Resources
Bury My Bones But Keep My Words
Bury My Bones But Keep My Words; African Tales for Retelling retold by Tony Fairman. Puffin, 1991. PBK ISBN 0-14-036889-2 .192 pp. $4.99
This book comes as close as any I've seen to recreating the life of a story shared, the give-and-take that occurs in traditional telling in many parts of the world. The 1.3 tales from around Africa are eerie, funny, and magical. ivlany are presented" in a frame story of African children hearing the tale from a relative or other storyteller, and throughout the book the author addresses the young readers directlv, drawing them into the story before it begins. Open the book to almost any page and you will see that the stories are ready to dance, to sing, to move off the page. Fairman says that when these tales are told in "Africa the" come alive. He has done his best to keep them simmering on the page, just waiting for someone to release them through telling. "You have a voice, haven't you? You have a tongue, haven't you? There you go.."
This book comes as close as any I've seen to recreating the life of a story shared, the give-and-take that occurs in traditional telling in many parts of the world. The 1.3 tales from around Africa are eerie, funny, and magical. ivlany are presented" in a frame story of African children hearing the tale from a relative or other storyteller, and throughout the book the author addresses the young readers directlv, drawing them into the story before it begins. Open the book to almost any page and you will see that the stories are ready to dance, to sing, to move off the page. Fairman says that when these tales are told in "Africa the" come alive. He has done his best to keep them simmering on the page, just waiting for someone to release them through telling. "You have a voice, haven't you? You have a tongue, haven't you? There you go.."
The Second Story Review, Vol 2 , No. 2, June 1997