Story Listening and Experience in Early Childhood

"The great significance of this book cannot be overstated. This is a marvellous book, with research to demonstrate how children learn through listening to oral stories and how educators learn by listening to children. The authors' insights call for more reform in how we educate our children today. It should be a standard book for storytellers and educators alike!" -Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, USA, and author of Creative Storytelling (1995) and Speaking Out (2004)

"Every rare once in a while a book emerges that is required for our times. This is such a book. The early childhood field has long understood the importance of storytelling as the perfect antidote to modern life and didactic education practices. This book gives us the proof of its impact and provides a road map for implementation." -Harriet Meyer, Former President of The Ounce of Prevention Fund, USA

This book shows connections between oral story listening and unique, enduring educational effects in and outside of the classroom. Using scientific studies and interviews, as well as personal observations from more than thirty years in schools and libraries, the authors examine learning outcomes from frequent story listening. Throughout the book, Schatt and Ryan illustrate that experiencing stories told entirely from memory transforms individuals and builds community, affecting areas such as reading comprehension, visualization, focus, flow states, empathy, attachment, and theory of mind.

Auteur

Donna Schatt is a storyteller, researcher, librarian, and writer based in Chicago, Michigan, and New York, USA. She is currently researching the effects of oral story listening on visualization abilities, as well as writing a novel.

Patrick Ryan is a storyteller, teacher, researcher, and writer, based in Belfast and working throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe, and North America. He is the author of Shakespeare's Storybook (2001) and several articles on storytelling.