Storytelling is one of the oldest and most essential skills known to humankind, a timeless parenting tool that helps families celebrate life’s joys, navigate its challenges, and raise healthy, well-adjusted kids. Stories help children manage their emotions, empathize with others, and better understand the complex world we live in. More importantly, storytelling cultivates a rich and meaningful bond between storyteller and listener, building intimacy and trust between parent and child.
In this delightful book, Silke Rose West and Joseph Sarosy—early childhood educators with thousands of storytelling hours between them—distill the key ingredients of storytelling into a surprisingly simple method that can make anyone an expert storyteller. Their intuitive technique uses events and objects from your child’s daily life to make storytelling easy and accessible. By shifting the focus from crafting a narrative to strengthening your relationship with your child, this book will awaken skills you never knew you had. Complete with practical advice, helpful prompts, and a touch of science to explain how stories enrich our lives in so many ways, How to Tell Stories to Children is a must-read for parents, grandparents and educators.


CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I
THE PURPOSE OF STORY-TELLING IN SCHOOL

CHAPTER II
SELECTION OF STORIES TO TELL

CHAPTER III
ADAPTATION OF STORIES FOR TELLING

CHAPTER IV
HOW TO TELL THE STORY

CHAPTER V
SOME SPECIFIC SCHOOLROOM USES

STORIES SELECTED AND ADAPTED FOR TELLING


ESPECIALLY FOR KINDERGARTEN AND CLASS I.

Nursery Rhymes
Five Little White Heads
Bird Thoughts
How we came to have Pink Roses
Raggylug
The Golden Cobwebs
Why the Morning-Glory climbs
The Story of Little Tavwots
The Pig Brother
The Cake
The Pied Piper of Hamelin Town
Why the Evergreen Trees keep their Leaves in Winter
The Star Dollars
The Lion and the Gnat



ESPECIALLY FOR CLASSES II. AND III.


The Cat and the Parrot
The Rat Princess
The Frog and the Ox
The Fire-Bringer
The Burning of the Ricefields
The Story of Wylie
Little Daylight
The Sailor Man
The Story of Jairus's Daughter


ESPECIALLY FOR CLASSES IV. AND V.


Arthur and the Sword
Tarpeia
The Buckwheat
The Judgment of Midas
Why the Sea is Salt
Billy Beg and his Bull
The Little Hero of Haarlem
The Last Lesson
The Story of Christmas



THE CHILD-MIND; AND HOW TO SATISFY IT


A short List of Books in which the Story-teller will find Stories not too far from the Form in which they are needed