As noted in PaperTigers July calendar, storytelling events are occurring in Canada and in the UK.  In Winnipeg where I live, the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture has just announced its writer/storyteller-in-residence, Jan Andrews.  Eager to discover what this storyteller had to offer, I went to my local library to find her books.

Stories at the Door (illus. by Francis Blake) is Jan Andrew’s most recent offering.  Published in 2007, it is a collection of six stories loosely based on various traditional sources.  Andrews has adapted these older tales to wonderful effect, infusing them with humor and wit.  My daughter and I enjoyed “Jacinthe Wins Words” which is a funny retelling of a Palestinian Arab folktale called “The Rich Man and the Poor Man.”  Two sisters deal with the rather embarrassing situation of breaking wind differently, each with surprising results.  This was the first ever story I ever read where a fart was personified (and richly so, may I add, with Francis Blake’s illustrations!).

Another fun tale in the collection is “Jane Saves the Day.”  A clever servant girl named Jane helps the miserly rich man she serves by solving the problem of a genie who haunts the man by offering him endless labor for free.  If the man runs out of chores for the genie to do, the genie will kill the master.  Of course, after the master’s selfish ambitions are served, he has no more work for the genie and must resort to having it improve the lives of his servants (on Jane’s suggestion) before Jane gives the genie the one unsolvable task that will be its undoing.  I’ll leave you to find out what that task might be!

Storytelling is truly an art — whether done orally or through the written word.  Do you have any storytellers where you live?  What kind of stories do they tell?

Last weekend The Vancouver Sun newspaper published an interesting article entitled “What do kids love most? Their parents reading to them.” Nick Vinocur reported on the results from a recent study that surveyed 500 children aged three to eight in Britain and found that half of the children said story time was their favorite pastime with their parents! Almost two-thirds of the children polled said they wanted their parents to spend more time reading to them before bed and 82% said reading a story with their parents helped them to sleep better. Storytelling ranked higher than television or video game amongst pastimes for kids and the best storytellers, according to the children surveyed, were mothers who used funny voices to illustrate different characters or made their own special sound effects to keep the story moving.

Child psychologist Richard Woolfson led the study and says:

The results of our research confirm the traditional activity of storytelling continues to be a powerful learning and emotional resource in children’s lives. It can be very difficult for parents to find the time to read with their children, but these moments can help build strong bond and play a vital part in their child’s development.

Click here to read the entire article.

I had to include the photo of my husband reading to our son Evan as it is one of my favorites and I still find it hard to believe that my first-born is now 12 years old. How time flies! Such fond memories…

Speaking of photos, don’t forget to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf for our Around the World in 100 Bookshelves project. You will be automatically entered in a drawing to win a selection of 5 age-appropriate books to add to your little one’s bookshelf! See the sidebar for more details.