A film about children and teenagers living in an East German CHILDREN'S HOME in Mentin, Mecklenburg in the late 1970s. They talk openly about their past experiences, how they affected their lives and why they ended up in the home, describing unstable home situations, domestic violence and their parents’ alcohol abuse. But these young people also share their hopes for the future. This documentary was produced as an opening film for Roland Gräf’s...

Bestselling author Lauren Tarshis tackles the Children's Blizzard of 1888 in this latest installment of the groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling I Survived series.Eleven-year-old John Hale has already survived one brutal Dakota winter, and now he's about to experience one of the deadliest blizzards in American history. The storm of 1888 was a monster, a frozen hurricane that slammed into America's midwest without warning. Within hours, America's...

Continuing with the theme of transformation, Dr. Harvey introduces you to a variety of interpretations of the classic story "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," starting with a composition known as a "symphonic poem" by Paul Dukas and notes Goethe's poem. She provides the original story from the first century Egypt and treats you a story from France, with insights why we enjoy transformation stories.

Femininity is once again examined, this time with a focus on the roles women play in stories. Dr. Harvey shares a combined version of "Rapunzel," pulling from Grimm's German version and Basile's Italian version. Looking at the triad of Maiden/Mother/Crone and Warrior/Father/Sage, Dr. Harvey shows how stories reduce and distill all our life experiences into simple symbols.

Why do we love toppling giants? Stories such as David and Goliath resonate, giving us hope that we can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Dr. Harvey shares two stories: "The Legend of the Chocolate Hills" from the Philippines, and "The Little Tailor," adapted from the 1857 version by the brothers Grimm, which itself was adapted from a 1557 story called "Der Wegkurtzer" by Martinus Montanus.

Many scholars believe that the beanstalk in "Jack and the Beanstalk" is a reference to the Tree of Life, which is one of our most iconic global images. Dr. Harvey presents religious and cultural insights and more through the telling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and the Norse myth "Yggdrasil The World Tree."

Repetition and patterned verse are often the backbone to some of our most beloved tales. Dr. Harvey presents a wide-range of formula tales including, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" from Norway, Joseph Jacob's "Henny Penny" from Australia, "The Gingerbread Man," and "The Three Bears" which was written by English poet laureate Robert Southey and therefore lends itself to being a cante tale.

Tom Thumb is grounded in oral folklore, meaning it was passed through the ages verbally as the storytellers could not read or write. Dr. Harvey shares J.O. Halliwell's poetic version of "Tom Thumb" as well as a Hans Christian Andersen's "Thumbelina" and discusses the differences between traditionally defined folktales and stories written by literary authors.

Aesop has made a name for himself. Dr. Harvey presents several of his tales, including "The Tortoise and the Hare," "Androcles and the Lion," "The Stone in the Road," "The Fox and the Wolf," and "Belling the Cat." She also shares Kipling's "Camel Poem" and "How the Hamster Got his Tail," a Kenyan story about why hamsters have small tails.