How and Why Stories

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BOOKS

NOTE: All call numbers are for the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana

AUTHOR	TITLE	DATE	CALL #
Aardema, Verna	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale A retelling of a traditional West African tale that reveals how the mosquito developed its annoying habit. A mosquito annoyed the iguana, who frightened the python, who scared the rabbit, and now the whole jungle is in an uproar because the sun won't rise. The animals discuss the situation and decide to punish the mosquito. Even today, whenever we hear a mosquito buzz, we smack it hard!	1975	J398.2
Alexander, Lloyd	How the Cat Swallowed Thunder Warned not to get into his usual mischief, Mother Holly's cat tries to tidy up all the mess he has made while she is away.	2000	JE
Bernhard, Emery	How Snowshoe Hare Rescued the Sun: A Tale from the Arctic When the demons who live under the earth steal the sun leaving the tundra in darkness, the animals send Bear, Wolf, and finally Snowshoe Hare to bring it back.	1993	J398.2
Bowden, Joan Chase	Why the Tides Ebb and Flow In this folktale explaining why the sea has tides, an old woman threatens to pull the rock from the hole in the ocean floor if Sky Spirit does not honor his promise to give her shelter.	1979	J398.2
Bruchac, James	How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes: A Tale of Bragging and Teasing When Bear and Brown Squirrel have a disagreement about whether Bear can stop the sun from rising, Brown Squirrel ends up with claw marks on his back and becomes Chipmunk, the striped one.	2001	J398.24
Bruchac, Joseph	Native American Animal Stories	1992	J398.2
Bruchac, Joseph	The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale When cornmeal is stolen from an elderly couple, the others in a Cherokee village find a way to drive off the thief, creating the Milky Way in the process.	1995	J398.2
Bryan, Ashley	The Story of Lightning and Thunder In this retelling of a West African tale, Ma Sheep Thunder and her impetuous son Ram Lightning are forced to leave their home on Earth because of the trouble Ram causes.	1993	J398.26
Connolly, James E., editor	Why the Possum's Tail is Bare, and Other North American Indian Nature Tales Thirteen tales collected from eight Indian tribes of eastern and western North America, featuring animals and nature lore.	1985	J398.2
Crespo, George	How the Sea Began: A Taino Myth The gourd containing the bow and arrow of the great departed hunter Yayael produces a torrent of water that becomes the world's ocean.	1993	J398.2
Cummings, Pat	Ananse and the Lizard: A West African Tale Ananse the spider thinks he will marry the daughter of the village chief, but instead he is outsmarted by Lizard.	2002	J398.20966
Daly, Niki	Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky The sun and moon must leave their earthly home after Sun invites the Sea to visit.	1995	J398.2
Dayrell, Elphinstone	Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky: An African Folktale An African folktale tells how the sun and water once lived on earth as friends, but because the sun failed to build his house large enough, he and his wife, the moon, were driven into the sky when the water came to visit them.	1991	J398.2
Dixon, Ann	How the Raven Brought Light to People Raven gives the sun, the moon, and the stars to the people of the world by tricking the great chief who is hoarding them in three boxes.	1992	J398.2
Doucet, Sharon A.	Why Lapin's Ears are Long and Other Tales from the Louisiana Bayou Three tales of Compere Lapin who practices his tricks among the Creoles and the Cajuns of the Louisiana bayou.	1997	J398.209763
Duvall, Deborah L.	How Rabbit Lost His Tail: A Traditional Cherokee Legend When Rabbit becomes jealous of Otter's beautiful coat, which causes his own beautiful tail to be ignored, he plots to steal the coat and become popular again.	2003	J398.2452
Duvall, Deborah L.	The Opossum's Tale: A Grandmother Story	2005	J398.2452
Ehlert, Lois	Moon Rope: A Peruvian Folktale = Uno Lazo a la Luna: Una Leyenda Peruana An adaptation of the Peruvian folktale in which Fox and Mole try to climb to the moon on a rope woven of grass.	1992	S j398.2
Garland, Sherry	Why Ducks Sleep on One Leg A Vietnamese folktale explaining the phenomenon of ducks' sleeping on one leg.	1993	J398.24
Gerson, Mary-Joan	Why the Sky is Far Away: A Folktale from Nigeria The sky was once so close to the Earth that people cut parts of it to eat, but their waste and greed caused the sky to move far away.	1992	J398.2
Goble, Paul	Her Seven Brothers Retells the Cheyenne legend in which a girl and her seven chosen brothers become the Big Dipper.	1988	J398.2
Greaves, Nick	When Hippo was Hairy and Other Tales from Africa Thirty-six tribal stories from Africa about the animals that occupy the plains and forests, bringing to life Africa's rich heritage of folklore and mythology. Includes brief fact-files for all the animals described.	1988	J398.24
Greaves, Nick	When Lion Could Fly and Other Tales from Africa Over thirty fascinating stories from African folklore and mythology about the animals of the grasslands and rainforest, with fact files about each creature and maps showing their distribution.	1993	J398.24
Hamilton, Martha	How and Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read and Tell A collection of twenty-five traditional stories explaining why an animal or plant or natural object looks or acts the way it does. Following each story are storytelling tips and short modern, scientific explanations for the subject of the story.	1999	J398.2
Han, Carolyn	Why Snails Have Shells: Minority and Han Folktales of China Twenty traditional tales from such ethnic groups in China as Mongol, Tibetan, Yao, Han, and Miao.	1993	J398.2
Hausman, Gerald	How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet: Native American Animal Origin Stories How Coyote got yellow eyes -- How Bat learned to fly -- How Lizard got flat -- How Hawk stopped the flood with his tail feather -- How Horse got fast -- How Possum lost his tail -- How Chipmunk got tiny feet.	1995	J398.245
Johnston, Tony	The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote Rabbit outwits Coyote in this Zapotec tale which explains why coyotes howl at the moon.	1994	J398.2
Kimmel, Eric A.	Why the Snake Crawls on Its Belly Tells the story of why snakes have no legs, have a forked tongue and why the shed their skin.	2001	J398.2
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Camel Got His Hump Relates how the camel received his permanent hump from the Djinn of All Deserts.	1942	J
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin Relates how the rhinoceros' lack of manners resulted in his baggy skin and bad temper.	1988	J
Kipling, Rudyard	Just So Stories Twelve stories about animals and insects including How the Camel Got His Hump; How the First Letter was Written, and How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin.	1902	J
Kipling, Rudyard	The Elephant's Child Because of his "'satiable curiosity" about what the crocodile has for dinner, the elephant's child and all elephants thereafter have long trunks.	1973	J
Kipling, Rudyard	The Elephant's Child	1983	JE
Knutson, Barbara	How the Guinea Fowl Got Her Spots: A Swahili Tale of Friendship A folk explanation for the guinea fowl's protective coloration that enables it to hide from its natural predator, the lion.	1990	J398.24
Knutson, Barbara	Why the Crab Has No Head: An African Tale Retells the African folktale from the Bakongo people of Zaire in which Crab's pride influences his creator, who leaves Crab without a head to make him humble.	1987	J398.24
Larson, Bonnie	When Animals were People: a Huichol Indian Tale A traditional Huichol folktale of the magical time when animals had human characteristics and were first learning from the Spirits of Nature and each other to find their true homes and unique wisdom.	2002	S J398.208997
Lester, Julius	Why Heaven is Far Away When people and animals try to climb ladders to Heaven to escape problems with snakes, God, His secretary Bruce, and the angel Shaniqua decide that Heaven needs to be much further away.	2002	JE
Lunge-Larsen, Lise	The Legend of the Lady Slipper: an Ojibwe Tale In this retelling of an Ojibwe tale, a girl's act of bravery to save her family leads to the appearance in the world of the delicate and tender flower called the lady's slipper.	1999	J398.2
Mama, Raouf	Why Goats Smell Bad and Other Stories from Benin A collection of nineteen folk stories from the Fon people of Benin, about orphans and twins with magical associations, spirits, animals, royalty, and farmers.	1998	J398.208996
Mayo, Maragaret	When the World was Young: Creation and Pourquois Tales The girl who did some baking -- Catch it and run! -- Maui and his thousand tricks -- Tortoise's big idea -- Raven and pea-pod man.	1996	J398.2
McDermott, Gerald	Jabuti the Tortoise: a Trickster Tale from the Amazon All the birds enjoy the song-like flute music of Jabuti, the tortoise, except Vulture who, jealous because he cannot sing, tricks Jabuti into riding his back toward a festival planned by the King of Heaven.	2001	J398.2
Mollel, Tololwa M.	A Promise to the Sun: An African Story Explains why bats only come out of their caves at night.	1992	JE
Mollel, Tololwa M.	The Orphan Boy: A Maasai Story Though delighted that an orphan boy has come into his life, an old man becomes insatiably curious about the boy's mysterious powers.	1990	J398.21
Monroe, Jean Guard	They Dance in the Sky: Native American Star Myths A collection of legends about the stars from various North American Indian cultures, including explanations of the Milky Way and constellations such as the Big Dipper.	1987	J398.26
Ober, Hal	How Music Came to the World: An Ancient Mexican Myth Retells a Mexican legend in which the sky god and the wind god bring music from Sun's house to the Earth.	1994	J398.2
Paye, Won-Loy	Why Leopard Had Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia A collection of nineteen folk stories from the Fon people of Benin, about orphans and twins with magical associations, spirits, animals, royalty, and farmers.	1998	J398.20966
Poole, Amy Lowry	How the Rooster Got His Crown In the early days of the world, when the sun refuses to come out for fear of a skillful archer's arrows, a small rooster saves the day by coaxing the sun with his crowing.	1999	J398.2
Reneaux, J.J.	How Animals Saved the People: Animals Tales from the South A collection of folktales from people in the Deep South including Cajun, Creole, Native Americans, African Americans, those of English as well as Scotch-Irish-German traditions, and others living in Appalachia.	2001	J398.2
Richards, Jean	How the Elephant Got Its Trunk: A Retelling of the Rudyard Kipling Tale Because of his curiosity about what the crocodile has for dinner, a little elephant and all elephants thereafter have long trunks.	2003	JE
Robbins, Ruth	How the First Rainbow was Made: an American Indian Tale When so much rain falls on Mt. Shasta that the Indians cannot gather seeds, they ask Coyote for a sign the rain will stop.	1980	J398.2
Rosen, Michael	How Giraffe Got Such a Long Neck -- and Why Rhino is so Grumpy During a terrible drought in which there is nothing to eat, Man prepares a magic herb that results in Giraffe's long neck so he can reach the high leaves on the trees and a grumpy Rhino, who arrives too late for the magic.	1993	J398.2
Rosen, Michael	How the Animals Got Their Colors: Animal Myths from Around the World A collection of tales from around the world explaining how various animals got their colors.	1992	J398.2
Ross, Gayle	How the Turtle's Back was Cracked: A Traditional Cherokee Tale Turtle's shell is cracked when the wolves plot to stop his boastful ways.	1995	J398.2
Sage, James	Coyote Makes Man A thought-provoking Native American tale. Coyote, who has been charged with the delicate task of creating the first human being, turns to the other animals for help. When Coyote agrees to a compromise that incorporates all their suggestions, the animals are delighted with his creation. But Coyote has his doubts. . . .	1995	J398.2
Shepard, Aaron	Master Man: a Tall Tale of Nigeria A boastful strong man learns a lesson harder than his muscles when he encounters one of Nigeria's superheroes in this Hausa tale which explains the origin of thunder.	2001	J398.20966
Sherman, Pat	The Sun's Daughter	2005	J398.208997
Shute, Linda	Rabbit Wishes Presents an Afro-Cuban folk tale which explains why rabbits have long ears.	1995	J398.24
	Tales of Wonder How the turtle got her shell -- How Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dinner -- Why spider lives in ceilings -- Why the sea is salt -- - Why the snake has no legs -- Kangaroo tales -- How bear lost his tail -- How the deer lost his tail -- How spider taught women to weave --Why the parrot repeats man's words.	1990	J398.2
Thomas, Joyce Carol	What's the Hurry Fox?: And other Animal Stories Presents a volume of pourquoi tales collected by Zora Neale Hurston from her field research in the Gulf states in the 1920s.	2004	J398.2
Troughton, Joanna	How Rabbit Stole the Fire Retells the traditional Indian legend of how Rabbit managed to steal fire from the Sky People and bring it to Earth.	1986	J398.2
Troughton, Joanna	How Stories Came into the World: a Folk Tale from West Africa Once only Mouse knew, and kept to himself, the stories of how the world came to be until angry Lightning broke down Mouse's door and the stories escaped into the world.	1989	J398.24
Troughton, Joanna	How the Birds Changed Their Feathers	1986	J398.24
Vogel, Carole G.	Weather Legends: Native American Lore and the Science of Weather Flood -- Rainbow -- Sun -- Wind -- Snowstorms and Changing Weather -- Seasons -- Indian Summer -- Clouds and Rain -- Thunder, Lightning, and Tornadoes -- Drought and Climate	2001	J398.208997
Wolkstein, Diane	The Day Ocean Came to Visit A collection of tales from around the world explaining how various animals got their colors.	2001	J398.2

NON-PRINT

AUTHOR	TITLE	DATE	CALL #
Aardema, Verna	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears:.and More Stories from Africa Includes: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears -- A Story, A Story -- Who's in Rabbit's house?	2004	DVD J398.2 WHY
Bryan, Ashley	Poems and Folktales Poems from sing to the sun -- Ananse the spider in search of a fool -- The cat's purr -- Turtle knows your name -- The story of lightning and thunder.	1994	CD JZS BRYAN PF A00
Caduto, Michael J.	Keepers of the Animals: Native American Animal Stories A collection of 24 Native American legends which demonstrate the power of animals in Native American traditions.	1992	JZS CADUTO KOA F 85
Heape, Steven R.	Tales of Wonder: Traditional Native American Fireside Stories Rabbit and the bear -- Rabbit's short tail -- Why possum's tail is bare -- The ruby necklace -- Origin of fire -- Plieades and the pine tree -- Little gray bat -- Little turtle -- How deer got antlers.	1998	V J398.2 T14
Kipling, Rudyard	Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories These two tales from Kipling's 'Just so stories' are playful explanations of how the rhinoceros got his skin and how the camel got his hump.	1988	V J
Kipling, Rudyard	Just So Stories v.1 How the elephant got his trunk -- How the rhinoceros got his skin -- The beginning of armadillos -- v.2 How the whale got his throat -- How the leopard got his spots -- How the camel got his hump -- v.3 Why the cat is walking by himself -- How the crab played with the sea.	1982	V J JUST
Kipling, Rudyard	Just So Stories How the whale got his throat (6:44) -- How the camel got his hump (6:14) -- How the rhinoceros got his skin (5:59) -- The elephant's child (1(7:03) -- The sing-song of old man kangaroo (6:30) -- The beginning of the armadillos (15:45) -- How the leopard got his spots (13:05).	2005	CD J KIPLING
Kipling, Rudyard	The Elephant's Child The story of how the insatiably curious baby elephant finds out what the crocodile eats for dinner.	1986	V J
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin and How the Camel Got His Hump Just so -- How the rhinoceros got his skin -- Anantarivo -- Humph! -- How the camel got his hump -- Camel dance -- And told the man -- When the world was new -- More than oriental splendor -- Amygdala -- Djinn.	1987	JZS KIPLING HRS W 04
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Camel Got His Hump In the desert lived a very bad-tempered, lazy camel who spent all day admiring himself, especially his smooth, flat back. One day the Magic Djinn of all the deserts told him to work and the camel replied, "Humph!" That was just one "humph!" too many.	1976	KIT JE KIPLI
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Leopard Got His Spots Rudyard Kipling's classic tale comes to life with animation, sounds, videos, games, and the music of South Africa. Told by Danny Glover, illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter, and his music by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.	1995	SFTW J
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Leopard Got His Spots Tells how the leopard got his spotted coat in order to hunt the animals in the dappled shadows of the forest.	1989	V J
Kipling, Rudyard	How the Leopard Got His Spots Relates how the greyish-yellowish-brownish leopard came by his spots.	1989	JZS KIPLING HLG W 15

WEB SITES

Resources for Teachers

Beauty and the Beast Storytellers: Writing How and Why Stories -- A Unit for Second through Sixth Graders
http://www.beautyandthebeaststorytellers.com/howAndWhyUnit.pdf

eThemes: Folktales -- Pourquoi Tales
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001005.shtml

Read Write Think: Pourquoi Stories -- Creating Tales to Tell Why
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=324

Scholastic Instructor: Teaching with Pourquoi Tales
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/pourquoitales.htm

How and Why Stories

Planet Oz Kids: Animals, Myths, and Legends
http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/legends.htm

Canku Ota (Many Paths)
http://www.turtletrack.org/CO_Indices/CO_Index_Story.htm

Cherokee Stories
http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/articles/default.htm

Indian Why Stories by Frank B Linderman
http://www.rickwalton.com/authtale/indwhy.htm

Native American Lore Index
http://www.ilhawaii.net/%7estony/loreindx.html

How and Why Stories Written by Kids

Longfellow Elementary School: Grade 4 Pourquoi Stories
http://www.minot.k12.nd.us/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=20382

Pierce-Sarvis Storytelling Unit: Pourquoi Stories
http://www.flint.lib.mi.us/kidsweb/greg02/pouquoi.shtml

Western Avenue School: Fourth Grade Pourquoi Stories
http://www.sd161.org/WebPagePourquoi%20Tales/Sweeney%20Pourquoi%20Stories.htm

If you need help finding these or other Library materials, please check with anyone in Children's Services. We look forward to seeing you at the Library!

This list was created and is maintained by Mandy Goldfuss.
Comments about this list can be sent to Mandy Goldfuss at agoldfuss@acpl.info.
General comments and suggestions can be sent to Becky White at bwhite@acpl.info, or to Mary R. Voors, Manager, Children's Services at mvoors@acpl.info.