Have you ever wondered how to tell a story— your own story or re-tell an old folktale? The Story Sack; Story Telling and Story Making with Young Children written by Tanya R. Batt and illustrated by Ingrid Berzins and Juliet Hawkins accomplishes just this offering guidelines from story preparation to body language tips, to how best to word stories to becoming a better storyteller. Batt, a specialist in arts education for early childhood, provides effective tools for teachers, parents and anyone else who wants to tell.
The Story Sack highlights many suggestions including chants and call and responses as ways to involve students into the storytelling and would be an effective resource for teachers. For example, “Grandmother’s Bed” details how to use motions within the story to engage students to hold their attention longer.
When preparing a lesson plan this book provides methods in creating story-based lessons. For example, Batt uses a Story Sack asking students to choose an item to use to launch their own stories. Another variation asks students to add a new character every time something is retrieved.
Teachers can also use materials such as story stones or eggs passing them around asking each student to add to the story when they get the object. To make a story more interesting, teachers could use puppets or introduce musical instruments and costumes to bring stories to life.
Many teachers struggle with student interruptions in the classroom. Batt provides an insightful explanation of what these interruptions really are and how to prevent them from escalating.
She also believes it is never too early to tell stories even in the womb encouraging moms and even childcare providers to use these resources.
The best part of this book is the section on children’s storytelling . She explains how children tell stories and how they improvise by what they see around them. One imaginary use of story she suggests is pretending to have a crystal ball to encourage student involvement. She asks what they see to spark story ideas. Batt also presents helpful strategies to adjust stories to make them more appropriate for younger children. I intend to refer to this book many times as I prepare to teach in the classroom.
My name is Ashley Marshall. I am 19-years-old and a sophomore at Ohio Dominican University. I reviewed this book in Dr. Kevin Cordi’s Literature for Children and Young Adult course. I can be contacted through my email at ashleyjorden19@yahoo.com.
Reviewer for National Pegasus Storytelling Awards
**In the interest of promoting more resources that specifically address youth and youth storytelling, I have assembled a team of students, teachers, and storytellers to provide reviews. If you have something to be reviewed or a reccomendation for review, please send to:
Kevin D. Cordi
National Youth Storytelling Pegasus Revivews (Look for upcoming announcements for more on this award.)
643 Nashoba Ave
Columbus, Ohio 43223 kcteller@sbcglobal.net
“Together we make a difference with story.
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