Storytelling books

Getting started;

About Storytelling
Practical Guide: How do I tell stories? Where do I begin?
By McKay, H & Dudley, B.
Publ by Hale and Iremonger, Sydney Australia

The storytelling Handbook.
A young peoples collection of unusual tales and helpful hints on how to tell them.
By Pellowski, A
Publ by Simon and Schuster books for young readers
Aimed at getting teenagers to tell stories it has a lovely range of stories in the back section for all who want to get started.

Twenty tellable tales: Audience participation folktales for the beginning storyteller.
By Macdonald, M R
Publ by American Library Association, 1986

Brave tales. Developing Literacy through Storytelling
By Coleman, W
Publ by Network Continuum Education, London, 2007
Aimed at developing literacy through storytelling for K-6. Has a range of interesting memorisation techniques for the teacher storyteller. Encouragement and tips for the teacher storyteller and how to get the students involved.

Celebrate with a story : creative ideas using stories, fingerplays, and props to celebrate holidays and multicultural events with young children
By Catron, C & Parks, B
Publ by Grand Rapids, Michigan c1996

Creating your own stories

Storytelling and the Art of Imagination.
By Mellon, Nancy.
Publ by Yellow Moon Press, 1998. ISBN 0-938756-66-4.
A welcome reissue of this important and wise book that leads readers through a series of sensitive exercises to awaken imagination and create stories. Profound insights into the typical events, landscapes, characters, and images of fairy tales join with practical suggestions for harnessing the power of these elements.

Story collections and web resources

There are so many collections that it is hard to go through them all. My best advice is to go to your local library and start borrowing! Once you have read them you will know if it is a resource or style that suits you. Talk to other parents, librarians about books they and the children they interact with enjoy (don’t forget to ask Why?).

Australian Museum Online – Stories of the Dreaming
The stories help to explain how the land came to be shaped and inhabited; how to behave and why; where to find certain foods, etc. You can download the audio of these stories. It is a beautiful well-produced collection. It also includes a kids and dictionary section.
www.dreamtime.net.au/dreaming/index.htm

Leave it to Leslie
A website that supplies a large range of products, one of which are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Felt stories. Go to the web site and follow links to felt stories.
www.leaveittoleslie.com.au

Barefoot Books publish a number of story collections from around the world. The collections have high quality illustrations and usually come with a CD as well.
www.barefoot-books.com

Aesop’s Fables online (text and audio)
www.aesopfables.com/

Story Lovers (USA)
This is a well-established North American site. It has many stories available including an SOS – Searching Out Stories section. Which allows a comprehensive free archival library for finding stories, sources and advice from professional North American storytellers. Be careful when typing in the url of this one as storylovers with no hyphen will take you to a ‘finding love stories’ meeting site!
www.story-lovers.com/

The Art of Storytelling Show
Storyteller Brother Wolf interviews different storytellers weekly. These interviews are available via iTunes or as podcasts.
www.artofstorytellingshow.com/

A few storytellers have websites that are wonderful to visit and get a feel for what they do and the stories they tell. Two of my favourites for stories are;

Dianne De Las Casas
www.storyconnection.net/

Alison Cox
www.dancingleaves.com/allison/index.html

Language resources

Story Place
Digital library of stories for children that can be read and heard in Spanish or English. A great resource.
www.storyplace.org/

Playtime Books
Have a number of free audio books to download as well as many for sale. There is a specific section for German/English bilingual books
www.playtime-books.com/Bilingual_Audio_Books.htm

Mantra Lingua
A UK based organisation selling multilingual books and CD’s
www.mantralingua.com

Educational storytelling

Brave tales. Developing Literacy through Storytelling
By Coleman, W
Publ by Network Continuum Education, London, 2007
Aimed at developing literacy through storytelling for K-6. Has a range of interesting memorisation techniques for the teacher storyteller. Encouragement and tips for the teacher storyteller and how to get the students involved.

Thinking Stories 1 (&2) Philosophical Inquiry for Children
Ed by Philip Cam
Publ by Hale and Iremonger, Sydney Australia, 1993
Again this is aimed at school age children although many of the stories can be used with younger age groups if appropriately adjusted. These stories are particularly good when using story to address an issue.

Stories on the move: integrating literature and movement with children, from infants to age 14
By Cohen, A
Publ by Libraries Unlimited, USA, 2007

Ladders to literacy: A preschool activity book
By Notari-Syverson, A
Publi by Brookes 1998

Celebrate with a story : creative ideas using stories, fingerplays, and props to celebrate holidays and multicultural events with young children
By Catron, C & Parks, B
Publ by Grand Rapids, Michigan c1996

Digital Storytelling

Examples to view
Beyond Empathy
Australian stories available online by following the Place Stories link. This website offers an amazing combination of arts, community and digital material.
www.beyondempathy.org.au/

Story Center
North American stories available online. Some workshop notes available and training information.
www.storycenter.org/

Software needs
MAC = iMovie
WINDOWS = Moviemaker or PhotoStory

Storytelling guilds

There are many guilds in Australia and overseas. A good starting point in Australia is:

Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)
www.storytellersnsw.org.au/

National Storytelling Network (USA)
www.storynet.org/

Society for Storytelling (UK)
www.sfs.org.uk/