Resources for Family Writers
          and Storytellers

           
          • Books
          • Links

            •  
          Books

          Akeret, Robert U.  Family Tales, Family Wisdom:  How to
              Gather the Stories of a Lifetime and Share Them With
              Your Family.  NY:  Henry Holt and Company, 1991.

          Details a ten-phase program of Elder Tale Telling, including excellent examples from the author’s work.  Many of the prompts would be useful for younger writers as well.

          Collins, Chase.  Tell Me a Story:  Creating Bedtime Tales that
              Your Children Will Dream On.  NY:  Houghton Mifflin,
              1992.

          Establishes the importance of telling original stories that are aimed at issues in a child’s life, tailoring the tales to the experience of the child.

          Davis, Donald.  Telling Your Own Stories.  Little Rock:
              August House, 1993.

           Excellent source of story prompts to encourage family
           storytelling.  Includes elements of stories (with an excellent
           flowchart template) and five types of language we use for
           storytelling.  Good discussion of the importance of sensory
           details in storytelling.  Family lifespan chart and its uses in
           storytelling.

          Fox, Mem.  Radical Reflections:  Passionate Opinions on
              Teaching, Learning, and Living.  NY:  Harcourt Brace & Co.,
              1993.

          This is an outstanding defense of teaching, living, and writing
          with a purpose.  Fox discusses why we write and how we can
          empower our children by helping them to become better
          writers.  Fox is a popular children's author and has a keen
          sense of how to share language arts activities with children.

          Ledoux, Denis.  Turning Memories into Memoirs:  A Handbook
               For Writing Lifestories.  Lisbon Falls, ME:  Soleil Press,
               1993.

           Contains a step-by-step process for planning, writing, and
           expanding family stories.  Geared towards a workshop offered
           by the author.

          Ms. Foundation for Women.  Girls Seen and Heard:  52 Life
              Lessons for Our Daughters.  NY:  Putnam, 1998.

          Journaling activities aimed at adolescent girls and their mothers to help girls through a period when they typically experience a crisis of self-confidence.  Excellent source of journaling activities and good bibliographies at the end of each chapter.  Would facilitate communication among mothers and daughters, especially by dispelling the idea that the work of adolescents is to “separate” from their parents; this book argues that the real work of adolescence is to transform relationships between parents and children.

          Resnick, Jane P.  Family:  Reflections and Memories.  NY:
               Smithmark, 1995.

           Contains well-written brief personal essays on topics of
           home, children, love, and extended family.  Each section
           also includes prompts and small spaces for writing one’s
           own recollections.

          Stillman, Peter R.  Families Writing.  Cincinnati:  Writer's
              Digest Books, 1989.

          By far, the best book I have yet found on family writing.  Stillman writes eloquently about why family writing matters so much and provides more than 60 ideas from the very serious to the very silly to inspire families to write together.  Every family should own a copy of this book.

          Ueland, Brenda.  If You Want to Write:  A Book About Art,
              Independence and Spirit.  Saint Paul:  Graywolf Press,
              1987.

           Reissue of a book published originally in 1938.  Deals with
           psychological and spiritual aspects of writing; draws on
           examples from Ueland’s own experiences with writers,
           including Tolstoi, Sandburg, etc.  Excellent motivational
           book.

          Links
           

          • Children's Literature Web Guide
          •  The Neverending Tale
          •  Wacky Web Tales (Houghton Mifflin)
          • Candlelight Stories
          • Coyote Stories and Poems
          • Blue Mountain Email Greeting Cards
          • World Wide Quilting Page
          • The Center for the Book
          • The Teachers and Writers Collaborative
          • Writes of Passage
          • Creative Writing for Kids
          • Word Dance
          • The Kids' Storytelling Club
          • Storyteller.net
          • Telling Stories from Our Lives
          • Native American Lore
          • Grandparents' Stories Project
          • Quilting with Children
          • Stories of the Dreaming
          • American Memory
          • The Hero's Journey

          This site is part of a sabbatical project created by Linda Evans, English Department, Mesa Community College, and funded by the Maricopa County Community College District.  Please send comments, suggestions, and ideas to Linda Evans, English Department, Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, AZ, 85202 or email levans@mail.mc.maricopa.edu.