Aaron Shepard’s Web site and publications have become valued sources of fresh, vibrant, meaningful books, stories, and scripts for publishers and other content acquirers worldwide. These acquirers have included Random House, the College Board, Barron’s Educational Series, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, National Geographic School Publishing, Pearson in several countries, and many more. (See below for a full list.)
Most of Aaron’s works are retellings of folktales, classic literature, and sacred stories, from around the world and through the ages. These retellings are marked by Aaron’s thorough research, respect for sources, and storytelling skills, which have together brought him honors from the American Library Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Folklore Society, the New York Public Library, and the Bank Street College of Education.
Besides his many children’s books from publishers large and small, Aaron’s work has appeared frequently in Cricket and Australia’s School Magazine. It is also viewed extensively on his Web site, which welcomes up to 25,000 teachers, librarians, and others each week.
In general, a fee is required for your use of Aaron’s work if you intend to make money from it, and sometimes even if you’re not. However, many permissions are freely given, usually in the small print of the pieces themselves. For school or library use of scripts, see Reader’s Theater Editions. For storyteller permissions, see Gifts of Story.
Prime areas of this site for finding content include:
About Aaron’s Kid Books—Comprehensive info on Aaron’s published books for children. Note: For most of these books, Aaron is the author only, not the publisher, and does not control all rights needed for publication. Only children’s books from “Skyhook Press” have been published by Aaron.
Aaron’s World of Stories—Stories with text only, ready for any use.
Aaron’s RT Page—Reader’s theater scripts, plus info on his published script collections.
Looking for something special? See Aaron’s Indexes to find books, stories, and scripts by title, age, genre, theme, place, time, ethnic group, religion, mythology, holiday, or activity. Or you can just search Aaron.
For email notice of new books, stories, and scripts, subscribe to Aaron’s Update.
If you are interested in reprinting, reposting, or otherwise using works from Aaron’s Web site—and if permission is not granted on the piece itself—please contact Aaron with your details. In most cases he controls the rights, but otherwise he will let you know who to contact.
Aaron regrets he no longer allows use of his work in educational testing or related materials. If you’d like to know why, see his article “This Is Not a Test.”
He also does not grant rights to use rewritten, abridged, or “simplified” versions of his work. Texts must be complete and intact, with no more than normal copyediting.
If you’re an author or freelance anthologist, please note that Aaron cannot grant firm rights to his work before you sign with a publisher.
For those who need it, here is a checklist of what Aaron typically will have to know to consider your request.
- Your name, company, and full contact info, including Web site address.
- The publisher or producer (if it isn’t you).
- The title of the work by Aaron you want to use.
- The format of the work by Aaron—story, script, picture book, etc.
- The rights you request.
- How and where you would use the work.
- How and where you would sell or offer it.
- When it would appear.
- How many copies you would expect to produce or sell, or the size of your audience.
- How much you would charge for purchase or use.
- If for a collection, what portion the work will make up (e.g. in page numbers or minutes).
- If for a collection, the overall projected size (e.g. in page numbers or minutes).
- A typical fee you would pay for acquiring such work (optional).
- If you’re outside the U.S., the fee percentage you must withhold for tax purposes.
- How and where you discovered the work by Aaron.
Unless otherwise arranged, payment of any fee is expected within 30 days of agreement, in USD.
For print publication, Aaron can supply most works as Word files on request. However, all works on this site are already formatted with printer typography—“curly” quotes, real dashes, and such—so they can instead simply be saved to your computer and imported directly into your production software without further typographic conversion.
Here are acquirers of material featured on this site or in Aaron’s own publications. All are U.S. unless noted.
Abiva Publishing House, PhilippinesAllyn & BaconA. M. Qattan Foundation, UK/PalestineArabic for All, UKThe Art Institute of PittsburghBarron’s Educational SeriesBharati Bhawan, IndiaBrilliant Creations Publishing, PhilippinesBritish Broadcasting CorporationCambridge University Press, UKCambridge University Press, IndiaCARECentre for JustPeace in AsiaClio Online, DenmarkThe College BoardCollins Learning (HarperCollins), IndiaCordova Publications, IndiaDane Publishing House, PhilippinesEdebé, MexicoExpeditionary LearningFort Wayne Parks & RecreationFrank Educational Aids, IndiaGecko Guides, SingaporeGeography MattersGrupo Santillana Puerto RicoHarcourt Education, UKHarcourt Educational MeasurementHeadword Publishing, IndiaHoughton Mifflin HarcourtHodder Education, UKHommie, NigeriaInstitute for Social Integration, Bar Ilan University, IsraelJarrett Publishing CompanyJeevandeep Prakashan, IndiaJourneys in FilmKatha, IndiaKorea Froebel, KoreaLakes Area Radio TheatreLILLIT, NorwayMauritius Institute of EducationMcDougal LittellMcGraw-Hill EducationMeasuring UpMissio AustriaNational Geographic School PublishingNew Saraswati House, IndiaNew York State Department of EducationOrient Blackswan (formerly Orient Longman), IndiaOswal Printers & Publishers, IndiaOxford University Press, IndiaOxford University Press, South AfricaPearson Custom PublishingPearson Education, UKPearson Education Africa, South AfricaPearson Education CanadaPearson Education IndiaPearson Education South AsiaPearson Longman Hong Kong EducationPhoenix Learning ResourcesPlaybooks, Inc.Port Discovery MuseumPosnayko (“Badger”), UkraineRakas, AustraliaRandom HouseRed Dog Records, New ZealandScholastic Education, UKSingapore Ministry of EducationSIRS PublishingSpirit Play (Unitarian)Teacher Created MaterialsTheatreworksUSAUniversity Press of First Asia, PhilippinesUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID)Veritas PublicationsVia Afrika Publishers, South AfricaVivendi Universal, France