Kindness Tales — Margaret Read Macdonald

What could be more timely than a book about kindness in today's divided and often hostile world? Kindness Tales is the long-awaited third book in a trilogy that includes Peace Tales and Earth Care from award-winning author and highly-respected folklorist, Margaret Read MacDonald. Margaret has curated a collection of her favorite stories that celebrate the timeless power of kindness to make the world a gentler, safer, and even more loving place.

Kindness Tales contains more than forty folktales that illustrate the transformative power of kindness through leading, sharing and caring for one another through simple acts of kindness. These stories share a common theme of using thoughtful and sometimes generous acts of kindness to make the world better. These timeless tales from the world's great oral traditions are a delight to tell, read aloud with a group, or simply enjoy as a quiet reading experience. This book can also be used as a personal touchstone for thinking about and reflecting more deeply on the consequences of quiet acts of kindness.

Stories from around the world are supplemented by generous reference notes, source information, and suggestions for further reading on the topic of kindness. These stories also teach the important role that fairness and personal responsibility contribute to our world. Due to Margaret's careful curation, these stories can be shared with groups of all ages. Some of these tales easily engage preschool and primary school-aged children, while other stories are more thought-provoking and more engaging for teenagers and adults.

Margaret Read MacDonald is well known for her lively retellings of folktales. Drawing on her extensive background in folklore (Ph.D. Indiana University Folklore Institute) and her many travels throughout the world, MacDonald searches out unusual tales from the world's folk literature and oral traditions. She has a gift for retelling these stories so they appeal to children and adults alike. Margaret is a prolific writer and performer, having published over 55 books.