Mookini Library

In the Mythology/Legends/Folktales/Ghost Stories section, there are over 20 books listed in alphabetical order by title. Scroll down the page and find the title that interests you. Permission to scan the cover of WHY SNAILS HAVE SHELLS, by Carolyn Han (University of Hawaii Press, 1993) was granted by the University of Hawaii Press. No other use of this image, including electronic transmission, is allowed without express permission from the publisher.

 
 (last updated, 8-26-05)

Books about Hawai'i are marked with a palm tree
 
• Anpao, an American Indian Odyssey, by Jamake Highwater. 1993.

mystical Native American legends
• Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father's Shoulders , by Belle Yang. 1994.

a daughter tells her father's stories from his birth in Manchuria in 1928 through the Japanese occupation, Russian migration to Northeastern China, and the Chinese civil war. It is a mixture of poetic mythology and art
• Backbone of the King: The Story of Pakaa and His Son Ku, by Marcia Brown. c1966.

chants are also used in this legend telling how an exiled father is reinstated to his position of royal attendant to the king
• The Bird Who Cleans the World and Other Mayan Fables, told by Victor Montejo. 1991.

a collection of Jakaltek Mayan folktales of creation, nature, and ethnic conflicts in relationships
• Chinese Fairy Tales, illustrated by Jeanyee Wong. 1946, 1961.

twelve classic tales are accompanied by beautiful artwork
• A Collection of Stories About Hawaii, by Gordon Morse. c1996.
  the author, a former photographer and reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser, lives in Volcano and wrote these 11 stories, many of which take place near Kilauea Volcano
• The Demon King and Other Festival Folktales of China, retold by Carolyn Han. 1995.

HawCC's own author has traveled extensively to China to collect folktales of the minority people. She has retold these 4 about current and traditional celebrations of festivals. The author's other title is Why Snails Have Shells
• From the Mouth of the Monster Eel: Stories from Micronesia, by Bo Flood. 1991.

six creation tales are told, including how the first coconut arrived in Micronesia
• The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, and Other Classic Philippine Legends, as told by Maria Elena Paterno and illustrated by Albert Gamos. 1993.

a collection of tales for young and old
• Glen Grant's Chicken Skin Tales: 49 Favorite Ghost Stories From Hawaii, by Glen Grant.
• Hawaiian Fishing Traditions, by Moke Manu and others. 1992.

this collection of stories "celebrates the great fishers of ancient Hawaii"
• Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, collected and translated from the Hawaiian by William D. Westervelt. 1963, 1991.
• Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes, collected and translated from the Hawaiian by William D. Westervelt. 1963, 1991.
• Hawaiian Tales of Heroes and Champions, by Vivian L. Thompson. 1971.

12 stories of "supernatural kupuna"
• The Hawaiians, an Island People, by Helen G. Pratt. c1963.

each chapter covers different aspects of Hawaiian culture; poetry and legends are included in the Appendix
• Hilo Legends, retold by Francis Reed. 1987.

12 legends including how Hilo got named
• In the Valley of the Ancients: a Book of Native American Legends, by Lou Cuevas. [1996].

legends and tales of the Southwest Indians
• Kauai Tales, by Fredrick B. Wichman. 1985.

a collection of 18 stories
• Kawelo, Roving Chief, by Vivian L. Thompson. 1991.

adventures of a young Hawaiian chief from Kaua`i
• The Magic Crocodile and Other Folktales from Indonesia, told by Alice Terada. 1994.

a collection of 29 tales from 6 regions of Indonesia tell of creation, etc. along with a description of each local culture
• Marianas Island Legends: Myth and Magic, compiled by Bo Flood. 2001.
  "a collection of stories, poems, and oral histories contributed by people of all ages living in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands"
• Marshall Islands Legends and Stories, told by Tonke Aisea. 2003.
• Mexican Ghost Tales of the Southwest, by Alfred Avila. 1994.

"a collection of stories that have been handed down from past generations"
• Micronesian Legends, by Bo Flood. 2002.


• Na Moolelo Hawaii o ka wa Kahiko-- Stories of Old Hawaii: a Literary Companion to the Hawaiians of Old, by Roy Kakulu Alameida. 1997.

several Hawaiian legends are told to accompany Betty Dunford's book, Hawaiians of Old
• Ka Moolelo o Laieikawai (The Hawaiian Romance of Laieikawai), translated by Martha Beckwith. c1997.

the famous story includes adventures of the two lovers on the island of Hawai`i
• Nanaue the Shark Man and Other Hawaiian Shark Stories, by Emma M. Nakuina and others. 1994.

8 stories, many from the Big Island
• Niihau: the Traditions of a Hawaiian Island, by Rerioterai and Moses K. Keale, Sr. c1989.

past and present ways of life; includes mele and legends
• Obake: Ghost Stories in Hawaii, by Glen Grant. 1994.

10 chicken skin ghostly tales that master storyteller Grant has collected and combined from Hawaii's different cultures
• One Paddle, Two Paddle, by Miriam Rappolt. 1993.

eleven contemporary, Hawaiian "spooky" stories such as carrying "pork over the Pali"
• The Opal That Turned Into Fire, by Janet Mathews. 1994.

a collection of stories based on the oral tradition of Aboriginals from New South Wales, Australia
• Pacific Island Legends: Tales from Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Australia, by Bo Flood. c1999.
• Polihale and Other Kauai Legends, by Frederick B. Wichman. 1991.

18 different folktales including "how the sands of Nohili began to bark", etc
• The Pollen Path: A Collection of Navajo Myths, retold by Margaret Schevill Link. 1956.

twelve tales based on chants recited from memory by a medicine man
• Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. 1988.

"Themes and symbols reflecting many world religions and mythologies are present in our daily lives"
• The Rainbow People, by Laurence Yep. 1989.

a collection of Chinese folktales
• Recollections of Kahoolawe, by Inez MacPhee Ashdown, 1979
  legends are interwoven with the author's story of her experiences at the beginning of the nineteenth century
• Tales from Within the Clouds: Nakhi Stories of China, retold by Carolyn Han. 1997.Hawaii Community College's own reading teacher tells these folktales that are from the Nakhi minority people. All of the main characters --plants and animals-- are female and have delightful lessons to share
• Tales of Molokai, narrated by Harriet Ne. 1992.

collection of traditional and contemporary legends of Molokai
• Tales of the Menehune, compiled by Mary Kawena Pukui, retold by Caroline Curtis. 1985.

many tales of Hawaii's little people from Maui and the other islands were gathered by Mary Pukui who was born in Ka'u on the Big Island in 1895
• Teller of Hawaiian Tales, by Eric A. Knudsen. 1946.

these "stories of gods and goddesses, ghosts and heroes, cowboys..." were originally told on the radio
• This is My Word (Ngay Janijirr Ngank), by Magdalene Williams. 1999.
  stories about the culture and lives of the Nyulnyul people, Aboriginal Australians in the Beagle Bay area, are told by an older woman who learned from her elders
• Under the Starfruit Tree: Folktales from Vietnam, as told by Alice M. Terada. 1989.

27 tales from North and South Vietnam
• Voices on the Wind: Polynesian Myths and Chants, by Katherine Luomala. 1986.
• Voyagers, by Herbert Kawainui Kane. 1991.

art and stories depicting Hawaii's first inhabitants from Polynesia
• Voyaging Chiefs of Hawaii, by Teuira Henry and others and edited by Dennis Kawaharada. c1995.

folklore of Polynesian and Hawaiian migrations by canoe
• Water in the Ring of Fire: Folktales from the Asia-Pacific, edited by Carla M. Pacis. 1996.

a compilation of tales, including some from the Philippines
• Why Snails Have Shells: Minority and Han Folktales From China, by Carolyn Han. 1993.

HawCC's own lecturer traveled to China and collected these 20 tales from groups such as the Mongol, Tibetan, Miao, Yao, and Han people; beautifully illustrated. Her other titles are The Demon King and Other Festival Folktales of China and Tales from Within the Clouds: Nakhi Stories of China
• Why the pina has a hundred eyes, and other classic Philippine folk tales about fruits, told by Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz. 1993.

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