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Story Teller (magazine) facts for kids

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Story Teller was a popular magazine series published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985. It was also known as Story Time in Australia and New Zealand. In Italy, the first series was called I Raccontastorie and the second was C'era una volta. These magazines helped bring stories to life for children.

How Story Teller Magazines Were Published

The First Collection

The very first Story Teller magazines came out in December 1982. They were published every two weeks throughout 1983. Each magazine was packed with children's stories. Some were old favorites like "Anansi the Spiderman" or Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat. Others were new stories written just for the series, like "Timbertwig". Most issues also included a poem or two.

The stories had beautiful, colorful pictures. Inside each magazine, you could find offers to buy special folders to keep your magazines tidy. There were also cases to hold the cassette tapes that came with each issue.

The Special Cassette Tapes

What made Story Teller really special was the cassette tape that came with every magazine. These tapes had professional actors and famous people reading the stories. Imagine listening to Richard Briers, Sheila Hancock, or Derek Jacobi tell you a tale!

The tapes had a fun "Story Teller" song at the beginning and end. They also had a special "ping" sound. This sound told you when to turn the page, so you could read along with the story. The "Story Teller" song is actually a tune called "Children's Carnival" by Ted Atking and Alain Feanch.

Stories in Parts

Some longer stories were split into several parts across different magazines. This was done to encourage families to buy the next issue to find out what happened! These were called Story Teller Serials. When one long story ended, another would begin.

Many stories were just two parts, but some very famous ones, like Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz, were spread over many issues. The longest story was Pinocchio, which had seven parts!

The first collection had 26 issues. Most tapes were about 45 minutes long. The very last issue, number 26, was special. It was 90 minutes long because it also included a sneak peek of Story Teller 2, which came out right after.

(In New Zealand and Australia, the Story Time series only had one collection. So, their final Issue 26 was the usual 45 minutes and didn't have the preview for a second series.)

Story Teller 2

Story Teller 2 followed the first series and kept the tradition of mixing old and new children's stories. It was previewed in the last issue of the original Story Teller in the UK. (Remember, New Zealand and Australia only had the first Story Time series.)

Little Story Teller

After Story Teller 2 finished, Marshall Cavendish released another series called Little Story Teller. This series also had 26 parts. As the name suggests, it was made for younger children than the first two series. Many stories in Little Story Teller were about characters living on Magic Mountain, like Leroy the Lion and Dotty the Dragon.

Christmas Specials

Three special Christmas Story Teller magazines were also published. They came out once a year with each series. These issues had festive stories and even songs. The third Christmas special had stories for both the original series and Little Story Teller. Only Christmas Story 2 was available in New Zealand and Australia, where it was called Christmas Story Time.

Story Teller Song Book

Many thought Christmas Story 3 would be the last Story Teller title. But in 1986, the Story Teller Song Book was released. This 52-page book had 20 popular sing-along songs instead of stories. However, it still had the fun coloring and activity pages, and it came with a cassette tape, just like the story magazines.

My Big Book of Fairy Tales

In 1987, Marshall Cavendish brought back the Story Teller magic with a large hardback book called My Big Book of Fairy Tales. Even though it didn't say "Story Teller" on the cover, it was a collection of the best stories from the two main series and the three Christmas issues. It had 73 stories in total! The original words and pictures were used, except for "The Frog Prince", which had new artwork. The book was re-released in 1989 and again in 1994. Unlike the magazines, this book did not come with a cassette tape.

Story Teller: Members' Edition

In December 2020, a special online version called Story Teller: Members' Edition was created. This edition was made by fans from the Story Teller Facebook Group, along with some of the original writers and artists. You can find it online at stme.uk.

Finding Story Teller Today

The Story Teller magazines are now quite rare and sought after by collectors. You might still find issues in secondhand shops or charity stores. However, finding a complete set is very hard. You can also find digital copies on auction sites like eBay, but it's important to be careful about their legality.

Stories and Readers

Many famous actors and actresses lent their voices to the Story Teller series. Here are some examples from the first series:

Story Teller 1

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

  • Dot & the Kangaroo (Part 1): Carole Boyd
  • The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg: Carole Boyd
  • The Selfish Giant: Joss Ackland

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

Part 18

  • Heidi (Part 1): Denise Bryer
  • George and the Dragon: Steven Pacey
  • The Frog Prince: Gemma Craven

Part 19

Part 20

Part 21

  • The Bold Little Tailor: Michael Hordern
  • The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Nigel Lambert
  • Heidi (Part 4): Denise Bryer

Part 22

Part 23

Part 24

Part 25

Part 26

  • The Goblin Rat: Liza Goddard
  • Thumbelina: Liza Goddard
  • A Lion at School: Liza Goddard

Part 26 Story Teller 2 Special Preview Issue

Story Teller: Members' Edition

  • Timbertwig and the Dancing Dress: Peet Ellison
  • The Peacock and the Magpie: Caroline Usasz
  • Pip the Water Drop: Jo Huysamen
  • The Cloud Cook: Rebecca Harrison
  • How Night Came: Fiona Botham
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses: Michael Sharmon
  • Bubble & Squeek: Deborah Breen
  • Zebra or Giraffe?: Chris Signore
  • Friendship in the Park: Jo Huysamen
  • The Battle of the Crabs: Antonio Pineda
  • Odysseus: Nicola Ni Craith
  • Lawton the Lion: Kathy Schmidt-Trajkovski

Story Teller Around the World

Story Teller magazines were also published in many other languages!

  • Dutch: "Luister Sprookjes en Vertellingen"
  • German: "Erzähl mir was"
  • French: "Raconte-moi des histoires"
  • Italian: "I Racconta Storie" and "C'era una volta" (later with CDs instead of tapes)
  • Greek: "Άμπρα Κατάμπρα" (Abracadabra) (later with CDs instead of tapes)
  • Spanish: "Cuenta Cuentos"
  • Afrikaans: "Storieman"

Other Similar Story Series

Story Teller was so successful in the 1980s that other publishers started their own similar magazine series. These included Fabbri's Once Upon a Time and Disney's Storytime series.

There were also paperback books released in the US called "Look, Listen and Read." These books were collections of stories from the original Story Teller series, and they came with tapes too. They grouped stories by author or theme, like The Best of Aesop or The Legend of King Arthur.

Disney's Storytime

The main difference between Story Teller and Disney's Storytime was that Disney's series only featured Disney characters. Storytime came out soon after Story Teller became a huge bestseller. It had 24 parts, and like Story Teller, you could buy special folders and tape boxes for it. Famous Disney movies, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, were told in parts across the issues. (Just a reminder: the Australian and New Zealand versions of Story Teller were called Story Time, which is different from Disney's Storytime.)

Some Stories from Disney's Storytime

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Part 1): Penelope Keith
  • Donald Duck Goes Climbing: John Alderton
  • The Three Little Pigs: John Alderton
  • Pooh and Piglet Have an Adventure: Paul Daneman
  • The Grasshopper and the Ants: Ray Brooks
  • Christopher Robin and His Friends Go for a Picnic: Paul Daneman
  • The Wise Little Hen: Ruth Madoc
  • Dumbo Plays Cricket: Richard Briers
  • Robin Hood (Part 1): Richard Briers
  • Bambi Grows Up: Una Stubbs
  • The Ugly Duckling: Julia McKenzie
  • Mowgli Meets Baloo: Freddie Jones
  • Dumbo the Elephant (Part 1): Una Stubbs
  • Sleeping Beauty and the Evil Fairy's Spell: June Whitfield
  • Pinocchio at the Puppet Theatre: Andrew Sachs
  • Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters: Penelope Keith
  • The Mad Hatter's Tea Party: June Whitfield
  • Arthur Meets Merlin the Magician: Bernard Cribbins
  • Peter Pan and Wendy: Martin Jarvis

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Cuenta cuentos para niños

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