Telling Stories Your Way: Storytelling and Reading Aloud in the Classroom

Lois Provost Turchetti is a professional children’s storyteller (in
English and Caribbean Creole), who also conducts educational workshops
in Toronto.

Bob Barton is cofounder of the Storytellers School of Toronto. This
easy-to-follow guide to spoken-word adventures reflects his extensive
background in teaching, educational consulting, writing, and various
approaches to storytelling as a folk art.

From instructions on reading a story in one sitting to building a story
over several sessions and guidance on voice treatments within the tale,
Barton walks the reader through various storytelling processes
appropriate for a number of occasions. His book includes examples from a
broad range of genres, including proverbs and moral sayings, nursery
rhymes, action tales, formula, chain or repetitive tales, chants and
dramatic enactment. Helpful advice on selecting stories throughout the
elementary grades and mini-anthologies round out this valuable resource.

Storytelling is, in Barton’s words, “a powerful way of creating a
happy person-to-person relationship even among a room full of
strangers.” His book inspires new ways of relating stories. Highly
recommended.