Chapter I: Preface

The new-old art of story telling is being rediscovered. We are finding that the children’s daily story hour in school, in the neighborhood house, and at home is a real force for mental and moral good in their lives. We are learning that it is possible to educate children by means of stories.

Story telling to be a developing factor in a child’s life must be studied by the story teller. There are good stories and there are poor stories for children. The story that fits a child’s needs to-day may not prove a wise choice for him to-morrow. Some stories teach, some stories only give joy, some stories inspire, some stories just make a child laugh. Each of these story phases is important. To discover these special types of stories, to fit stories to the individual child or child group, and to make over stories for perfect telling has been my aim in writing this book.

Through telling stories to many thousands of children and lecturing to students I have found that story telling is a matter of psychology. The pages that follow give my new theory of story telling to the teacher or parent.

CAROLYN SHERWIN BAILEY.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE APPERCEPTIVE BASIS OF STORY TELLING 1

II. THE STORY WITH A SENSE APPEAL 23

III. WHEN THE CURTAIN RISES 41

IV. USING SUSPENSE TO DEVELOP CONCENTRATION 57

V. STORY CLIMAX 83

VI. TRAINING A CHILD’S MEMORY BY MEANS OF A STORY 105

VII. THE INSTINCT STORY 122

VIII. THE DRAMATIC STORY 142

IX. STORY TELLING AN AID TO VERBAL EXPRESSION 171

X. STIMULATING THE EMOTIONS BY MEANS OF A STORY 191

XI. IMAGINATION AND THE FAIRY STORY 212

XII. MAKING OVER STORIES 231

XIII. PLANNING STORY GROUPS 245

STORIES FOR TELLING

THE CAP THAT MOTHER MADE, adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales 8

GOODY TWO SHOES 16

THE THREE CAKES, from Monsieur Berquin’s L’Ami des Enfants 35

THE PRINCE’S VISIT, Horace E. Scudder 52

THE TRAVELS OF A FOX, Clifton Johnson 60

LITTLE LORNA DOONE, adapted from Richard Blackmore 68

LITTLE IN-A-MINUTE 76

OLD MAN RABBIT’S THANKSGIVING DINNER 92

THE GREAT STONE FACE, adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne 98

LITTLE TUK, Hans Christian Andersen 115

THE SELFISH GIANT, Oscar Wilde 133

THE GINGERBREAD BOY (dramatized), Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 153

THE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE (dramatized),
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 163

THE WOODPECKER WHO WAS SELFISH, adapted from an Indian Folk Tale 181

THE LITTLE RABBIT WHO WANTED RED WINGS, adapted from a
Southern Folk Tale 185

THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE, adapted from Miss Mulock 201

THE BLUE ROBIN, Mary Wilkins Freeman 219

THE GIRL WHO TROD ON THE LOAF, Hans Christian Andersen 238

FOR THE STORY TELLER