ALA Bulletin American Library Association Volume 3-4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ...the effects expended in the preparation and the telling of stories, and she must be fortified with concrete examples of good results, if she advocates the story hour. There is a large element of truth in much of the criticism of the practice of story-telling in the library. Whether story-telling is a function of the school which has been appropriated by the library, there is always likely to be a difference of opinion, as there is no way to prove either side of the argument to the satisfaction of those of opposite convictions. The children's joy in listening is known to be greater at the library story hour, as the children realize that there they will not be expected to retell the stories. If the story hour is to cultivate a taste for good literature, enlarge the vocabulary of the listeners, and improve their dramatic sense, it follows that the storyteller must be a person who is especially fitted by both nature and training for her work. Not many persons possess this art and but few of these have the opportunity of developing it to a proper degree. In the branch of the Brooklyn public library which the writer represents, the story hour has been well established for three winters, the stories being told by a trained children's librarian. The attendance has been large, the order in assembling fair, the attention perfect, and the stories of high order. The stories have usually been selected to popularize good books but little known by the children, and have been prepared as thoroughly as the time available in library time and much of the children's librarian's own time would allow. In spite of these facts, however, the story hour as a regular institution will be discontinued at this branch, another year. A story hour at irregular intervals, timed to suit the ...