Fairy Legends

My name is Melany Richmond, and for my entire life, I’ve been an outcast, an orphan tossed around like a ship in a storm. I don’t think that gods really exist. I never even received my Shadowbox when I turned 18. Maybe, because nobody knows my true birth date or because not even the gods care about me. After all, I'm a blue-haired rebel and a troublemaker with tattoos all over my arms.

The cruelty of the capital and the power-hungry King Arden have scattered Bleak and her companions across the continents. On the run in a foreign land, Bleak finds herself tied to some unexpected strangers. When the answers she yearns for are finally within reach, she must face the hard truths of her past and take her fate into her own hands before it’s too late. Meanwhile, secrets and magic unravel as a dark power corrupts the realm. Bleak’s friends are forced to decide where their loyalties lie, and who, if anyone, they can trust.

Remember the Monster Stick? The greatest and most dangerous fishing-rod ever? What about Buck, who simply "ain't no ordinary dog"? Anyone who has seen the Lepp boys perform or read their book The Monster Stick will never forget them. In this recording, we revisit West Virginia with Bil Lepp as he tells some of the stories that made his brother, Paul, and himself repeat winners of the West Virginia State Liars Contest.

Safaia, Tero and Garasu are on a collision course, and the clans of Buryoku scramble to brace for the impact. While Safaia is in an uproar, Roy heads into an ancient library in search of the secrets of advancement and the Path to Gray-Belt. What he discovers may change the course of Buryoku's history forevermore.

In the third suspenseful adventure in the Legends of Eerie-on-Sea series, shipwrecked orphan Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, must square off with a creature of town lore as he confronts a shadow from his past. While others towns celebrate Halloween, in Eerie-on-Sea it’s Ghastly Night, and a grim spirit in a lantern awaits its moment. Legend has it that if people fail to light manglewick candles on Ghastly Night, and if no showman conjures shadow puppets on the pier as an offering, the insulted Shadowghast will seize and devour the shadows of the living.

Sera has finally recognized the true power of her Cerulean blood. But in order to return home, she’ll need help from Agnes, Leo, and their grandmother - the only person with knowledge about the mysterious island of Braxos, where the Cerulean tether is anchored. Though the journey will be treacherous, Sera will risk anything to see her City again.

Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s 19-year-old protégé - and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life - Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul. Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him.

Alyss and Redd, the two enemy queens, are forced to work together to reclaim Wonderland in this suspenseful conclusion to the best-selling trilogy.

As conditions in Sherwood Forest grow more precarious, time is running out for inhabitants of the abandoned shopping mall. With constant pressure on them from Sheriff Marjorie and gangster Guy Gisborne, Robin decides to engage his brother, Little John, as undercover spy. And John strikes gold when he discovers his mother's plan for the ailing Sherwood Castle resort. Robin and Marion join in an audacious plan to scupper their oppressors, but the sheriff has her response prepared - and it's ferocious. Have they bitten off more they can chew this time?

In the hills of Appalachia, humor and wisdom are mixed up forever in funny, wise stories that seem to grow more lustrous with each telling. Here are two of the best: "Uncle Frank Invents the Electron Microphone", Appalachian folk wisdom rolled into one of Davis' funniest stories; "Uncle Frank and the Crown Feed Boys", Davis' legendary Uncle Frank teaches a couple of traveling salesmen the lesson of their lives.

One of America's most beloved storytellers tells of spirits that have nurtured her in these four tales: "The Accidental Angel", "Wilbur Martin: God's Maintenance Man", "The Water Lilies", and "Angels in Disguise". Jackie Torrence, a frequent headliner at the National Storytelling Festival, is known to audiences nationwide as The Story Lady. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Wolftrap, the International Children's Festival, and Lincoln Center.

Award-winning storyteller Barbara McBride-Smith breathes life (albeit a wizened Texan version) into the old Greek myths. With her incurable Texas drawl, she spins the Greek myths as you've never heard them before, rendering them 99% more fun while retaining 100% of their original insights into the crooked ways of the human heart and the no less crooked ways of the ancient Greek gods.

Growing up in North Carolina, Donald Davis heard stories that came to America through Scots-Irish immigrants about a fellow named Jack who was so real that young Davis thought he was a distant relative or otherside-of-the-mountain neighbor. Now Davis knows that Jack is a universal legendary figure who, by various names, is found in nearly every culture.

When the Southern Bells brought the telephone to rural North Carolina, it looked like a "big black daffodil". What the telephone company had not counted on in conceiving its eight-party line service was a pair of "past-middle-age, unmarried sisters", the chatty Misses Lucy and Lena Leatherwood. Once the Leatherwood sisters were connected by the Southern Bells, nobody else on that line had a chance!

Mama believed the woman who dies with the most fabric scraps wins. She saved scraps from odd sewing jobs for neighbors. She saved buttons from old winter coats and birthday dresses. Mama had a button from Daddy's first uniform and another from Grandma's cloth coat, and every button in the box came with a story. In her trademark Texas twang, award-winning storyteller Barbara McBride-Smith recounts stories from her family that speak to all of us.

Here are a baker's dozen of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poems brought to life in the medium he always wrote for - the spoken word. As narrated by Bobby Norfolk, these poems evoke the range of moods, from elegy to wonder to celebration, that the poet is remembered for.

In this story from India, a farmer's three lazy sons don't want to work. They sit around dreaming of making a lot of gold. When their mother tells them of gold buried in a field, they ask her how to bring the gold to the surface. Through clever suggestions, their mother explains how to thed the fields as they discover the true riches offered by hard work. Illustrated by Tom Wrenn.

Rex M. Ellis weaves the strands of African folklore, early American history, and contemporary interpretations into the rich quilt that is the African-American experience. His stories spin a thread from the Windward Coast of West Africa to the shores of Jamestown and beyond. He uses storytelling as both a historical teaching tool and a method for dealing with controversial subjects.

Scary stories help children face fear and master it, by portraying the elements of conflict in clear, good-versus-evil terms with good triumphant in the end.

A Cherokee couple spends their days fishing and making cornmeal. When a giant dog steals their cornmeal, the neighbors all gather to help. Find out how this Cherokee legend explains the creation of the Milky Way.