Career
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 “Look Back & See by Margaret Read MacDonald” | |
| “Cockroach Party – Duet with Margaret Read MacDonald & Jeff Gere“ | |
| ”Not Our Problem by Margaret Read MacDonald” |
MacDonald combined experience from 35 years as a children's librarian (San Francisco Public; Oahu bookmobiles; Singapore American School; Mountain-Valley Library System; Montgomery County Maryland; King County Library System[14])[citation needed] with her degree in folklore (Ph.D. Indiana University Folklore Institute 1979)[13] to create tellable folktale collections and picture books "so rhythmic and conversational even a first-time storyteller will be successful." Her folktale picture books, such as Fat Cat and Party Croc! are known for their rhythmic quality and easy readability. Kirkus Review notes the patterned text as contributing to MacDonald's trademark style and encouraging audience participation.[15]
"These stories talk about issues that affect all of us. They tell us about how to be kind, how to get along with people, and they’re playful. In most cultures, children are part of the storytelling event. The tales appeal to both children and adults. Often livelier, fun stories are told early in the evening and later, after the children have fallen asleep, the adults can turn to more serious tales."[16]
In 1995-96 MacDonald was a Fulbright Scholar in Mahasarakham, Thailand, working with Wajuppa Tossa. The project encouraged students to learn and continue to use their local dialects, as storytellers, as well as preserve little-known tales by translating them into English. Stories were translated from the local languages into English, refined as tellable stories, and then translated back into the local language and checked for cultural gaffes. MacDonald and Wajuppa developed a co-telling style in which they followed each other line-for-line in two languages.[3][17]
MacDonald has taught courses in storytelling at the University of Washington[9] and Lesley University.[18] Since her retirement from librarianship in 2002 she has traveled extensively abroad teaching storytelling techniques and performing.[3] She has recruited tellers to put their countries’ tales into print and edited folktale collections by tellers from Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia.[19]
As a folklorist, MacDonald has interviewed traditional tellers to produce Scipio Storytelling: Talk in a Southern Indiana Community (1996)[10] and Ten Traditional Tellers (2006), which features ten storytellers from around the world.[20]
Macdonald has been a member of the American Library Association, Association for Library Service to Children, Children's Literature Association, International Board on Books for Young People, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and Washington Library Association. Macdonald has been a member (1986–90) and president (1989–90) of the board of directors of the Washington State Folklife Council and a member (1988–91) and president (1989–90) of the board of directors of Youth Theater Northwest. She has been a member of the board of the National Storytelling Association (1992–95), and president of the Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society (1993–94).[7][citation needed]
MacDonald received the National Storytelling Network's Leadership Award in 1998.[5] She received the Talking Leaves Award from the National Storytelling Network in 2001[21] as "a major influence and force in the literary body of storytelling."[2] MacDonald was chosen for the Outstanding Author and Storyteller Award, 2001-2002 by the Washington Organization for Reading Development, an affiliate of the International Literacy Association (ILA).[5]
