Recent Posts

• 16 May 2022Episodes, Season Two

  012 Fast and Slow

  We were off last month, but this month, we continue with an Easter leftovers theme, with a bunny. Well, more accurately a hare, as we uncover the stories based on the well-known Aesop fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” The Open Storybook theme was written and recorded by James P.… [ More ]

• 17 March 2022Episodes, Season Two, Special Episode

  011 End of the Rainbow

  A happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all, and welcome to Season 2 of The Open Storybook! This episode, we’re celebrating the traditional Irish holiday with two stories about leprechauns, as well as discussing their history. Thanks for tuning back in for more stories! The Open Storybook theme was written… [ More ]

• 20 December 2021Episodes, Season One, Special Episode

  010 The Episode Before Christmas

  This month, we’re back to children’s stories, and on to the Christmas season. We’ll be reading the classic The Night Before Christmas (and discussing its controversial authorship) as well as hearing a special holiday treat. This marks our final episode of the first season, but we’ll be back at some… [ More ]

• 15 November 2021Episodes, Season One

  009 Once Upon an Autumn Dreary

  In this month’s episode, we basically continue down the Halloween trail until we come, in this fall, to the house of Edgar Allan Poe. Of note, the stories contained within this episode may not be appropriate for children, as we deal with murder and its concealment in The Tell-Tale Heart… [ More ]

• 15 October 2021Episodes, Season One, Special Episode

  008 Halloween Special

  We’re celebrating spooky season this month as Halloween approaches. Our story is the Washington Irving classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is a somewhat longer tale than usual, so buckle in for over an hour of storytelling! Past episodes and more can be found at our website, storybook.backstage.link. The… [ More ]

• 15 September 2021Episodes, Season One

  007 Easy Being Green

  This month, we’re back to storytelling with two stories featuring frogs, preceded by a brief discussion of frogs in literature. We’ll be delving into the classic tale of a prince turned into a frog, and we’re also including something a bit different from Mark Twain. Past episodes and more can… [ More ]

• 15 August 2021Episodes, Season One, Special Episode

  006 Messin’ with The Kid (special episode)

  In this month’s episode, we bypass the usual story to give you a little more background into this podcast. And to do that, we present an episode of a different podcast—which was never meant to be—entitled Messin’ with The Kid. Dive in with your narrator as he presents a peek… [ More ]

• 15 July 2021Episodes, Season One

  005 Let Down Your Hair

  This episode, you can relax and let down your hair, as we climb to the heights of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel. Learn more about the Brothers Grimm and their motivations behind their collections, as well as some of the background of this particular tale. Past episodes and more can… [ More ]

• 22 June 2021Episodes, Season One

  004 You Don’t Know Jack (part 2)

  It’s time to get jacked up for the second part of our literary dive into the sea of Jacks. In the second part of “You Don’t Know Jack,” we’ll be reading Jack the Giant-Killer, and discussing its Arthurian basis and possible influence on Jack and the Beanstalk. Don’t forget to… [ More ]

• 15 June 2021Episodes, Season One

  003 You Don’t Know Jack (part 1)

  You may be a Jack of all trades or an every-man Jack. You may even be a crackerjack. But before you can say “Jack Robinson,” we’ll show you that you don’t know Jack. The literary Jack, that is. This week, we’ll be reading several “Jack” nursery rhymes as well as… [ More ]