Tag Archives: storytelling

What I Call Life – Jill Wolfson

“What I Call Life” is a young adult fiction novel set around the Pumpkin House, an orange building filled to the brim with foster children who operate under the care of the Knitting Lady. When Cal Lavender’s mother has another one of her “episodes,” this time in a public library, eleven-year-old Cal isn’t fazed. This is normal behavior for her mother. Soon she’ll snap out of it and everything will be fine, until the next time. But the authorities are called and Betty is taken off for treatment, while Cal is taken to the Pumpkin House. She doesn’t know what … Continue reading →

Make Believe Stories and Tall Tales

Do you make up stories, tell tall tales, or sing silly songs to your kids? If so, you may already know that inventing a character and crafting a story or song off the cuff can be a hilarious adventure for you and your family. One of your tales may turn into your child’s favorite bedtime or dinnertime story, as is the case in my home. I usually try to incorporate a few real life details or events to make a story more familiar and to help prevent certain memories from evaporating. In my willy-nilly rambling one day, while on vacation … Continue reading →

The Art of Story Telling

The art of storytelling is one of those that is drifting by the way side of high-speed life – elusive and far from the usual. Storytelling is more than just reading a story out loud to an audience. Story telling is infusing the story with the life of the characters, adopting their tones, their emotions and more. Story telling is about capturing the imagination of the audience and transporting them into the world you are telling them about whether you are reading the text, reciting from memory or spinning the yarn out as you go along. Reading to Children We … Continue reading →

Shakespeare in Love

The film Shakespeare in Love is one of my favorites. Not just because it features Judi Dench. Not just because it tells the story of William Shakespeare and his love affair with a beautiful woman who is destined to be the bride of another. Not just because the tragedy of love is so highlighted within the plot of the movie and the plot of the plays that Shakespeare writes. But because the topic, love, is so readily and brazenly addressed, it is at different times in the movie equally exalted, mocked, embraced, disparaged, applauded and ultimately left unsatisfied. It recognizes … Continue reading →