Customer Reviews

Storyteller's Start-Up Book

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Margaret Read MacDonald has another winner in this book that is guaranteed to help the novice get up in front of a group--without book or script--and share the gift known as story. She takes the reader through the process of finding, learning and practicing a story. She shares a little background on the importance of story in history and world cultures. Best of all, she includes stories with telling instructions. Unlike many other books of this type, the stories she includes are not the well-known "beginner's stories," like "The Turnip," but interesting and fun to tell, ones you may never have heard before.

Turn off your television and open up whole new worlds by telling a story to your friends, family, students, co-workers. You will enjoy the power of a story shared with your listeners, and "The Storyteller's Start-Up" will be an excellent guide for the journey.

(Gwyn is a professional storyteller who has coached many middle school students in the telling of their first story).

Going into the teaching field, I was looking for some tips on telling stories. I found it in MacDonald's book. She gives techniques for learning and performing stories. She also gives ideas for incorporating storytelling into the classroom.

Each chapter is followed with a valuable list of books and authors for you to expand on the art of storytelling.

MacDonald's book is a great introduction into the world and tradition of storytelling. She even includes twelve tales to get you going. If you want to become a storyteller, this is a good place to start your quest.

This is an essential book on storytelling. It helps the novice with useful tips. The more experienced storyteller will still find interesting material in the selection of rich tales from different cultures. It is also a great book to read aloud for the children.

MacDonald is a firm believer in the value of stories, not only on the performance level but also on the personal level -- in the home and in the workplace. Her book imparts confidence to the most timorous of beginners, and the tales she includes are likely to be new even to veterans.

I loved the sample stories at the end...very useful for us beginners. The reason it only gets 3 stars is because 25% of the book is bibliography/footnote, and because most of the good ideas in this book are available in more useful detail in "Creative Storytelling..." by Jack McGuire. McGuire's book is geared toward telling to children, but it contains a great deal of info on the processes behind storytelling. It gives you some great steps and ideas for creating, remembering, and telling your own stories.

Great references in the book. The author has such a passionate way of writing that gives you energy to start storytelling right away.

I would recommend this book to anyone who tells stories on a regular basis--parents, teachers, care givers--the points touched on will greatly enhance your ability to retell a story as it was meant to be told. The book also provides a wealth of resources. Everything needed to learn about telling styles, performance techniques,unusual and interesting stories, networking, and learning methods are included with additional resources at the end of each chapter. The writing style was enjoyable and informative.

My kids and I have enjoyed this book for 8 years. My copy is dog eared and tatty, and has been the seed of many a night of story telling which has been a fantastic bonding experience for us. During hurricane Ike with no power, what do you think we did? We told each other stories, and non of it would have happened without this book.