New Release Books by Jennifer MacDonald Whitman

This invaluable resource includes everything teachers or librarians need to know for using storytelling in a classroom. It covers a range of topics including recommendations for using storytelling to enliven curriculum, ways to develop literacy and language skills, techniques for learning to tell stories, tips for teaching creativity, and ways to build community with other cultures. It even includes ready to tell tales for the classroom and correlates learning activities to the Common Core Standards.

In this Appalachian version of "The Kind and the Unkind Girls," two sisters--Bess and Tess--are sent by their mother to draw water from the Well-at-the-End-of-the-World. Along the way they meet a bear, a mountain lion, a wild boar, and three little foxes. When Bess greets them with courtesy and respect, the foxes reward her kindness. Tess, greedy for her own bounty, can't be bothered with manners; she bonks the animals with her bucket, kicks them with her boots, and slings the little foxes to the ground. In the end, both sisters get their just deserts.With a storyteller's cadence, Margaret Read MacDonald captures the tale's mountain rhythms, homespun wisdom, and timeless truth. Kitty Harvill's vibrant illustrations, rendered in watercolor and cut-paper collage, capture the interplay and mountain terrain that has shaped this unique version of a universal tale.