The Melanated Tales Heritage Pack takes children on a journey through African and African American folktales, fairy tales, and tall tales featuring Black characters. Several of the stories are retellings of favorites from Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm while others are completely original narratives. Some are contemporary stories, but many have been passed along through generations and across oceans to settle in today’s homes and school rooms. These magical tales involve intrigue, friendship, justification for the inexplicable, big truths, bold exaggerations, supernatural happenings, and enchanted adventures. But no matter the subject matter or the storyteller, they all have one thing in common: Black faces moving through imaginary places and spaces. This pack is a special treat jam-packed with mirrors and windows for all!
Target grades: Designed especially for 1st – 3rd grade but delightful for all ages. These tales are timeless so students and family members of all ages can join in on a multi-generational experience, especially if they have never been exposed to these richly imaginative stories.
Lessons scheduled:36 weekly lessons. Though designed for a single school year, these robust lessons could easily be stretched out to cover multiple years if you split up the core and companion book readings and add one or more bonus books. And most of the lessons stand alone, so stories or books can be removed if you prefer to move through the lessons more quickly.
What’s included:
- A list of recommended titles with book summaries and integrated at-a-glance lesson plans
- Lesson-by-lesson guide with suggested page breakdowns that combine books for a cohesive program
- A companion book option for longer, more robust lessons – fully scheduled
- Two recommended bonus books not shown here and 22 free video suggestions that bring the stories to life with real imagery
- Access to a digital page with pictures and direct links to purchase all of the books along with future updates to broken links, book updates/replacements, and other notes to enhance your experience, as needed.
The Melanated Tales Heritage Pack includes these great titles along with a companion book, three bonus book recommendations, and 20 picture books to offer children a unique view of fairy tales, folktales, and tall tales that they are not likely to ever experience without our intentional efforts. The images below contain affiliate links, so I may receive a small payment if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
Sample of scheduled books:
Download and Printing Options:
- Digital download only (immediate access) – $12.95
- Primary hard copy print & ship (spiral-bound OR 3-hole punched) – Select this option if this is the first or only shipped Heritage Pack you are adding to your cart today. Includes immediate digital download – $24.95 ($15.95 + $9.00 USPS priority shipping at checkout)
- Grouped hard copy print & ship (spiral-bound OR 3-hole punched) – Save on shipping! Select this discounted option if you’ve already added any primary shipped Heritage Pack to your cart. Includes immediate digital download – $15.95 (no additional shipping)
Printing specs – 28 lb paper, double-sided, color cover, black & white inside pages (same as digital). Usually arrives much sooner, but please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery from our third-party printing company.
* Please be sure to enter your FULL mailing address (including zip code) in the order notes! Double-check for typos.
Want more information? Policies & FAQ
Reviews
Time well spent
I love this resource, thank you Amber! I had a baby recently and for the first two months after my baby was born, I focused on reading books from the melanated tales heritage pack book list and playing math card games with my first grader. It was a beautiful hiatus from our regular curriculum to deep dive into African folktales and fairy tales. Time well spent and easy to implement with a newborn around.
Thank you!!
Thank you so much for such a wonderful resource 🙂 Thank you for sharing your passion for cultural appreciation and diversity ❤️ It is much need in our world! I look forward to all that you share with us.
Great Book List!
We are excited to focus on Africa this year as we prepare for an upcoming trip. This is a super valuable resource as we plan out our curriculum!
Happy Homeschooling Momma
All of the resourceful information included in this pack is impeccable. Introducing history and literature to my children is very important to me and HeritageMom made that happen with this amazingly structured pack. I purchased the core, companion and optional books to go along with the lessons. I plan to utilize YouTube for the story books. I purchased the Amazing Africa for next years History curriculum.
Thank you for giving the culture something that’s been missing in OUR educational system.
Great resource to supplement our homeschool
Thanks so much for all of the wonderful resources, Amber. This is perfect for supplementing homeschool curriculum with additional stories. She includes links to videos in addition to the book lists, which is a fun touch.
Wonderful literature!
I love the stories included in this pack. We live in an area lacking diversity, and I think it’s really important for kids to be exposed early and often to diverse cultures. I love that this booklist includes diverse characters in stories my kids already know, along with new stories we haven’t heard before. The pack includes some creation stories, which I don’t love for younger children, but the resources are scheduled in such a way that they’re easy to omit. The schedule is low-pressure and easy to incorporate into our morning time and afternoon read alouds, skipping the few things I don’t care for and lingering over the stories we love. I’m grateful for Heritage Mom and her dedication to helping kids grow in love for all God’s people.
Excellent Resource
As a homeschool mom and a transracial adoptive family it was important to incorporate my love of stories and ties to my daughter’s heritage. This resource is well curated, thoughtful, and there is nothing like it. I’ve been getting recommendations and searching online for books of this caliber with representation for awhile; but nothing came close to this list!
Bonus, I got most of the books on ThriftBooks for about $120.00 (I chose to buy most of them since we have limited library access).
Fantastic Resource
I am thrilled to have this resource as I teach my children. One of the things I love most about homeschooling is the ability to teach my children things that they might not learn otherwise. The Melanated Tales pack equips me to introduce stories to them that we might normally miss—stories that will surround them with characters that represent the world as it actually is, not a white-washed version of it! I couldn’t be happier!
Fun and worthwhile!
I can’t wait to go through all these books with my kids as we love reading! There are so many I hadn’t heard of before and this guide provides so many great books to explore!
A Worthwhile Investment
If you are looking for a rich variety of fairy tales featuring Black characters, this is it! I am a librarian and I can’t get over what a great value this Pack is: a curated, thoughtful, deep treasure trove of stories to read with the whole family. I love the structure of the weekly plan and the flexibility from additional titles. I’m looking forward to using this plan during the school year. Worth noting: If you are going to purchase the audio version of the main text, make sure you are buying the whole unabridged version; the individual stories are also available for purchase. Thank you for this wonderful resource, Amber!
Exactly what I was looking for
PERFECTION! This is exactly what I was looking for – I wanted retellings of favorites from Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm and new narratives – but this is an EASY SIMPLE guide to go along with books! Again exactly exactly what I was looking for so thank you for all your work at putting this together all organized simple and usable !!!!
0 Comments