New Stories from Old Tales: our picks for National Storytelling Week
Celebrate National Storytelling Week from 27 January to 4 February with these engaging stories for children of all ages to enjoy, inspired by timeless fairytales!
National Storytelling Week celebrates the power of sharing stories. Stories teach us about the world, they allow us to step into someone else’s shoes and feel empathy, they help us to relax and escape and they can help develop essential literacy skills.
Find more recommendations for children.
Each Peach Pear Plum, by Janet Ahlberg and Allan Ahlberg
'Each Peach Pear Plum' is a classic picture book that won the Kate Greenaway Medal. In pictures and words it introduces the very youngest of readers to a number of characters from traditional stories.
Once Upon a Wild Wood, by Chris Riddell
Little Green Rain Cape is on her way to Rapunzel's party, deep in the wild woods. The way is long and dark, but Green is a smart girl. Smart enough to turn down apples offered by kindly old ladies, smart enough to turn down travel advice from helpful wolves, and above all, smart enough to solve a wealth of classic fairy tale problems - not least mend a lovelorn beast's broken heart. 'Once Upon a Wild Wood' is a richly imagined story packed full of familiar fairy tale characters as you've never seen them before.
Borrow Once Upon a Wild Wood →
Beware of the Storybook Wolves, by Lauren Child
'Beware of the Storybook Wolves' will scare your socks off and tell you exactly what to do if the wolves ever escape from your storybook!
Borrow Beware of the Storybook Wolves →
Hansel & Gretel, by Bethan Woollvin
This is a very funny twist on the classic fairy tale printed in vibrant pantone inks. Naughty little Hansel and Gretel ransack Willow the good witch's gingerbread cottage and play havoc with her spells, driving the poor witch to her wit's end with magical mischief and mayhem. They gobble all her yummy food, smash her potion bottles and even conjure the cat to the size of a house! Can Willow ever put a stop to the chaos?
Imelda and the Goblin King, by Briony May Smith
Far away behind the hills a girl called Imelda lives beside a fairy forest. Every day she ventures into the forest to play with her fairy friends. But within the deepest, darkest depths of the trees lives the worst creature of all - the goblin king! When he kidnaps the Fairy Queen, the fairies call upon Imelda to help.
Borrow Imedla and the Goblin King →
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszka
The story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf told by the only person who knows the truth - A Wolf.
Borrow The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs →
The Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
Once there was a bridge and a terrible and VERY hungry troll lived underneath it. When the three Billy Goats Gruff decide to clip clop across the bridge to get to the grassy ridge, the troll is already imagining all the way to prepare a delicious goat dinner. But the troll underestimates those seemingly sweet but oh-so-savvy goats!
Borrow The Three Billy Goats Gruff →
The Skull: a Tyrolean Folktale, by Jon Klassen
In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both?
The Sister Who Ate Her Brother, and Other Gruesome Tales, by Jen Campbell and Adam de Souza
Fourteen of the most gruesome fairy tales from around the world are re-told for contemporary readers and restored to their original, grisly versions.
Borrow The Sister Who Ate Her Brother →
Zombierella: Fairy Tales Gone Bad, by Joseph Coelho and Freya Hartas
A yellow moon hangs in a satin sky the night Cinderella, barefoot and in hand-me-downs, slips at the top of the stairs and dies. But not for long. The Shadow of Death arrives to breathe life back into her bones and, for three nights only, Cinderella goes forth as Zombierella. With her skin as cold as ice and her faithful horse Lumpkin back by her side, can she seek revenge on her three cruel, fake sisters, once and for all?
Crawl out of the grave and step into your mushroom carriage for this haunting and humourous adventure of the undead girl searching for her happily ever after.
Godfather Death, by Sally Nicholls and Julia Sardà
When a poor fisherman chooses Death to be godfather to his son, he's sure he's made a good choice - for surely there's no man more honest than Death? At the Christening, Death gives the fisherman a gift that seems at first to be the key to the family's fortune, but when greed overcomes the fisherman, he learns that nobody can truly cheat Death.
A Tale Dark & Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz
Warlocks with dark spells, hunters with deadly aim, and bakers with ovens retrofitted for cooking children lurk within these pages. But if you dare, turn the page and learn the true story of Hansel and Gretel - the story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses and outwitted witches.
Rumaysa: A Fairytale, by Radiya Hafiza and Rhaida El Touny
For as long as she can remember Rumaysa has been locked away in her tall, tall tower, forced to use her magic to spin straw into gold for the evil Witch and unable to leave. Until one day, after dropping a hijab out of her small tower-window, Rumaysa realises how she might be able to escape.
Join her as she adventures through enchanted forests and into dragon's lairs, discovers her own incredible magical powers and teams up with Cinderayla and Sleeping Sara! A magically fresh, empowering and funny debut, which retells three classic fairytales - Rapunzel, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.