Storytelling: Art and Technique

Book info: Storytelling: Art and Technique (Hardcover, 484 pages) – Libraries Unlimited, 2010. Language: English.

Thoroughly revised and updated, the fourth edition of the classic Storytelling: Art and Technique is an essential guide for beginning and experienced storytellers alike.Ten years ago, Book Report called the third edition of Storytelling: Art and Technique, "invaluable … a volume no librarian will want to be without." This fourth edition of the classic storytelling "how to" is even better―with 30 percent new material, additional chapters, new stories, and updated bibliographies.This edition provides both a history of storytelling in libraries and accessible instruction for bringing storytelling to contemporary listeners. It details the selection, preparation, and presentation of stories, as well as planning and administration of a storytelling program. Full texts of 13 stories for various ages and occasions are included, as is an extensive list of resources. Bonus essays offer a fascinating international perspective through a survey of storytelling in Ireland and the British Isles and a look at storytelling in contemporary China. Complete with everything one needs to know to launch a successful storytelling program, this is the perfect book for librarians, teachers, parents―and professional storytellers, too.

“Storytelling: Art and Technique affirms the importance of an old tradition and provides librarians with the tools to help keep it alive.” ―American Libraries

“The fourth edition of this storytelling standby includes a wealth of updated and new materials, covering both the cultural history of storytelling and offering a comprehensive instructional guide for the creation and administration of storytelling programs that can remain relevant in a media-saturated society.” ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Designed for beginner and experienced storytellers and public and school librarians, this volume will also be helpful to any adult working with children and teens. . . . Whether absorbing the information cover to cover or looking for specific storytelling topics and aids, the reader will find this title a useful one to own.” ―Booklist

“This title has been a standard professional reference work for nearly half a century, and with good reason. . . . Every public and school library will benefit from having this volume and consulting it should be often.” ―School Library Journal

“Ellin Greene once kept my library school storytelling class spellbound with her word-perfect, no-gestures telling of 'Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep' and heard Janice do the same, at a party a few years later, with Helen Eustis's 'Mr. Death and the Red-headed Woman.' So let's be glad that these two have joined forces for the fourth edition of Storytelling: Art and Technique . . . This much-enlarged edition covers the history of storytelling; techniques for finding, learning, adapting, and telling stories; considerations of special audiences; and, of course, lots and lots of recommendations for stories to tell.” ―The Horn Book Magazine

Ellin Greene, EdD, is an internationally known storyteller, lecturer, workshop leader, and conference director.

Janice M. Del Negro, PhD, is assistant professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University, River Forest, IL.