{{Short description|American author}} {{multiple issues| {{notability|Biographies|date=March 2012}} {{original research|date=March 2012}} {{BLP primary sources|date=March 2012}} }} {{Infobox person | name = Jim Weiss | occupation = Storyteller | image = Jim Wiess.jpg | caption = Weiss in 2023 at the GHISfCE conference | years_active = 1989–present }}

'''Jim Weiss''' (born November 24, 1948, in Highland Park, Illinois) is an American children's audio storyteller, book narrator and author.

Since 1989 Weiss has released over seventy audio recordings, for preschool through college, of classic and/or historical books with an emphasis on character building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Virtues & Values |url=https://www.jimweiss.com/virtues-values/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |language=en-US}}</ref> He is a Storytelling World Award<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Storytelling World |url=http://www.storytellingworld.com/Awards/2000win.htm |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=www.storytellingworld.com}}</ref> winner and his work has been recognized by the Film Advisory Board,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-07-29 |title=Film Advisory Board, Inc. |url=http://www.filmadvisoryboard.org/aoe/Detail.asp?TitleID=27 |access-date=2023-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030729124859/http://www.filmadvisoryboard.org/aoe/Detail.asp?TitleID=27 |archive-date=2003-07-29 }}</ref> American Library Association, and Parents' Guide to Children's Media for his contribution to storytelling and audio entertainment.<ref>"[http://www.greathall.com/aboutus.html Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804110355/http://www.greathall.com/aboutus.html|date=2018-08-04}}"</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Awards Storytelling World Award |url=https://www.jimweiss.com/awards/storytelling-world-award/ |access-date=2023-05-03 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Examples of his expressive retellings include various works of Shakespeare, ''The Three Musketeers, American Tall Tales, Sherlock Holmes and Aesop's fables''. The book selections are supportive of educators within the classical education movement in addition to having a following within homeschool circles and Christian families.<ref name=":0" /> Weiss is also the narrator for the audio versions of Susan Wise Bauer's popular ''The Story of the World'' series.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.audible.com/author/Jim-Weiss/B000APPFU0 |title=Jim Weiss – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio {{!}} Audible.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Megan |date=2014-10-22 |title=Interview with Storyteller Jim Weiss |url=https://redeemedreader.com/2014/10/interview-with-storyteller-jim-weiss/ |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=Redeemed Reader |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Story of the World series |url=https://susanwisebauer.com/book/the-story-of-the-world-series/ |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=Susan Wise Bauer |language=en-US}}</ref>

His work was originally released by Great Hall Productions founded by Weiss and his wife Randy with the maxim "''Intelligent Entertainment for the Thinking Family''."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Weiss {{!}} Penguin Random House |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/44466/jim-weiss |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Weiss — INTELLIGENT ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE THINKING FAMILY |url=https://www.jimweiss.com/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |language=en-US}}</ref> Today his body of work is published by Well-Trained Mind Press, available on CDs and streaming with audiobook services and apps. As of 2022 he was producing two recordings a year. The Weiss' have one daughter along with her family, and live in Tucson, Arizona.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sloan |first=Amy |title=The Joyful Power of Storytelling for the Homeschool Family (with Jim Weiss) |url=https://www.humilityanddoxology.com/jim-weiss/ |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=Humility and Doxology |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Book Recordings - partial listing ==

=== G.A. Henty ===

* ''Henty Short Stories'' (Volume I) | 1800s, frontier Ohio & England * ''The Cat of Bubastes'' | 1250 BC Egypt * ''The Young Carthaginian'' | 220 BC Rome & Carthage * ''Beric the Briton.'' | 62 AD Ancient Britain & Rome * ''For the Temple'' | 70 AD Jerusalem * ''Wulf the Saxon'' | 1066, England * ''In Freedom’s Cause'' | 1296-1314, Scotland & England * ''The Lion of St Mark'' | 1300s, Venice, Italy * * ''The Lion of the North'' | 1618-1648, Thirty Years War, Europe * ''In the Reign of Terror'' | 1793, French Revolution

The nine Henty novels are “thoughtfully abridged” which is described as minor edits removing vast amounts of repetition.

=== World history and stories ===

==== The Ancient World to 70 AD ====

* ''Story of the World, Vol. I: The Ancients'' | 5000 BC – 400 AD * ''Bible Stories: Great Men and Women From Noah through Solomon'' | 2000s BC - 900s BC Middle East * ''Tales from the Old Testament'' | 6000 BC - 400 BC Middle East * ''Egyptian Treasures: Mummies & Myths'' | 3000 BC * ''Tales from Cultures Far & Near'' | 3000 BC, China * ''The Dragon Diaries: Dragon Stories From Around the World'' | 3000 BC * ''Jewish Holiday Stories'' | 2000 BC - 300 BC, Middle East * ''Pharaohs and Queens of Ancient Egypt'' | 1500 BC - 1200 BC * ''The Cat of Bubastes'' by G. A. Henty | 1250 BC, Egypt * ''Greek Myths'' | 1000 BC * ''She & He: Adventures in Mythology'' | 1000 BC, Greece * ''Courage and a Clear Mind: True Adventures of Ancient Greeks'' | 1000 BC * ''Shakespeare for Children, A Midsummer’s Night Dream'' | 1000 BC, Greece * ''Heroes in Mythology'' | 1000 BC, Greece * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (Solomon) | 1000 BC, Israel * ''Animal Tales'' (Aesop) | 600 BC * ''Galileo & the Stargazers'' (Archimedes) | 400 BC, Sicily * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (Diogenes) | 400 BC, Greece * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (Alexander the Great) | 300 BC, Greece * ''The Young Carthaginian'' by G. A. Henty | 220 BC, Rome/Carthage * ''Julius Caesar and the Story of Rome'' | 44 BC * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (The Good Samaritan) | 1st Century AD * ''Beric the Briton'' | 62 AD, Ancient Britain, Rome * ''For The Temple'' by G. A. Henty | 70 AD. Jerusalem

==References== {{Reflist|}}

==External links== *Official website: [http://www.greathall.com/ Great Hall - Storytelling Recordings and Performances by Jim Weiss], *[https://www.facebook.com/Greathall/ Facebook] *[https://welltrainedmind.com/?s=JIM+WEISS Well Trained Mind] *[https://www.audible.com/author/Jim-Weiss/B000APPFU0 Audible] *[https://books.apple.com/us/author/jim-weiss/id315103325 Apple Books] *[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=%22jim+weiss%22&crid=2WZA51X5P0G1J&sprefix=%2Caps%2C158&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_3_0_recent Amazon] *YouTube - [https://www.youtube.com/@GreathallProductions Great Hall Productions]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Jim}} Category:Audiobook narrators Category:Living people Category:1948 births