A Children's Guide to Folklore and Wonder Tales

By: The Great Courses, Hannah B. Harvey

Narrated by: Hannah B. Harvey

In The Children's Guide to Folklore and Wonder Tales, Dr. Hannah Blevins Harvey unpacks more than 60 of our most beloved stories, fables, fairy tales, and songs from around the world - providing you with a fascinating, in-depth view into the history, context, and deeper meaning of the tales we know and love. As you travel through the catalogs of Grimm, Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Oscar Wilde, and so many more, you'll gain profound insights into how and why these stories came to be. Supplementing the stories and insights provided by Dr. Harvey, child psychiatrist Dr. Zheala Qayyum, from Yale University's Medical School and Department of Psychiatry, weighs in on the importance of stories, folktales, and imagination-building exercise in the healthy development of children, no matter where they live.

Throughout this unique course, Dr. Harvey presents not only the exploration of themes, questions, and evolutions but, as a nationally-known professional storyteller and an internationally-commended performer, she also treats you to dynamic, theatrical, and engaging tellings of cherished tales from around the world, both beloved classics and lesser-known treasures.

Join us to discover a collection of stories that will lift your heart, haunt your dreams, and challenge your expectations.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great Courses

A wonderful introduction...

Loved it. Good for anyone who wants to dip below the surface of fairy tales and appropriate for all audiences. My son (7yo) and I listened to the whole thing and now we are relistening. Wish there was another course like this.

Captivating

I absolutely LOVED this course! Great insight into folklore and fairytales, and the narration was hilarious in some cases!

Good Listen!!!

The author is an entertainer. Her story telling will delight you! She also gives us insight into fairy tales and wonder tales, two types of stories that I haven't thought much about. Very enjoyable.

A mixed Audience?

I listened to this with my boys(ages 7 and 11) and we enjoyed it, by and large. However, the author was not clear to whom she was writing. Much of the time she was clearly speaking to a group of children, but then she would launch into an intellectual analysis, completely losing my boys(and me, as well).
Some of the later chapters begin documenting American folk songs, for some reason.
The author/narrator has a lovely reading and singing voice but also has some annoying mannerisms that, after many hours, began to be annoying.
We enjoyed this, but would not listen to it again.

Story telling at it's best..I absolutely loved it.

Loved every second of it. well worth while listening to..I highly recommend this to everyone.

Wonderful!!!

I listened to this class with my 8 year old. What a wonderful storyteller - we were both completely engaged. Fantastic!!

Wonderfully narrated

A must have to every collection. The journey through the different tales is magic and informative. Loved it!

Good

I was not able to hear all of it. Sometimes the speaker was away from the mic so I couldn’t hear what was being said.

Interesting material

Be sure to understand that the story parts of this were performed for an audience of small kids so there are some silly sound effects and kid focused performance.

Life shaping to listen to as a teacher and mother

I listened to this amazing course with my three year old and we both learned so much. Professor Harvey is an incredible storyteller and historian. She explains the stories and their roots with conviction to an audience of unknown age, capturing all of us.