Grandfather Tales [Paperback]

Richard Chase (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

A collection of folk tales from North Carolina and Virginia for a slightly older audience than that for Chase's Jack Tales.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The collector of the Jack Tales has brought new joy to children and storytellers in these twenty-four tales and a mummer's play . . . richly humorous. Colorful mountain speech comes to life." (School Library Journal Starred )

About the Author

Richard Chase collected The Jack Tales in the mountain country of North Carolina, where they have been handed down for generations. Everyone knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. This book contains
eighteen stories about Jack, many of them still completely new to the average reader. And what adventures Jack has!

Noted American folklorist Richard Chase (1904–1988) has been called the man "most responsible for the renaissance of Appalachian storytelling." A collector of tales that had been handed down from generation to generation in the Appalachian regions of the United States, Chase was born in Alabama and lived in the mountains of North Carolina.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper (September 9, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395561507
• ISBN-13: 978-0395561508
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,464,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meeting the Author, July 31, 2009

By 

W. Ravenel "yellow-dog democrat" (living with Maggie in Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grandfather Tales (Hardcover)

When I was a camper at Camp Yonahnoka in Linville, NC, Richard Chase, the author of GRANDFATHER TALES and THE JACK TALES, would visit the camp and tell Jack tales to the campers from time to time. And always in that wonderful dialect he tries fairly successfully to capture in his books. He also introduced us to some early Blue Ridge Mountain folk toys - the "gee-haw whimmydiddle" being my favorite. It was a stick with notches cut into it and a simple two-bladed propeller afixed to the end with a small nail. When you rubbed the stick across the notches and said "Gee!", the propeller would spin to the left; when you called out "Haw!", the propeller would change course and spin to the right.

The trick was to hold the rubbing stick in your left hand in such a way that when your index finger was in front of the stick when it rubbed the notches, the propeller would spin to the left; when you turned your wrist slightly so that the the thumb and not the index finger was behind the stick as it rubbed the whimmydiddle, it would spin to the right. Chase showed my 10 year old self the secret while I sat on his lap during a bunkhouse cookout.

When I became a camp counselor, I'd read half a story a night aloud to my campers at bedtime. (In my best Richard Chase voice, of course.) No finishing the story the next night unless they behaved themselves the rest of the evening. It always worked because they loved the stories.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book from the past, September 1, 2007

By 

ksrm "Emy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grandfather Tales (Hardcover)

Returned memories of my childhood which I can now pass to my grandchildren for some fun reading together.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appalachian Folklore with universal appeal, May 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Grandfather Tales (Hardcover)

25 oral tradition folktales with their roots in English mummers and mythology. Even the "Lear" story appears under the title 'Like Meat Loves Salt' These are stories written to be read out loud and help to enchant with the wonderful tradition of spoken folktales. There is also a collection of JACK TALES by the same author. This is the same boy of Jack & The Beanstalk fame. He has 17 other tales about him! Fantastic!