Recordings by Rafe Martin


Storytelling with Rafe Martin
XXI Public Television of Rochester, N.Y., has just produced a superb video of Rafe doing an oral telling (not a reading or even a repetition of his book’s text but a vivid performance) of his most well-known children's book The Rough-Face Girl - mysterious and beautiful. After that he goes on to tell a wild and outrageously funny original version of The Three Pigs. The video also includes a very well-done interview with Rafe on the power and meaning of stories and storytelling.

It’s highly recommended for the whole family and a great deal at $20.00, plus $2.00 for shipping and handling. Delivery is in 4 to 6 weeks. Order DVD (reference with number S-8826) direct from WXXI by phoning (585) 258-0315 with a credit card or by mailing a check to:

WXXI
TV Tape Sales
P.O. Box 30021
Rochester, New York 14603-3021
top of page


Audio Recordings

To find out more about the audiocassette versions of Rafe's stories, visit the website of Yellow Moon Press, where along with Rafe’s stories you can find contemporary and traditional tapes, CDs, and books that explore history and breathe new life into the oral tradition.




Download Rafe Martin Tells His Children's Books from www.audible.com

Parents' Choice
Gold Award

Rafe Martin Tells His Children’s Books
60 minutes

Listen to Rafe:

or the first time, four of Rafe’s acclaimed children's books, as actually told by him, are available on one tape. This audio cassette which is a Parent's Choice Gold Award-winner, features Rafe’s original, oral versions of The Rough-Face Girl, Foolish Rabbit’s Big Mistake, The Boy Who Lived with the Seals, and The Boy Who Loved Mammoths.

Dramatic, lively, and uniquely different from his books, these four stories are brought to life with all the richness of voice and expression for which Rafe’s storytelling is known. “The four stories on this tape,” Rafe explains, “are the way I actually tell them today. I have wanted to share these performances with my many readers for some time. People who have heard me tell these stories have been amazed to discover how different the original, oral, and printed versions really are. Now, at last, here they are for you to enjoy.”

“This rare treat for all belongs in virtually every collection.”
Booklist

top of page


Download Ghostly
Tales of Japan
from www.audible.com

Parents’ Choice
Gold Award

ALA Best-of-
the-Best for Children Award

Ghostly Tales of Japan
60 min., 1989

his 1990 Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner and American Library Association 1992 Best of the Best for Children contains favorites that Rafe has been telling for years. “The Boy Who Drew Cats” emphasizes the saving power of faith in one’s own creativity; “Urashima Taro” is a well-known tale in Japan (in the Catskill mountains he would be Rip Van Winkle); “Ho-Ichi the Earless” shows we have the power within to triumph over whatever evil we may face; and “Kogi” is an original story based on an old tale of a Buddhist priest-painter who dreams he becomes a fish.

“Rafe Martin’s convincing delivery and excellent timing cast listeners under the spell of Japan in these four unusual tales. Well worth the purchase price.”
Booklist

“These tales and their tellings are eerie, authentic, and magical.”
Morikami Museum of Japanese Culture



top of page



Download Animal Dreaming from www.audible.com

Animal Dreaming: Encounters
in the Natural World

70 min., 1992

ellowmoon Press writes: “This is our second tape with Rafe, and one whose message is timely. In clear and eloquent language, Rafe reacquaints us with something we all know is true -- our connection and kinship with the natural world of animals, plants, and earth. The stories featured here come from times in Rafe’s life when he has felt linked to the natural world. They express a deep yearning to reestablish our connection to our origins in nature, and a sense of urgency this connection will help us all survive. The stories range from an encounter with two belugas at an aquarium, to a haunting story of cows that scratch messages with their hooves, to a pet rat named Lenny, lovingly remembered. If you believe that we are stewards of the Earth, this marvelous tape is for you and your children.”

“These seven extraordinary narratives are deeply moving and intensely spiritual. In each, Rafe Martin explores the powerful connection between animals and humans, the experiencing of which can be personally transforming. These stories are at once painful, haunting, and exhilarating. These are not spontaneous musings, nor do they flow spontaneously form the author’s mouth; his reading is occasionally awkward, but nonetheless affecting. The message is that in encounters, such as these, with animals -- domestic and wild, caged and free -- we humans remember who and why we are. All who have pondered the mysteries of life will be deeply moved by these remarkable stories.”
Booklist

“The theme of earth-animal-human unity permeates each of these stories. Rafe Martin is a master at building suspense and using figurative language and imagery, qualities which will hold listeners spellbound. The audio quality is excellent and the stories are separated by appropriate animal sounds. . . . Public and school libraries serving young adults will want to give this storytelling experience serious consideration. It will also be useful for high school ecology curriculum.”
School Library Journal

“Rafe Martin touches something transcendent.”
Yarnspinner (publication of the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling - NAPPS).

“These stories are part of a conversation we all need to have. They challenge us to think personally about our own relation to animals and the natural world.” Turning Wheel


top of page


home  about rafe  appearances  books  recordings  articles  gallery  contact

Copyright © Rafe Martin, 2000. All rights reserved.
Last updated December 14, 2009.


Web design by Lisa Jadwin
Web site maintained by Lori A. Foster, Latitude Exposures