SLIS 600 Post #3 - Reading Reflection - Storytelling: Art and Technique & Tall Tales

 

Chapter 10 of Ellin Greene and Janice M. Del Negro’s (2010) Storytelling: Art and Technique, titled “Children and Young Adults as Storytellers,” featured many different programs that taught storytelling to children and young adults. In the section about Anne Shimojima’s storytelling activities, one of the activities that stood out to me was when Shimojima would take several different folktales, rewrite them, and have the children make their own additions to the story (p. 195). In chapter 4, folktales are described as traditional tales that, “have the essentials of a good short story: terseness, simplicity, and vigor” (p. 65). These traits are what make them good for beginner storytellers to learn, but I think that by allowing children to personalize them, it can create a greater connection between the child and the story they are telling because they have been allowed to add something of themselves to the story.

Anne Shimojima has been a storyteller for a long time and she has several storytelling videos on her website that I would recommend checking out. https://www.anneshimojima.com/

I found it interesting that another activity discussed in chapter 10 also dealt with story variations. In the “‘Reach for a Story’ Project” section, it is mentioned that Ellin Greene would have children do an activity where they were tasked to, “find variants of a tale or compare several picture-books editions of the same story” (p. 205). The goal of this activity is to teach the children that, “storytelling is a way of seeing” (p. 205). It is noted in chapter 1, “Storytelling: A Historical Perspective,” that the similarities in these stories could be attributed to, “similarities to universal emotions,” as, “the tales were fantasies that fulfilled human wishes and dreams” (p. 7). I think Greene’s activity is a great way to teach children about differences in culture, while also showing them how those cultures can fundamentally relate to one another on a human level. Greene and Del Negro put it best in chapter 3, “Purpose and Values of Storytelling,” when they state that, “Folklore is living proof of the kinship of human beings” (p. 47).

Speaking of fundamental, I like that Shimojima emphasized to her students, “that they must practice, practice, practice, and they must do their practicing out loud” (p. 196). It immediately reminded me of the storytelling tips that I discussed in my first blog post and strategies discussed in chapter 5, “Preparation,” specifically where it is written to, “Practice telling the story aloud . . . . Practice wherever and whenever you can . . . . Practice, practice, practice” (p. 83). Having finished two storytelling experiences so far, I can attest to the benefit of practicing the story aloud. It is like stretching before exercise, you must warm your mouth up for the words so that you do not stumble on them. The Campbell and Hlusek (2015) article, “Storytelling for Fluency and Flair,” also indicates that this practice can lead to better reading fluency through, “the purposeful repeated readings required when rehearsing for performance” (p. 157).

This week, I read the following seven tall tales:

• Paul Bunyan
• John Henry
• High John the Conqueror
• Johnny Appleseed
• Davy Crockett
• Calamity Jane
• Sam Patch

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) describes a tall tale as a, “narrative that depicts the wild adventures of extravagantly exaggerated folk heroes. The tall tale is essentially an oral form of entertainment; the audience appreciates the imaginative invention rather than the literal meaning of the tales” (para. 1). In the book that I read them from, Michael Gorham’s (1952) The Real Book of American Tall Tales, they are referred to as “whoppers” (p. 6). Some of the characters in the tales are based on real people, but the point of telling a tall tale is to exaggerate their feats beyond the realm of possibility, while maintaining that every word of the tale is true. This kind of storytelling appeals to me because I have a very dry sense of humor and I think that I could leverage that to effectively tell a tall tale.

This video from Learn English from the Learning Depot gives a nice rundown of the origins of tall tales:

As a child, tall tales were the first kind of story that I can remember learning about and seeking out. I cannot really remember when I first heard about fairy tales and folk tales, because my parents read them to me as a baby. I can remember the first time that I heard the story of Paul Bunyan though. It was from the Disney short film adaptation that I used to watch on The Disney Channel, around the time that I was in first grade. The Disney Channel also used to show the series Shelley Duvall’s Tall Tales and Legends, which was my first exposure to the stories of Johnny Appleseed and John Henry. Now that I think about it, those characters kind of fill the same niche as superheroes, which I would come to enjoy just a couple of years later. Both superhero stories and tall tales are about larger than life figures who possess preternatural skills and accomplish impossible feats. It was nice to be able to reacquaint myself with some of these stories.

References

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia (2020, July 24). Tall tale. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/tall-tale

Campbell, T., & Hlusek, M. (2015). Storytelling for fluency and flair. Reading Teacher, 69(2), 157-161. https://doi-org.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/10.1002/trtr.1384

Gorham, M., & Danska, H. (1952). The real book of American tall tales. Garden City Books. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24955826M/The_real_book_of_American_tall_tales

Greene, E., & Del Negro, J. M. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (4th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.