Spaulding's passion for storytelling is evident as she shares the skills she has learned over the years. She repeatedly drives home the importance of traditional stories and the hard but rewarding work required to tell them well. She offers practical advice on selecting and learning stories, matching the story to the audience, and avoiding common performance pitfalls. Particularly valuable is ... Read morean overview of the many story types paired with her extensive "Storiography."...The presentation is conversational, filled with personal insights, interesting quotes, and thorough documentation. Librarians building their storytelling collections and honing their skills will want this book.
School Library Journal
Books dealing with the art of storytelling are plentiful, but Spaulding's book on this topic is an exceptional one. Her division of the book into four parts
"Telling Truth, Telling Stories," "How to Become a Storyteller," "Why Bother Learning and Telling Stories?," and "Farewell"
is predictable, but the content really speaks to the reader. Based on her experiences as a storytelling and group work specialist for the New York Public Library System, Spaulding's sage advice includes potential stories for inclusion when developing a storytelling repertoire. Each chapter includes tips for beginning storytellers, as well as useful endnotes. Spaulding's unique voice and enthusiasm for her craft are evident throughout the book. Appendixes include an excellent storiography, as well as a useful story collection and webliography. The book would be excellent for a beginning storyteller, either as part of a course or as an independent study, as it is both practical and inspirational.
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