Resources
Stories in My Pocket
(CD) $16.95 and shipping
Hamilton and Weiss are the husband and Wife team of storytellers known as Beauty and the Beast. They are also the authors of two of the best, most practical, books for teachers working with student storytellers. Children Tell Stories (Richard C. Owen Pub., 1990) should be in every school board resource centre and public library.
I continue to recommend it to workshop groups and have seen nothing to match it its usable, practical ideas, advice, and guidance. Stories in My Pocket (Fulcrum, 1996), is a nifty collection of stories for kids to tell. It includes storytelling tips addressed to the children, and, in the back, guidelines for adults who might be using the book with children.
Now Hamilton and Weiss have produced a companion cassette to Stories in My Pocket which includes eighteen of the thirty stories in the book. It was a great idea to produce it as they did with one side featuring young tellers, age 5 -16, and the other side featuring Hamilton and Weiss themselves. It's important for children to hear storytelling modelled for them, and hearing other kids tell stories will encourage young listeners to try the stories themselves.
The book includes specific suggestions for timing, expression, and bod}! language in columns set alongside the stories. I followed along with the book to see how closely the young tellers followed the advice they were given and was pleased to see that while it was obvious they were strongly influenced by the suggestions, they were not restrained by them. Schools, public libraries and individuals who own the book will want to have the tape, and it stands on its own merits, as well.
Order online at
http://beautyandthebeaststorytellers.com/btsmp-cd.php Via PayPal
Beauty & the Beast Storytellers
Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: (607) 277-0016
E-mail: info@beautyandthebeaststorytellers.com
The Second Story Review, Vol 3, No. 2, June 1998