Margaret Read MacDonald
Margaret Read MacDonald is known for her lively retellings of folktales. Drawing on her background in folklore (Ph.D. Indiana University Folklore Institute) MacDonald searches out unusual tales from the world's folk literature and retells them for today's listeners.
MacDonald's folktale collections include Shake-it-up Tales; Three Minute Tales; and the soon to be published Five Minute Tales.
Concern over the first Gulf war led to her collection Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About. And the sight of Borneo burning as she flew into Sabah for storytelling workshops spurred her to compile Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About.
MacDonald teaches storytelling courses for the University of Washington School of Information Science and for Lesley University. Her Storyteller's Start-up Book contains how-to information for storytellers as well as twelve audience-tested tales. A Parent's Guide to Storytelling offers even easier advice for the novice teller.
As a Children's Librarian for the King County Library System, MacDonald kept finding gaps in her library collection. So she wrote books to fill them. The Skit Book: 101 Skits from Kids was the easiest book she ever wrote. She just asked kids for their favorite skits and wrote them down until she had a book full! When her family ran out of rounds to sing she started work on The Round Book: Rounds Kids Love to Sing.
MacDonald is now retired and spends much time on the road sharing stories around the world. Recent trips have found her telling stories in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Spain, and of course in Hong Kong where her storytelling daughter and son-in-law teach (Nat and Jen Whitman).
From her travels have come some delightful new picture books: The Girl Who Wore Too Much: A Folktale from Thailand and Go to Sleep Gecko: A Folktale from Bali. These join her other joyous picture books Fat Cat: A Folktale from Denmark; Conejito: A Folktale from Panama; Tuck-Me-In Tales and the upcoming Great, Slobbery, Smelly Small-Tooth Dog: A British folktale.
For her school and festival performances MacDonald often teams up with musician Richard Scholtz. Together they share the story through voice and autoharp or mountain dulcimer. They have created three CD's: Fat Cat and Friends; Cockroach Party!; and Tuck-Me-In Tales.
MacDonald divides her time between Kirkland, Washington and Guemes Island, Washington.
Visit Margaret at her website: www.margaretreadmacdonald.com.
See all titles by Margaret Read MacDonald.
Appearance Schedule
| 1. |
2008/03/10 – 2008/04/06 |
European Tour
, |
| 2. |
2008/04/07 – 2008/04/17 |
Atlanta Schools Tour
Atlanta, GA |
| 3. |
2008/04/22 – 2008/05/02 |
Buffalo, upstate NY tour
, NY |
