The author sets out to explore different ways common household items can be used as props to enhance storytelling performances for preschool and young elementary-age audiences in all settings and for all occasions. Twenty-seven stories are provided demonstrating the techniques of string figures, draw and tell, cut and tell, paper and napkin folding, as well as the unadorned human hand.
In her brief introduction, de Las Casas asserts that the visual elements help storytellers remember the stories and that the story should be learned before learning the handmade technique and the two should be married after both become instinctive. This is quite opposite to the way I have learned to tell string stories since it seems more intuitive to pace your story to the manipulative from the very beginning. It is interesting that de Las Casas’ first entry under string stories, “The Pesky Skeeter,” provides the instructions for the string game and then the text for the story.
The book is basically a sampler of a variety of minimal and common household props but could be more useful with background information regarding the various techniques and materials introduced. as there seems to be an assumption made that most people are familiar with the techniques presented.
While numerous stories are based on folktales, de Las Casas offers original stories as well. The vast majority are very simple and could easily be learned by middle school and high school students to tell to younger audiences. The author provides source notes but these notes are frustrating as they are not consistent in the quality of information provided.
The section on string stories includes two traditional string figures as well as one
shoestring story devised to teach children how to tie their own shoes. Tue author
provides instructions for the string games but without the introduction of string figure
terminology, the instructions are not as precise or effective as in, for example, the
instructions for the same figures in Camilla Gryski’s
There are no instructions in the brief section on “Draw and Tell Stories” regarding what media to use in creating these types of stories or how to position the paper while telling before an audience. This information would be useful for beginning storytellers or young people who may wish to utilize this book for themselves. Instructions are provided, however, in the larger section on “Cut and Tell Stories.” I did have an issue with two stories in this section. In the story “Papa’s Teepee,” the author introduces the family as Native American but does not acknowledge that, while the teepee is certainly a recognizable traditional icon for the Plains tribes, Native Americans cannot be addressed as a collective in this matter. In her liberal adaptation of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the retelling eliminates the entire point of the story (pun intended) as the scissors snip away at the very visible items of clothing. I was also confused with the instructions, in a later section, for the folded towel story of the extremely concise version of “The Ugly Duckling.” What exactly is meant by a full size towel? Also, the instructions are given for constructing the swan and it is only in the notes that she refers to using a grey towel for the duck, but does not indicate that the instructions are the same as those for the swan.
As mentioned previously this handbook would have been much more practical if more key background instructions for creating the props had been included. However, it does present inspiration for tellers to incorporate common household items in the telling of stories already in their repertoire.
My main problem with this book is that the extremely truncated versions of several of the stories appear to serve the handmade prop rather than the other way around. Stories should always be the prime focus.
--------
[Review length: 669 words • Review posted on June 26, 2008]