Margaret Read MacDonald

Margaret Read MacDonald (born January 21, 1940) is an American storyteller, folklorist, and author of children’s books. She is known for her "tellable" folktale renditions, which enable users to share folktales with children easily.

Raised in a rural Southern Indiana community near the Muscatatuck River, daughter of Murray Read and Mildred Amick Read. Her family was active in the North Vernon Methodist Church. Her mother, raised as a farm girl near Scipio, Indiana, read James Whitcomb Riley’s poetry at bedtime, instilling rhythms in Margaret’s head.

MacDonald combined experience from 35 years as a children’s librarian (San Francisco Public; Oahu bookmobiles; Singapore American School; Mountain-Valley Library System; Montgomery County Maryland; King County Library System) with her degree in folklore (Ph.D. Indiana University Folklore Institute 1979) to create tellable folktale collections and picture books "so rhythmic and conversational even a first-time storyteller will be successful." Her books have been translated into 13 languages.

As folklorist, MacDonald interviewed traditional tellers to produce Scipio Storytelling: Talk in a Southern Indiana Community and Ten Traditional Tellers. Her folktale index The Storyteller’s Sourcebook: A Subject, Title, and Motif-Index to Folklore Collections for Children received an American Library Association Reference and Technical Services Award for Best Reference Source in 1982. "An index that facilitates access to more than 900 books with a system based partly on Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index deserves an accolade for its enterprise and thoroughness..."

Her folktale picture books, such as Fat Cat and Party Croc! are known for their rhythmic quality and easy readability. "The patterned text lends itself to audience participation in MacDonald’s trademark style"

MacDonald taught courses in storytelling at the University of Washington and for Lesley University. In 1995-96 she was a Fulbright Scholar in Mahasarakham, Thailand and after her retirement in 2002 she has spent much time touring abroad teaching storytelling techniques and performing. She recruited tellers to put their countries’ tales into print and edited folktale collections by tellers from Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. MacDonald received the Talking Leaves Award from the National Storytelling Network in 2001.

Family: Married to James Bruce Macdonald, daughters Julie Liana MacDonald Martin and Jennifer Skye MacDonald Whitman. Residences in Des Moines, Washington and Guemes Island, Washington.

Picture Books

• The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle (illus. Nancy Dunaway Fowlkes) (1995)
• Tuck-me-in Tales: Bedtime Stories from Around the World (illustrated by Yvonne LeBrun Davis) (1996)
• Slop! A Welsh Folktale (illustrated by Yvonne LeBrun Davis) (1997)
• The Girl Who Wore Too Much (illustrated by Yvonne LeBrun Davis) (1998)
• Pickin’ Peas (illustrated by Pat Cummings) (1998)
• The Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale (illustrated by Julie Paschkis) (2001)
• Mabela the Clever (illustrated by Tim Coffey) (2001)
• A Hen, a Chick, and a String Guitar (illustrated by Sophie Fatus) (2001)
• Conejito: A Folktale from Panama (illustrated by Geraldo Valério) (2006)
• Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! A Folktale from Palestine (illustrated by Alik Arzoumanian) (2006)
• Teeny Weeny Bop (illustrated by Diane Greenseid) (2006)
• The Squeaky Door (illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma) (2006)
• Old Woman and Her Pig (illustrated by John Kanzler) (2007)
• Little Rooster’s Diamond Button (illustrated by Will Terry) (2007)
• Go to Sleep Gecko: A Folktale from Bali (illustrated by Geraldo Valério) (2007)
• The Great, Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog (illustrated by Julie Paschkis) (2007)
• Bat’s Big Game (illustrated by Eugenia Nobati) (2008)
• Surf War (illustrated by Geraldo Valério) (2009)
• How Many Donkeys: An Arabic Counting Tale (with Nadia Jameel Taibah) (illustrated by Carol Liddiment) (2009)
• Too Many Fairies (illustrated by Susan Mitchell) (2009)
• Boy from the Dragon Palace (illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa) (2011)
• Give Up, Gecko: A Folktale from Uganda (illustrated by Deborah Melmon) (2013)
• Party Croc! A Folktale from Zimbabwe (illustrated by Derek Sullivan) ( 2015).

Folklore Collections

• When the Lights Go Out: 20 Scary Tales to Tell (1988)
• The Skit Book; 101 Skits from Kids (1990)
• Look Back and See: Twenty Lively Tales for Gentle Tellers (1991)
• Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About (1992)
• Tom Thumb (1993)
• Celebrate the World: Twenty Multicultural Folktales (1994)
• Ghost Stories from the Pacific Northwest (1995)
• Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About (1999)
• The Round Book: Rounds Kids Love to Sing (with Winifred Jaeger, illus. by Yvonne LeBrun Davis) (1999)
• Shake-it-up Tales: Stories to Sing, Dance, Drum and Act Out (2000)
• Three Minute Tales (2005)
• Five Minute Tales (2007)
• The Singing Top: Tales from Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei (2009)

Edited Folklore Collections

• Thai Tales by Supaporn Vathanaprida. Editor Margaret Read MacDonald (1994)
• Indonesian Folktales by Murti Bunanta. Editor Margaret Read MacDonald (2003)
• From the Winds of Manguito by Elvia Pérez. Translator Paula Martín. Editor Margaret Read MacDonald (2004).
• Brazilian Folktales by Livia de Almeida. Editor Margaret Read MacDonald (2005).
• Lao Folktales by Wajuppa Tossa and Kongdeaune Nettavong. Editor Margaret Read MacDonald (2009)
• The Singing Top: Tales from Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei (2009)
• Pachamama Tales: Folklore from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Retold and translated by Paula Martín. Edited by Margaret Read MacDonald, (2014)
• Storyteller’s Sampler: Tales from Tellers Around the World. Edited by Margaret Read MacDonald. (2015)
• Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula: Tales of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, and Oman by Nadia Jameel Taibah and Margaret Read MacDonald. (2015)

Storytelling Handbooks

• Twenty Tellable Tales: Audience Participation Folktales for the Beginning Storyteller (1986, 2005)
• Booksharing: 101 Programs to Use with Preschoolers (1988)
• The Storyteller’s Start-up Book (1993)
• Bookplay: 101 Creative Themes to Share with Young Children (1995)
• A Parent’s Guide to Storytelling (1995, 2001)
• Tell the World: Telling Across Language Barriers (2007)
• Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling (co-authored with Jennifer MacDonald Whitman and Nathaniel Forrest Whitman) (2013)

Reference Books

• The Storyteller’s Sourcebook: A Subject, Title, and Motif-Index to Folklore Collections for Children (1982)
• The Folklore of World Holidays (1991)
• Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook (1999)
• The Storyteller’s Sourcebook : A Subject, Title, and Motif-Index to Folklore Collections for Children, 1983-1999 (co-authored with Brian Sturm) (2001)

Folklore Studies

• Scipio Storytelling: Talk in a Southern Indiana Community (1996)
• Ten Traditional Tellers (2006)

Community History

• Scipio, Indiana: Threads from the Past (1988)

CD/DVD

• Tuck-me-in Tales: Bedtime Stories from Around the World (with Richard Scholtz) CD (1997)
• Cockroach Party! With Richard Scholtz. CD (1999, 2005)
• Fat Cat and Friends. (with Richard Scholtz) CD (2002)
• Mabela the Clever. DVD (2006)
• Little Rooster’s Diamond Button. DVD. (2008).

Selected Book Awards and Honors

• The Storyteller’s Sourcebook ALA RTSD Best Reference 1982
• Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About (August House,1992) ALA Notable 1992
• Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies; Storytelling World, 1995
• Pickin’ Peas. Parenting Magazine Reading Magic Award, 1998; Tennessee Volunteer Award, 2000
• The Fat Cat Parent’s Choice Silver Award 2001
• Mabela the Clever Parent’s Choice Gold Award, 2001; Aesop Accolade
• The Storyteller’s Sourcebook, 1983-1999 Anne Izard Award, 2003
• Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! ALA Notable 2006
• Mabela the Clever. DVD. ALSC Notable Children’s Film, 2006
• Great, Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog. Storytelling World Award, 2007; NAPPA Gold 2007; Foreword Book of the Year Honor, 2007
• Go to Sleep Gecko. Anne Izard Award, 2007; Flicker Tale Book Award, 2008; KIND Children’s Honor, 2007; Finalist Foreword Magazine Book of the Year, 2006; Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007
• How Many Donkeys. Sharjah World Award, 2009
• Boy from the Dragon Palace. Anne Izard Award, 2012; Bank Street Best Children’s Books, 2012; Storytelling World Award 2012
• Teaching with Story: Classroom Connection to Storytelling. Co-authors Jennifer Whitman and Nathaniel Forrest Whitman. Anne Izard Award, 2015, Storytelling World Award, 2014