Fairytales, Families and Forests by Georgiana Keable and Dawne Mc Farlane, illustrated by Araiz Mesanza, review by Lynda Waterhouse

 

Storytelling with Young Children

I was gifted this book. There was no expectation on the part of the giver that I would positively review it. I picked it up and began to read and ….

It is a large, heavy book and has the appearance of a textbook but as it states in its introduction,

This book will open secrets of fun, wisdom and mystery that live inside your mouth. You will discover (if you didn’t already know) that you are a storyteller.

We hope this book will be a gift to brave parents and teachers in times of climate change, environmental destruction and global health concerns.

This is a practical book packed full of advice, rhymes, songs, and poems. It is divided in six parts and each part is colour coded and contains Araiz Mesana’s gentle illustrations to accompany the stories.

The largest section of the book - Part 1 - looks at Storytelling with your growing child from Babies to through to Six and Seven Year Olds. This is a masterclass in understanding child development. On many pages there are speech bubbles where the two authors, Georgiana and Dawne, ‘break in’ to speak to us and share their own experiences and recommendations. There is so much encouragement to be creative, e.g. inventing your own cumulative stories and updating ring games. I loved the reworking of an old rhyme in ‘Isabella’s Rewilding Farm!’

Part 2 considers stories of nature and our human role in nature and also story as healing and the role of storytelling to mend wounds. Part 3 looks at Rhythms of the Year and Festival Stories.

My current favourite section is Part 4 – Building Creativity and Confidence - which states, ’Now we need to confess something here. Storytelling is not as easy as it looks!’

It offers advice on choosing a simple story that resonates with you, but then mentions that if it is a story from a culture beyond your own to choose from a trusted source that respects the origins of the story. ‘Part of respecting the story is acknowledging its source and if in doubt ask permission from the person you heard the story from.’

I am currently using the part on ‘Seeing the Story’ to develop my own writing/storytelling practice at the moment. There is a section of support for educators and storytellers and advice on setting up a Storytelling Circle. It also discusses the use of phones and tablets in children’s language development with reference to research done in the last ten years on the effect on babies, children and teenagers of parental use of mobile phones.

This book is the perfect gift for parents, educators, writers and storytellers.

Hawthorn Press

www.Hawthornpress

ISBN 978-1-912480-38-8