare alone outwits the beast by its own trick - then nearly undoes himself through greed.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Monkey’s Fiddle
A scholarly retelling of the southern African folk tale "The Monkey's Fiddle", in which a poor monkey, falsely condemned for theft by a corrupt animal court, escapes the gallows by playing a charmed fiddle that forces the whole court to dance.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Story Of A Dam
The Story of a Dam is a Khoikhoi folk tale of southern Africa in which veld animals dig a dam against drought, the idle Jackal fouls it and dupes its guard, is caught by a tar-coated Tortoise, and then escapes his sentence by abandoning Lion under a rock. It is the southern African form of the famous tar-baby tale.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Story Of Lion And Little Jackal
A string of clever escapes from southern African oral tradition: the small black-backed jackal outwits the mighty lion again and again, proving that wit, not muscle, rules the veld.