The Creative Process: A Computer Model of Storytelling and Creativity Book

This book was on my grandmother's shelf, having belonged to my great-grandfather, a lifelong educator. As I plan for homeschooling my own children, I think this book will be an invaluable guide.

Sara Cone Bryant gives five chapters of guidance in why and how to tell (rather than just read) stories, how to choose a good story for telling, and how to adapt material from books. She then spends the second half of the book offering a sampling of good stories adapted and ready for telling. I found her advice very practical and well-considered. Storytelling is not a common art form these days, but, as Ms. Bryant reminds us, nothing creates a bond between teller and audience like oral storytelling. Already I have found this to be true telling stories to my 2-year-old son. My repertoire of stories is small right now, but I look forward to building it in the years to come.

In terms of her story selection, many of them are classics--some familiar, some forgotten. They are told a little differently than I remember them, and the perspective is certainly dated--though it makes for a really interesting study of the American perspective before the World Wars (her commentary on the value of patriotic stories, and encouraging "hero-worship" of patriotic figures is foreign and bizarre to my mind).