How & Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read and Tell (World Storytelling from August House (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I have great respect for the work of Hamilton and Weiss in helping children tell stories. Their first book, 'Children Tell Stories: A Teaching Guide' is a classic that should be in every school and public library. I have also found 'Stories in My Pocket: Tales Kids Can Tell' to be very helpful. I was very excited to see that they had a new book, and used it in my third grade classroom last year. The children loved the stories. All are simply retold in a lively manner and are shortenough to make them accessible to young tellers. The size of type, amount of white space, and use of illustrations by Carol Lyon all add up to a very appealing volume. How & Why Stories is an excellent book for youngsters to use on their own and for teachers and group leaders to use with children."

Rating:
Summary: How and Why to Buy
Review: This Hamilton and Weiss book was given to us as a gift. It was our first experience with their books. We are very grateful to have this book in our collection and what a great place to start!

The length of each story and child friendly layout of the book really encouraged my kids to, not only read, but to tell these stories. The "How and Why World Tales..." are right in line with questions kids are always asking. They love to ask and they love to search for answers. These multi-cultural tales stimulate the thinking power of children and encourage their imaginations.

The illustrations and stories are in perfect harmony. After a wonderful collection of tales, Hamilton and Weiss offer a master's class at the end of the book. They suggest many ways to read, practice, and tell these stories. Their energetic support to tell leaps off of the page as if they are right there to coach. They offer more story prompt ideas which expand the book even further. They are masters.

Rating:
Summary: Master Stories from Master Storytellers
Review: This is yet another excellent book authored by two world-class storytellers. I speak from experience as Beauty and the Beast taught my daughter's class how to tell stories a number of years ago. The same care, expertise and insight into children which they employed as teachers can be seen in compiling the stories in this book.

These are wonderful stories which seem as if they would be great fun to tell. The range of stories is fantastic as is the very diverse, multi-cultural background of the chosen tales. I enjoyed reading the stories for their own sake but can see how readers would love to use them as stories to tell to others. What a wonderful collection!

This book is a great read for young storytellers and their parents-even if you never tell a single story it is a great read for the stories themselves.