Ethel Barrett (December 28, 1913 – May 10, 1998) was a Christian writer, speaker and storyteller, whose popularity peaked between the early 1950s and the mid-1980s. She sold millions of copies of over 40 different books for publishers like Zondervan, Gospel Light and Regal Books. The latter printed and sold more than four million copies of her work. She also performed on 30 audio records and tapes.

Biography

Barrett started her storytelling career as a Sunday School teacher in Schenectady, New York in the early 1940s. She was asked to teach the Boys Brigade class, made up of the most unruly boys in the area. She had so much trouble keeping their attention that she began telling Bible stories using character voices and full dialog to capture their attention. That Sunday School class became a great success and her local fame and storytelling talent landed her some weekend radio jobs where she would tell Bible stories on local Christian radio stations. Barrett's most recognized works included the retelling of John Bunyan's Holy War, The Chronicles of Mansoul, Storytelling – It's Easy which had more than 21 different printings. Don't Look Now sold over 80,000 copies, The Secret Sign sold over 165,000, Will the Real Phony Please Stand Up over 150,000 and There I Stood in All My Spendor 640,000. Barrett was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1978 in the "Best Record for Children" category for "Ethel Barrett Tells Favorite Bible Stories" and was posthumously awarded the Great Christian Storyteller Award for the last 100 years at the Christian Storytelling Convention in 2007.

Select bibliography

Great Heroes of the Bible series

Stories to Grow On series

A series of children's books

First series illustrated by Jim Padgett

Many of these were released as audiobooks and 2-in-1 volumes

Second series illustrated by David Gaddy