Cumbee_Destiny_Reading Reflection 1
Chapter 1 Takeaways:
I always knew that storytelling played a huge role in early civilization due to a written language not being developed yet, and I always loved that these stories would be a combination of information and whimsy. This chapter gave me a deeper insight into what these forms of early storytelling may have looked like. The first chapter tells that everyone was a storyteller, not just children, the way things seem to be in this day in age (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p.4). I feel that we as adults have gotten so far from this and need to go back to our storytelling roots, but being more expressive and drawing our listeners in rather than just giving out basic information. Chapter One discusses the shift from oral storytelling into written stories for children when discussing the Grimm Brothers. They collected oral stories and changed them into the written Fairy Tales that we as a society have all come to know and love (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p.7). I think my biggest takeaway from this chapter was that we have to know where we've been to know where we are and where we're going.
Chapter 2 Takeaways:
This chapter picks up right where Chapter One ends, stories have now been written down and are being told to children, but now they are being introduced into libraries. It was crazy to discover through this reading that these story times were started by one library simply as an experiment in 1899 (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p.12). Storytime in libraries seems like such a new concept to me, that it was interesting to see that it started so long ago. It's also encouraging that they were using it for the same reasons that we do today, to get children engaged and interested in reading. Similarly to our lecture, I was so interested in seeing all of the women who made this shift in storytelling possible (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, ch. 2). I loved that they all seemed to be connected and drew from each other's ideas. Each librarian who was a part of this movement helped us to understand the importance of storytelling for children and to improve our modern libraries.
Chapter 3 Takeaways:
This chapter was on the purpose and value of storytelling. There was a lot of information in this chapter and I could easily write a whole blog post just about this section, but I want to focus on what I believe to be the most important information given in Chapter Three. First I want to reference the section Giving Children Time to Read and to Reflect on Their Reading. This section covers how critical it is that children aren't just reading, but are comprehending what they are reading. Traditionally librarians would just read a story to children without interruption so as to not mess up the flow of the book, but children cannot always retain information that way. This section encourages librarians to take pauses during storytimes and ask questions to make sure the children are still following the story. This also helps with engagement. We are also encouraged to have discussions about the books and use open-ended questions so we don't guide the children too much (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p. 51-52).
This questioning leads into the other important section in this chapter, Activities That Extend the Storytelling Experience. Anyone who works around children knows that we are entertainers. As librarians, we have to do whatever it takes to hold our children's attention and help them understand the information we are giving them. Having additional activities that line up with storytime helps children retain the information they are given and helps them make connections to other subject matter as well as their personal lives (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p. 52-53).
Fables:
Fables are near and dear to me. I have a copy of Aseop's Fables that I was given when I was born. I remember asking my mom to read me stories from the collection almost every day as a child. Over the Summer I actually got the book from my parents' bookshelf and moved it to mine in my own house. I hope to pass it on to my kids one day. My favorite fable was The Lion and the Mouse. I know this is a very basic fable, but I remember reading and hearing this one more than any other. My family was big into our stories having lessons and for this, we always were reading fables. My fiancee also recently directed a play for a Summer Camp titled A Bag Full of Fables. This was a collection of five fables that children had to act on stage. It was perfect timing that this was our first genre because the production was a great example of storytelling.
Picture Books:
Barnes D. & James G. C. (2017). Crown : an ode to the fresh cut. Bolden An Agate imprint.
Denise, A. A., & Escobar, P. ill. (2019). Planting stories: the life of librarian and storyteller Pura Belpré. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
Santat D. (2014). The adventures of beekle : the unimaginary friend (First). Little Brown and Company.
Sotomayor, S., & Lopez, R. ill. (2019). Just ask!: be different, be brave, be you. Philomel Books.
Wang A. & Chin J. (2021). Watercress (First). Holiday House.
Weatherford C. B. & Cooper F. (2021). Unspeakable : the tulsa race massacre. Carolrhoda Books.
Wenzel B. & Chronicle Books (Firm). (2016). They all saw a cat. Chronicle Books.
Fables:
Aesop. The Goose with Golden Eggs.
Aesop. The Lion and the Mouse.
Aesop. The Milkmaid and her Pail.
Aesop. The North Wind and Sun.
Aesop. The Old Woman and the Doctor.
Aesop. The Oxen and the Axletrees.
Aesop. The Tortoise and the Hare.
References
Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, Fall2014, Vol. 12 Issue 3, p22-25, 4p, 3 Color Photographs
Greene, E., & Del Negro, J. M. (2010). Storytelling Art and Technique. Libraries Unlimited.
New Statesman, 12/13/2004, Vol. 133 Issue 4718/4719, p70-71, 2p.
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