By Walt Belcher
What is the best book for storytelling? A book of stories? Or a how-to book on the craft of storytelling?
If you are a storyteller, then it’s very likely that both kinds of books are on your shelves.
My personal collection includes the classics such as “Aesop’s Fable” and “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” as well as “Favorite Folktales from around the World” (edited by Jane Yolen).
I admit, I haven’t read them all the way through yet. But I’m working on it.
My collection of Florida-based stories include “Tellable Cracker Tales’ by Annette J. Bruce, one of pioneers of the Florida Storytelling Association.
Someone gave me this book and it’s a treasure. It was published in 1996 and contains such gems as “Ole’ One-Eye,” “Bear-Hunting-Cracker Style” and “Bone Mizell.” Every Florida storyteller should a look at this book. It’s a fun read.
Annette, known as the “mother of the Florida Storytelling Association,” passed away in 2011 at the age of 91. But her stories live on. You can find her book on Amazon.
Also, in my Florida collection is “Uncle Monday and Other Florida Tales” edited by Kristin G. Congdon. The story of “Uncle Monday” dates to the 1930s and was collected by Florida author Zora Neale Hurston.
I have a few books on the craft of storytelling including “How to Tell A Story” from The Moth storytelling organization. That’s handy information for telling true personal stories.
Another instruction book that is quick and easy-to-read is “Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You’ll Ever Need” by Margot Leitman (who is a multi-winner of Moth Grand slams).
She’s very clever and entertaining. She gives advice like “Visual Aids in Storytelling Are Like Nude Scenes in Films: Too Much is Overkill”.
It has been hard for me to resist books by professional storytellers. I have a Donald Davis book or two, such as “Listening for the Crack of Dawn.”
I also have Loren Niemi’s “Circus Rex” which is a novel, but I personally like Loren.
Every time I go to a storytelling festival, I come back with a book. Last year from the Stone Soup Festival in South Carolina I got storyteller Lyn Ford’s “Affrilachian Tales.” These are tales from the African-American Applachian tradition.
Another book of stories from the Sunshine State is Caren Neile’s “Florida Lore” which contains a bounty of information about Florida’s legends, tales and folklore. Caren teaches storytelling at Florida Atlantic University.
I’ve got a couple of Tim Tingle’s books (he was a featured teller at our last state festival). I have his “How I Became a Ghost” and “Texas Ghost Stories.”
Oh my, best not get me started on books about ghost stories. I have a bunch, including “Haunted Tampa: Spirits of The Bay” by Deborah Frethem who gave members of the Suncoast Storytellers permission to retell any of the stories she collected.
I also have her “Ghost Stories of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Pinellas County” and then there are the Mark Muncy books: “Creepy Florida” and “Freaky Florida.” I also have “Weird Florida, “Spooky Florida,” and “Witches and Warlocks: Tales of Black Magic Old and New”.
There’s more. Much More. Too much to list here.
Every year, I go through my collection and gather up some to donate to the Florida Storytelling Festival’s used book sale. You should do the same. New and used books at our festival is a great way to add to your collection.
But tell us, please, what are your favorite storytelling books?
In the preface to his book of stories, “Listening for the Crack of Dawn,” Donald Davis recalled that in 1981, the year of his first experience as a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival, he was the only teller who was telling original personal stories. All the other stories were either traditional, historical, or literary.
In 1993, he published a book called “Telling Your Own Stories,” in which he explains how he found these stories in his own life and how you can, too. It is a great instruction book for telling true personal stories.