Story Teller (magazine)
Story Teller (sold as Story Time in Australia and New Zealand. In Italy "Story Teller 1" was sold as I Raccontastorie while "Story Teller 2" as C'era una volta) was a magazine partwork published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985. Publishing history. The original collection. The original "Story Teller" was released from December 1982 and throughout 1983 as a fortnightly partwork. Each magazine contained a selection of children's stories, some traditional folk tales like "Anansi the Spiderman", some children's tales such as "Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat", and some contemporary works written especially for  the series, like "Timbertwig". Most issues contained a poem or two, as well. The stories were accompanied by lavish colour artwork, and inside each issue was an offer to purchase custom made binders for the magazine as well as cases to hold the tapes. Each issue of "Story Teller" came with a cover-mounted cassette tape containing a reading of the stories, complete with music and sound effects. What set "Story Teller" apart from other partworks was the stories were read by professional actors and celebrities of the time, including Richard Briers, Sheila Hancock, Derek Jacobi, and Nigel Lambert. Two  distinguishing features of the audio cassettes were the "Story Teller" jingle that introduced and ended each tape and the characteristic "ping" that sounded when the time came to turn the pages to encourage children to read along. The "Story Teller" jingle is an existing track called "Children's Carnival" by Ted Atking and Alain Feanch. Longer stories were split over multiple issues to encourage parents to buy the next issue. These were referred to as "Story Teller" Serials. As one serial came to end, another would start. Many of these would be simple two-part stories, but a selection of  stories (usually well-known ones such as "Peter Pan" and the "Wizard of Oz") were spread over several issues. "Pinocchio" was the longest serial, with seven installments. The original collection was 26 issues long with each tape lasting up to 45 minutes. An exception was issue 26, which was 90 minutes long because it also contained the special preview issue for "Story Teller 2", which immediately followed the original series. (The New Zealand and Australian "Story Time" only ran for 1 series, so the final Issue 26 was the standard 45 minutes long and did not feature the special preview  for the next series. This was the sole difference between its UK counterpart; the cassettes and artwork were otherwise identical. Similarly, the cassette carry case was available in Australia. However, in New Zealand, a smaller box was provided, made out of cardboard wrapped in a red plastic with small domes at the corners joining it all together and a piece of Velcro for the flap on the top). Section::::"Storyteller 2". "Story Teller 2", which was previewed in issue 26 of the original "Story Teller" series in the UK, continued the tradition of the original by combining traditional and contemporary children 's stories. (In New Zealand and Australia, "Story Time" only ran for 1 series.) Section::::"Little Story Teller". When "Story Teller 2" ended, Marshall Cavendish followed it up with another 26-part series, "Little Story Teller", which, as its title suggests, was aimed at a younger audience than the original series. Many of the stories in "Little Story Teller" featured the adventures of the inhabitants of the Magic Mountain, which included Leroy the Lion, Dotty the Dragon, and Morris and Doris the hamsters. Christmas specials. Three Christmas specials were also published. Released annually along with each series, the "Christmas Story Tellers  featured festive stories and even songs. The third Christmas Story Teller" included stories suited to both the original series and "Little Story Teller". Of the Christmas specials only "Christmas Story 2" was made available in New Zealand or Australia, under the title of "Christmas Story Time". Section::::"Story Teller Song Book". "Christmas Story 3" was widely assumed to be the last title from the "Story Teller" series but in 1986, Marshall Cavendish released the "Story Teller Song Book". The 52-page publication contained 20 all-time sing-along favourites rather than stories but it still retained the "Story Teller" tradition of  featuring colouring and activity pages as well as an accompanying cassette tape. Section::::"My Big Book of Fairy Tales". In 1987, Marshall Cavendish revisited the world of "Story Teller" by publishing a big hardback book called "My Big Book of Fairy Tales". Although the publication lacked the "Story Teller" branding, it was essentially a compilation of the best stories from "Story Teller"; it contained 73 stories from the two series and three Christmas issues. The original text and illustrations were used, except for the story "The Frog Prince", which featured new artwork (for no apparent reason). The book was rereleased in  1989 with a different cover and again in 1994. Unlike the partwork, "My Big Book of Fairy Tales" was not accompanied by a cassette. Section::::"Story Teller: Members' Edition". Published online in December 2020, this was a special edition of Story Teller, created by members of the Story Teller Facebook Group and some of the original writers and artists of the original Story Teller. It is available online at stme.uk. Availability. The partwork is now regarded as highly collectible, and issues can still be found today in secondhand and charity shops, but finding a complete set can be very difficult. Digital  copies can also be found on auction sites such as eBay, but these are of dubious legality. Stories and readers. Section::::"Story Teller 1". "Part 1" "Part 2" "Part 3" "Part 4" "Part 5" "Part 6" "Part 7" "Part 8" "Part 9" "Part 10" "Part 11" "Part 12" "Part 13" "Part 14" "Part 15" "Part 16" "Part 17" "Part 18" "Part 19" "Part 20" "Part 21" "Part 22" "Part 23" "Part 24" "Part 25" "Part 26" "Part 26" Story Teller 2 Special Preview Issue Section::::"Story Teller 2". "Part 1" "Part 2" "Part 3" "Part 4" "Part 5" "Part 6" "Part 7  Part 8" "Part 9" "Part 10" "Part 11" "Part 12" "Part 13" "Part 14" "Part 15" "Part 16" "Part 17" "Part 18" "Part 19" "Part 20" "Part 21" "Part 22" "Part 23" "Part 24" "Part 25" "Part 26" Section::::"Christmas Story Teller". "Part 1" "Part 2" "Part 3" Readers and singers: Derek Griffiths, Carole Boyd, Denise Bryer, Nigel Lambert, Steven Pacey, Claire Hamill, Tom Newman. Similar partworks. "Story Teller" became such a huge success in the 80s that other publishers released similar partworks, including Fabbri's "Once Upon a Time" collection and Disney's "Storytime" series. In addition to "clones" of  the "Story Teller" series, several paperback books containing selections from the actual "Story Teller" series were released (with accompanying cassettes) in the US, under the title "Look, Listen and Read". These compilations contained stories or themes that related to each other, either by author or content. Examples include "The Best of Aesop", "The Legend of King Arthur", "Jack and the Beanstalk", and "Rapunzel." Disney's "Storytime". The main differentiator between "Story Teller" and Disney's "Storytime" was the fact that the latter featured only Disney characters. "Storytime" hit newsagents' shelves soon after "Story Teller" proved to be a bestseller. It  was published in 24 parts and customised binders and cassette boxes were produced to house the collection (just like "Story Teller"). Disney movies, such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) and "Sleeping Beauty" (1959), were serialised. (Note: the Australian and New Zealand versions of "Story Teller" were published as "Story Time" - not to be confused with Disney's "Storytime" series.) External links. There are three dedicated websites: