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I am happy to share the latest number from the show. For the last 3 months we have been running over six thousands downloads a month Currently listeners are in over 104 countries world wide. The average released episodes has 1000 listeners with 26,000 downloads since June 1st.

Thank-you for all of those who have been so supportive. I have changed the name of the show.

As of two days ago the Art of Storytelling with Children is the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf. The name has been changed to help with audience identity and growth.

Finally – the many of the episode CD’s of the show will be for sale in the National Storytelling Festival Marketplace tent. Make sure that you stop by the tent at the Market Place and buy and pick up a CD!

Over the Next month I will be releasing the video version of this email course available now on the Art of Storytelling with Children Blog I promise that I send you the seven emails about storytelling over the next ten days or so and that in addition I will send you annoucement about storytelling workshops [...]

Book Review by Brother Wolf.

What an amazing resource! This book is an excellent effective resource for anyone who works with schools, camps, libraries, and just wants to share it on from family book shelves. It is a must for storytellers who intend to tell scary stories to children under fourteen. This anthology of scary stories clearly demonstrates the rich selection of plots and stories that are common in America today. Many of the more traditional stories are provided with slightly different twists. This produces fun to read (or hear) collections for the new storyteller while still holding the interest of those readers (or listeners) who have heard these tales. There are several original stories that are found nowhere else - plus a large selection of the old standbys. Altogether there are twenty stories placed in five categories with four stories per group: Just Deserts, Ghostly Guardians, Dark Humor, Urban Legends and Fearless Females. You are bound to fit a tale to fit any need!

The stories included are not horror or suspense. Blood and gore are not privileged any place in this collection of tales. Instead, the concentration is good scary fun! The short length of the book and each story make it an easy take-along for sleepovers and camping trips.

Here you will find Margaret Read Macdonald’s version of the Dauntless Girl; in addition to a fresh twist of the graveyard dare story from Great Briton. The Gingerbread Boy, a tale collected by Mary Hamilton, and a Cinderella story told with a visit to a friendly neighborhood witch who is right out of Hansel and Gretel. Kevin Cordi’s “Aaron Kelly’s Bones,” serves as a great reminder of what to do when the dead come back to haunt the living. What better demonstration of the fact that the bones of old relationships get in the way of the current ones than a skeleton sitting in a rocking chair in your living room. Each story comes with notes and additional resources that could be use in developing a storyteller’s own version of the tale. Included with the collection are hints of
books, websites, and festivals to check out. I found the book very readable.

The stories were so fresh that I could not put the book down; I had to read it in one evening. At 144 pages this book will become one of the old standbys of any classroom for middle school, especially 5th and 6th grade. This is an important oral narrative resource for any teacher wanting to include storytelling in the curriculum this fall. Without reservation, buy it, you and the kids you work with deserve a good fright!

The August House of Scary Stories
ISBN 978-0-87483-915-9
Price : $15.95

To Purchase this book try Amazon -
The August House Book of Scary Stories: Spooky Tales for Telling Out Loud

If you have found this resource review helpful – maybe you would
consider writing a review of a storytelling resource; book, magazine,
CD, DVD or storyteller for publication on the Art of Storytelling with
Children Blog? If you have a resource that you would like reviewed, you
should know that any of my previous guests are welcome to write a 500+ word review of any resource.

Last summer I pushed for the recording of important sessions of the National Storytelling Network’s (NSN) 2008 Conference I was recording my session on the future of storytelling online for this podcast. I figured why not do a little more? I exhausted myself and recorded the membership session and the regional NSN rep session. These recording are the property of NSN. Unluckily I work for myself like most artists and it took me two months to edit the work – then having finished it - I promptly forgot about it. Finally in November I got my copies to the NSN board. Jo Radner, the NSN board chair was very excited about getting some key sessions recorded. I got the feeling the board would have liked faster service – but you know the old saying you get what you pay for and I was free.

Others recorded the Keynotes and the Master storytellers concert. I don’t know what happened to these files. I’m sure the NSN got a copy of them somewhere. The master storytellers performance - Doc McConnell’s last performance - was almost not recorded! I saw the volunteer putting his equipment away before the performance, and when I asked why, I was told by NSN volunteers that the storytellers would never agreed to their work being recorded.

So I walked up to each storyteller and asked them for permission to record their performance “for NSN” with any other uses to be worked out later. They all said yes with a great deal of passion and Doc McConnell said we could do anything NSN wanted with his recording. I’m sure I was too pushy for bystanders

The reality is that storytelling has an advantage over other art forms, because new work is always being created. We all have material that we have not performed in years. We all have stories that were once primary to our performance, but now no longer capture our attention. What if all of that material was still available? Mostly I try to downplay storytellers’ fears by asking this one question: Reframing the whole debate… Do you want to be a part of the historical record?

That is how I would frame this debate over recording conference sessions.

Five years from now if this material is available will it still matter to you? Won’t you be on to other things? Wouldn’t it be nice to have this historical moment recorded? The question is not “Do we record our conference sessions?” The question really is ”When do we release our conference sessions? One year? Two years? Five years from now?”

The storytelling skill set is timeless – the skills and abilities we have today will not, unlike computers, internet or blogging, become old fashioned – they are ageless. I personally know that the storytelling movement has a lot to offer the world and think it’s time we stepped up to the plate to offer our skills. NSN or any other national organization could be the vehicle for that delivery. Who ever builds a content delivery system around the art of storytelling first will win that race and be the source for the international storytelling movement for the next twenty years. My website www.storytellingwithchildren.com is well on the way to being the source for all things relating to storytelling with children, but what about storytelling with seniors, in business, marketing, or any of a dozen different topics that I have not had time or resources to cover in the depth that should be covered?

NSN could be so much more then a network, using it’s conference it could bring the separate candles of the storytelling community into a bright light that would shine forth across the world.

Eric Wolf

The Art of Storytelling with Children podcast successfully fuels the rebirth of the storytelling community in a new technological format. The podcast has created a format where anyone can learn the ancient art of storytelling.

“Storytellers can reach children in ways that other forms of education fail,” says storyteller Eric Wolf. Mr. Wolf has told stories professionally since 1993. “I have seen it again and again. The art of storytelling is essential to the development of moral and ethical behavior in children. Ethics and storytelling walk hand and hand into our children’s lives. You cannot have one with out the other.”

The Art of Storytelling with Children is not just for children. This program is for anyone who wants to learn how to use storytelling with children. Want to know how to be an amazing storyteller? How to use storytelling to hold audiences of all ages in rapt attention? How to get an audience to give you a standing ovation? Why thirty second stories are so useful? How storytellers are able to tell such great stories? All these questions on the art of storytelling are answered in considerable detail at www.storytellingwithchildren.com.

The Art of Storytelling with Children podcast has had a total of over 41,000 downloads from 140 different countries worldwide with 12,000 unique listeners and several hundred regular fans. This is a feat made more amazing because each show is over an hour long. More than 80 storytellers from all over the world have been interviewed. While long believed dead by many, the ancient art of storytelling is alive and well at www.storytellingwithchildren.com.

For More information contact:

Eric Wolf
(937) 767-8696
http://www.ericwolf.org

Saturday, October 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Eric James Wolf
Phone: (937) 767-869
Speaking out in Defense of Scary Stories on the Art of Storytelling with Children Show

Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling with Children Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to defend the use of the scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition with children.

Scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children have taken the place of ritual trials of adulthood for teenagers, according to Mr. Wolf. They also serve as a means for adults to warn children away from dangerous places or behavior. Ghost stories and scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition can be age appropriate and satisfying for families. Currently on his the Art of Storytelling shows website he has five interviews available for easy download about the art of telling scary Halloween stories.

Eric Wolf does not condone or support horror or the graphic use of violence. “It is possible, however, by carefully working within the confines of scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children, to leave our audience psychologically stronger and more emotionally capable of dealing with their fears or the shock of real world disasters,” Mr. Wolf says.

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Storyteller Eric James Wolf has performed nationally at such venues as the American Museum of Natural History; Bank Street School for Children; Barnard College; Blue Theater - Toronto, Canada; Columbia University; The Fund for the City of New York; Kings Island Amusement Park; New York City Clearwater Festival; New Jersey Liberty Science Center; and The International Performing Artists for Youth.

He is the host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Children, a one hour interview format show. Mr. Wolf has M.S. in Education from Lesley University.

Eric Wolf’s Websitehttp://www.ericwolf.org

The Art of Storytelling with Children Show
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com

A list of five episodes on the Art of Storytelling with Children with storytellers speaking on how to use scary storytelling with kids.
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/category/scary-storytelling/

To schedule an interview, call…
(937) 767-8696

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Greetings! I look forward to sharing with you on Tuesday evening October 29, 2008, at 8pm. The focus topic on this pod cast of Storytelling With Children is “Breaking Barriers Through Storytelling”.

My introduction to literature and the planting of seeds that later bloomed into storytelling, came in the 1950’s. In the midst of a social, political and cultural climate that suggested that my family and community were devoid of intellect, history or culture, my father began reading to me the literary diamonds and jewels that came from within our culture. Somewhere around 6 years old, my father read out loud the words of James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. My father relished and touted the genius of these writers. He handed me the Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, selected a poem for me to memorize and launched me, as a child, onto a spoken word path. Numerous church banquets, teas and special community events were staging grounds for “a reading by Miss Charlotte Blake”.

I’ll share some memories of that time and fast-forward to the place where those germinating seeds and my experience in an independent school crossed paths with storytelling and an immediate realization of the power of this art form. On I faculty of 70, I was one of three faculty members of color. One particular event at the school served as a reminder of how invisible we often were, of how a genuinely well-meaning (and I really mean that!) community could unknowingly participate in perpetuating stereotypes and marginalizing members of their community. My concern was the statement those actions made to the children in the community. When I encountered storytelling, I immediately saw it as a window, a bridge, a tool I could use; a way in which initially children, could access, affirm, value and appreciate a cultural perspective that was different from their own.

That two-story repertoire (plus a set of Kiddie Rock& Roll songs!) later expanded to incorporate stories for all ages. I’ve since told at home and abroad in schools, festivals, concert halls, detention centers, a refugee camp; in collaboration with jazz musicians, choreographers and symphony orchestras. One of my most storyteller-reaffirming moments happened in a refugee camp in northern Senegal. So come on in! It’s okay. This will not be psychologically heavy duty! I am not an academician. This will be a chance to peek inside my head, listen to my heart and perhaps hear a perspective, a view that might serve you well in your own work.

“See you” on the pod cast.

Grandaddy Junebug writes…
Good storytelling is like poetry to your ears…good poetry is storytelling at it’s best. Storytelling and poetry go together like hand in glove. Ninety percent of the stories I tell are in rhyme so I coined the term “sto’etry” to describe my unique style of telling.

At the tender age of three, my paternal Grandmother read to me the story poem “A Cabin Tale” from the “Life And Works Of Paul Laurence Dunbar”. The genius of this work coupled with the joy in my Grandmother’s eyes and the passion in her delivery left an indelible impression in my heart. Since 1985 I have been performing the works of Dunbar, myself and others at festivals, schools and other venues throughout the United States.

Storytellers in general are unaware of the vast potential poetry can add not only to the repertoire of the teller but, also to the “flavor” of the performance. This is especially true with venues for children. A vast majority of young audiences are familiar with the “Rap” genre of music and are, therefore, more inclined to not only enjoy the performance with greater appreciation but also to digest more of the content of the morals and affirmations. “Sto’etry” is “Rap” without the music with each child supplying his or her own “beat” to the vocals, which, in turn actually seems to garner more satisfaction as one seems to “enjoy the book more than the movie”. Older audience members are also appreciative of this style because most, in their youth, were taught the values of poetry and the importance of memorizing and reciting for different groups within their respective communities.

Come with me as we explore the unlimited possiblities poetry can add not only to storytellers, but, to story listeners as well.

Most storytellers shy away from utilizing poetry in performance because of the need to “memorize” verbatim as well as the inability to “ad lib” during the show. It is true that poetry lends itself to a certain rhythm, however, once you’ve crawled into the skin of the poet your voice becomes the vehicle and your words become the steering wheel that guides the listeners (travelers) on the journey. A good storyteller wouldn’t have any problem “playing” to an audience or “ad libbing” while utilizing the “sto’etry” style of telling.