by Silke Rose West and Joseph Sarosy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 10, 2019
An informative and practical guide for adults who want to be successful storytellers.
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A pair of early childhood educators offers techniques for telling effective and entertaining tales to kids.
In this parenting book, debut author West and Sarosy (A Father’s Life, 2019) draw on their experiences as Waldorf and forest school educators to present methods that make storytelling work. The book explores the neuroscience behind the human fondness for tales. The authors encourage parents to focus on the connections they are able to form by sharing stories with their children rather than developing expertise in dramatic performance or plot and structure (“Because storytelling is about the relationship, not the narrative”). After explaining how to tell tales, the work concludes by urging readers to build links through stories with people of all ages. Each chapter includes several exercises designed to allow readers to strengthen their storytelling muscles as well as examples of tales the authors have told (for instance, a child reluctant to wear a backpack hears about a turtle who wants to shed her shell). The book guides readers through the ties narratives forge between the real world and kids’ imaginative play. The volume examines ways to defuse tension and mitigate arguments through tales (“The story doesn’t resolve the conflict, it creates intimacy”) and to educate children without becoming didactic (“The story of an RNA sequence gone hopelessly awry is not so different from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”). The book is well written and deftly conveys its lessons to readers, avoiding preachiness as it argues that storytelling is a way to provide kids with the attention they crave. The authors are encouraging throughout, making a solid case for storytelling as a skill that can be developed by anyone and practiced effectively by amateurs. Readers will walk away from the book feeling empowered and capable. The sample tales do a fine job of demonstrating how children can be satisfied by simple narratives, and the exercises (“Find Something Small and Make It Big”; “Change Your Voice”) deliver guidance while inspiring readers to experiment.
An informative and practical guide for adults who want to be successful storytellers.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-578-55027-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Earth Children
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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