Notes
from The Kids' Storytelling Club

Author Tells Kids How to Become Storytellers

Author/Storyteller Vivian Dubrovin spoke to boys and girls at a summer program at a local elementary school recently, with materials from her book, Storytelling Discoveries: Favorite Activities for Young Tellers.

“With a few props on hand, Dubrovin gave the students in Camp Monroe -- a five-week summer camp for students entering kindergarten through fourth grade -- a lesson on storytelling.

"You don't memorize and recite. You learn and tell," said Dubrovin.

Dubrovin made a ghost, sock-doll and teddy bear walk, wiggle and exercise as she told different stories to the students.

"I'm trying to convince kids they can be storytellers," Dubrovin said. "I like to see the confidence and empowerment it gives children."

Julie Peters, [English Language Acquisition teacher for the program], invited Dubrovin … whom she had invited in 2002 to a before- and after-school program. "The storytelling she does is old-fashioned storytelling," Peters said. "It's like a true storyteller. It's not cut and dried and following a script." ” -excerpted from Loveland Reporter-Herald, July 13, 2011

Available Now!
The New KidTellers Series

The New KidTellers series includes one-to three TellerPaks per booklet. Each TellerPak includes a story, a craft to help tell the story, tips for telling, and an extra surprise. Booklets may include topics such as Easy Beginning Tales, Family Storytelling, Creating Puppets Voices.

Books in the KidTellers Series are available for the Kindle on Amazon.com at their Kindle Store.

Book #1 Easy Beginner Tales

The first e-booklet, Easy Beginner Tales, presents a very simple way for 9-12 year-olds to start learning storytelling skills. It includes TellerPaks on Tabletoop Telling, Mistakes and Discoveries, and Audience Paricipation with a Marionette.

“From basic acting tips to insights on how to remember key components of the story, Easy Beginner Tales is quite simply a 'must' for any who would become a storyteller." Diane Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

by Vivian Dubrovin
Illustrated by Barbara Dubrovin
$3.95

Also Available...
an introductory sample to Storycraft's new
Downloadable Booklets
Finding Fun In Storytelling
by Vivian Dubrovin
Illustrated by Barbara Dubrovin
$1.95

Finding Fun in Storytellling includes the Magic Storytelling Stick Sample TellerPak, reprinted from the Junior Storyteller ISSN#1087-7398, Volume 9, Issue 2, Fall 2002
in a new downloadable electronic format. Read about Mandy's Second Storytelling Stick. Learn to Make a Storytelling Stick, and discover how to
Create Your Own Storytelling Badge.

What Are TellerPaks?
    TellerPaks are similar to kits. They help young people learn to become storytellers. Each TellerPak includes:
            an original sample story
            instructions for a craft that you can make to help tell it
            tips for telling it
            an extra surprise (this could be an idea for making the story easier for you to tell or an iodea for creating a new story of your own.)

Where Did TellerPaks Come From?
    For a little more than 17 years the Junior Storyteller quarterly publication printed one TellerPak (a story, a craft to help tell it, and tips for telling) in each issue. Beginning in 1996, the Kids' Storytelling Club website began to publish bimonthly TellerPaks on its website. Some of these TellerPaks were collected in books, some of them just got filed away as back issues of the Junior Storyteller, and some of them never got published at all.
    When the Junior Storyteller published its last issue in July, 2010, young storytellers across the United States, their parents, teachers, and youth group leaders began asking where they could continue to get storytelling ideas for classes, workshops, and club meetings. And how could they get them quickly?
    Storycraft Publishing began to go through its files of back issues of the Junior Storyteller and all those great ideas that never got a chance to get published to find the most popular, fun, and interesting projects. They put one, two, or three TellerPaks into Downloadable Booklets to make some of the best youth storytelling ideas from Storycraft's long history available to more people as quickly as possible.

Visit our new Blog Page, What's Their Story, for expert tips and advice for working with young storytellers. You'll find more "Notes" for parents, teachers, youth group leaders, babysitters, and other adults interested in helping young storytellers.
The blog is maintained by Vivian Dubroviin, editor of the Kids' Storytelling Club, and will discuss such topics as how a storytelling story differs from a written one, how to use simple crafts to help kids remember parts of a story, and how to create storytelling opportunities for kids. If you have questions or would like to suggest a discussion topic, please contact Vivian. She would especially like to hear from former students of her online class on "Helping Children Become Storytellers" and other teacher workshops.

Resources Page.
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Book Reviews
For reviews of the individual books click on the About Us Page (link at top or bottom of this page) and then click on the book title, or visit the Resources Page (link at top or bottom of this page) and double click on the book illustration.

Notes from The Kids' Storytelling Club

Notes
from The Kids' Storytelling Club