Calendar

Upcoming Events, Shows & Performances:

The Back-to-School Storytelling Motherlode

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

The Back-to-School Storytelling Motherlode is Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE.

Buy it, plug it in, and share these mp3 albums with your young children, elementary and middle and high school students, and you, the adults. All 19 albums are age-coded. There’s even Odds Bodkin’s The Water Mage’s Daughter, a 550-page epic poem for literate readers.

These award-winning storytelling albums include live acoustic music, character voices and stunning vocal sound effects, some with virtuoso whistling here and there. It’s all real.

100% natural storytelling. Classics as well, like The Odyssey, Hercules, David and Goliath and Beowulf.

Grow your family’s imaginations and knowledge with the Back-to-School Motherlode–

Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE.

11 Days Left in MASTER DRIVE Sale! Ends July 30th!

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

11 days remain in Odds Bodkin’s MASTER DRIVE sale at the storyteller’s online shop.

Get $50 off the price of his MASTER DRIVE this July. This flash drive features his complete audio stories, his epic poem The Water Mage’s Daughter (550 pages pdf), a live performance video plus original musical compositions.

Just plug it in and distribute the stories to your family’s devices! All mp3 audios.

 

Regular price: $199.95. Now $149.95!

Perfect for Family Travel!

 

Age-Coded Stories Include:

The Adventures of Little Proto (audio)

Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure (audio)

Little Proto and the Volcano’s Fire (audio)

The Teacup Fairy: Very Old Tales for Very Young Children (audio)

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature (audio)

With Twinkle in your Eye: Funny Folktales from Everywhere (audio)

Rip Roarin’ Paul Bunyan Tales (audio)

The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales from Around the World (audio)

The Blossom Tree: Tales from the Far East (audio)

The Wise Little Girl: Tales of the Feminine (audio)

Earthstone: The Eco-Musical (2 hour audio)

The Odyssey: An Epic Telling (4 hour audio)

Giant’s Cauldron: Viking Myths of Adventure (audio)

Hidden Grail: Sir Percival and the Fisher King (90 minute audio)

Stories of Love (audio)

David and Goliath: The Harper and the King (audio)

The Myth of Hercules (audio)

 

Plus Rare Works:

Beowulf: The Only One (live audio recording)

The Iliad: Book I (50-minute video)

The Water Mage’s Daughter: a 13,000-line epic poem. (PDF e-book)

 

Plus Odds Bodkin’s Original Musical Compositions on Acoustic Instruments and Kurzweil synthesizer:

Rapunzel’s Window

At Beauty’s Door

Black Irish

Soft-Hearted Men in the Good Old USA

Little Paws

Christmas Morning

The Great Irish Elk

 

Order yours today!

Odds Bodkin’s THE ODYSSEY 4-hour storytelling audio on sale for two weeks! Usually $49.95, now $34.95!

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Usually $49.95, you can now grab Odds Bodkin’s classic telling of Homer’s Odyssey for $34.95! Download all 42 episodes today! This sale lasts two weeks, until June 21, 2021!

From the Belly of the Trojan Horse to the Return to Ithaca ten years later, go inside the mind of Odysseus, the original epic hero of Greek mythology. This classic tale is over 4 hours long and great for vacation car travel. Kids love it, and listen intently. Includes a full musical score on 12-string guitar and Celtic harp.

Winner of the Oppenheim Platinum Award for Best Vacation Product.

TWO ODDS BODKIN ZOOM CONCERTS COMING UP: BEOWULF and TALES FOR GIRLS

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Over the next three weeks, Master Storyteller and Musician Odds Bodkin will be live on ZOOM for two very different shows–BEOWULF, a brooding adult show, and SHE’S CLEVER, THAT ONE: FAIRY TALES FOR SMART GIRLS, a funny, rollicking concert for the whole family.

BEOWULF: THE ONLY ONE, his storyteller’s version of the oldest known work in English literature, goes live Sunday Feb. 28th at 5 pm EST. A riveting, feature-length tale with music to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Grendel’s Den in Cambridge MA, this is among his best-loved tellings and is a favorite on Harvard  Square. Tickets are $25.

 

 

Then, on Sunday March 7th at 5 pm EST, it’s SHE’S CLEVER, THAT ONE: FAIRY TALES FOR SMART GIRLS in celebration of International Women’s Day. Odds uses 12-string guitars and Celtic harp to animate four of his classic fairy tales for kids, each featuring a brave and clever girl hero. Tickets are $25.

Some fans say they prefer his ZOOM shows because of the close-ups on his face and instruments. Judge for yourself from the comfort of your home.

Your ticket purchases your Zoom invitation with a password for the show.

 

 

 

 

It’s Not Too Late for Odds Bodkin Story Downloads

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

It’s Christmas Eve. Is it too late to buy a meaningful gift? No, not if you visit Odds Bodkin’s Shop and grab an All Collections + Bundle: all Bodkin’s audio tales for young children plus 3 long epics for older listeners and adults.

Download endless hours of classic listening in minutes.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

BEOWULF. Download Odds Bodkin’s Live Performance in Audio

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Adult storytelling at its most extreme and beautiful.

amilolomy (verified owner) –

This is the version that made me absolutely fall in love with the Beowulf story, and really understand why it has become such a classic piece of literature. There is such life and emotion in the way Bodkin tells it, that you just can’t get from reading it alone. He takes it from being a dry, unsentimental piece of curriculum and spins it into a deeply moving journey.

I always find myself crying by the end of it.

Buy Odds Bodkin’s telling of Beowulf here.

9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums for Kids 4-7 on a Single Flash Drive!

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Order your Beginner Drive today!

What’s on it? 9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums!

 

The Adventures of Little Proto: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto and the Volcano’s Fire: A Musical Dinosaur Story

The Teacup Fairy: Very Old Tales for Very Young Children

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature

With Twinkle in your Eye: Funny Folktales from Everywhere

Rip Roarin’ Paul Bunyan Tales

The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales from Around the World

The Blossom Tree: Tales from the Far East

 

Coming Up Oct. 18: Odds Bodkin’s Zoom Performance of HERCULES IN HELL

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

 

A Professor of Classics should know what he’s talking about, and Joseph Walsh of Loyola University Maryland certainly does. He and his students experienced an Odds Bodkin Zoom performance just three weeks ago. Here’s what he wrote:

“Odds Bodkin has been thrilling our students every Fall for years now with his live performances, and this year’s zoom performance of Iliad Book 1 was every bit as successful. We have gotten a good deal of feedback from the attendees, and it indicates that they were mesmerized, as usual.  Indeed, several students who had seen Odds perform in the past – and he has fans who come back every year – considered it even better.  They loved the fact that they could see his face up close, watch his fingers dance across his guitar and harp, and they thought not a bit of the usual intensity and beauty of his performance was lost.”

Now you can have a front row seat for yet another dynamic telling of a Greek mythology classic, HERCULES IN HELL. This GOLDEN HEADSET AWARD-winning spoken word tale features amazing voices, a score on 12-string guitar, and an exploration of the shocking myth of Hercules. His murders, his labors, his enslavement, his triumphs.

This is an adult storytelling. No children please.

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 pm EST on Zoom

Tickets are $15.

 

Sponsored by Grendel’s Den.

BACK TO SCHOOL AT HOME? BUY YOUR FAMILY AN EPIC DRIVE

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Literature. Music. Performing Arts. English Language Learning.

They all can be found listening to Odds Bodkin’s award-winning

stories.

“I’m so thrilled to have found your website and eagerly await reconnecting with your peerless storytelling.

Some thirty years ago I lived in New Hampshire, where my two young sons and I frequently caught your act. Cassette recordings also entertained us on our twice annual car treks to visit family in Ohio.

Now the boys are grown and living on opposite coasts while their parents have settled in Kentucky. Anticipating grandchildren and, thanks to the pandemic, more long drives to visit family, I went in search of an old favorite road companion. It feels like going home.

Thanks for all you do.”

–A Recent Customer

If your children or grandchildren are heading back to school by staying at home this fall, get yourself an EPIC DRIVE with 18 full-length storytelling albums. From gentle nature stories to mythic adventures, they’re all told with characters, sounds and live acoustic music.

Click to read about the national media awards.

Find Odds Bodkin’s stories on Amazon Alexa.

ALEXA, PLAY ODDS BODKIN!

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

“Alexa, open Bedtime Stories.”

That’s all you have to say to your Amazon Alexa to open a trove of Odds Bodkin’s audio stories for kids. The Evergreens. The Teacup Fairy. The Little Proto Trilogy of dinosaur adventures. The Elf of Springtime. The Rock n’ Roll Three Little Pigs. 38 stories in all, each told with beautiful music, wild characters and amazing vocal effects.

Yes, Odds Bodkin’s ancient craft is now available on the most high-tech of platforms. Parents’ Choice Awards. Indie Awards. Storytelling World Awards. The Dove Award. The Golden Headset Award. These timeless tales have won them all.

Of course, you don’t have to rely on Alexa when you own these stories, plus The Odyssey, Beowulf and Bodkin’s other tales for adults and teens. Just purchase an EPIC DRIVE, the complete collection of Odds Bodkin’s audio works.

Happy listening!

Candles and Imagination

Posted on by Odds Bodkin

Long ago, when I began telling stories, I’d light a candelabrum at my feet. There in a darkened room the flames would dance across my face and kids loved it, until, of course, schools started to say, “No more, Mr. Bodkin. A kid might go up in flames. You dripped wax on our floor. Leave your portable campfire at home.” Even though I always cleaned up the wax, I stopped doing my candlelight shows.

I still recommend candelight, though, to people listening to my stories, especially the epics. Light a candle. Turn down the lights. Listen and dream.

Something about the flame quickens the mind’s eye.

For instance, Detroit Jewish News reviewed my telling of David and Goliath and said, “With nothing more than his guitar and voice, Odds Bodkin manages to paint a scene more captivating than much of what you see on the big screen.”

It won the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Storytelling World Award and the Dove Foundation Award. It’s an hour long.

Beowulf: The Only One just won the Storytelling World Award as well. It was recorded before a live adult audience in Cambridge, MA. It’s an hour and 20 minutes.

You can find lots of long-form stories like this at my download shop. Happy listening!