CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Scary Stories
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Reid, Robert A. <REIDRA>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:19:59 -0500
I'm glad Mary mentioned In a Dark, Dark Room. I've gotten more storytelling mileage out of the short, short story "In the Graveyard" from this book. I chant it in a slow, dirge-like tone, very softly.
"A woman in a churchyard sat. Oooooh! (The kids quickly join in on the moaning noise.) She was very short and fat. Oooooh! She saw two bodies carried in. Oooooh! They were very tall and thin. Oooooh! To the corpses, the woman said, 'Will I look like you when I am dead?' Oooooh! To the woman, the corpses said, 'You'll look like us when you are dead.' Oooooh! To the corpses, the woman said,
'AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!'"
I never fail to make most of the audience jump on the last line, including my soon-to-be-teachers and librarians who take my Children's Lit course here at UW-Eau Claire.
Rob Reid Foundations of Education University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004 reidra at uwec.edu
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of melyons at adelphia.net Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:23 AM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Scary Stories
When I was an elementary school librarian, Alvin Schwartz's easy readers, IN A DARK DARK ROOM and GHOSTS! GHOSTLY TALES FROM FOLKLORE were big favorites. For middle school kids, I used my now o.p. RAW HEAD, BLOODY BONES: AFRICAN-AMERICAN TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL (scary stories from the diaspora told in a variety of vernacular voices).
Though it might be too teacherly of me, I think scary stories from folklore are a great way to explain why people have always told--need to tell--them. For example, kids like knowing that talking skull stories were (are) important in rural African societies where cooperation was important for survival. Plus, the message of "The Talking Skull" is universal: "the foolishness of tongues is higher than mountains."
BTW, as far as I know (scholars may have tracked down more by now), the talking skull story is the only pure African story that survives in the diaspora.
Mary www.lyonsdenbooks.com
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Fri 21 Oct 2005 08:19:59 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:19:59 -0500
I'm glad Mary mentioned In a Dark, Dark Room. I've gotten more storytelling mileage out of the short, short story "In the Graveyard" from this book. I chant it in a slow, dirge-like tone, very softly.
"A woman in a churchyard sat. Oooooh! (The kids quickly join in on the moaning noise.) She was very short and fat. Oooooh! She saw two bodies carried in. Oooooh! They were very tall and thin. Oooooh! To the corpses, the woman said, 'Will I look like you when I am dead?' Oooooh! To the woman, the corpses said, 'You'll look like us when you are dead.' Oooooh! To the corpses, the woman said,
'AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!'"
I never fail to make most of the audience jump on the last line, including my soon-to-be-teachers and librarians who take my Children's Lit course here at UW-Eau Claire.
Rob Reid Foundations of Education University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004 reidra at uwec.edu
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of melyons at adelphia.net Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:23 AM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Scary Stories
When I was an elementary school librarian, Alvin Schwartz's easy readers, IN A DARK DARK ROOM and GHOSTS! GHOSTLY TALES FROM FOLKLORE were big favorites. For middle school kids, I used my now o.p. RAW HEAD, BLOODY BONES: AFRICAN-AMERICAN TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL (scary stories from the diaspora told in a variety of vernacular voices).
Though it might be too teacherly of me, I think scary stories from folklore are a great way to explain why people have always told--need to tell--them. For example, kids like knowing that talking skull stories were (are) important in rural African societies where cooperation was important for survival. Plus, the message of "The Talking Skull" is universal: "the foolishness of tongues is higher than mountains."
BTW, as far as I know (scholars may have tracked down more by now), the talking skull story is the only pure African story that survives in the diaspora.
Mary www.lyonsdenbooks.com
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Fri 21 Oct 2005 08:19:59 AM CDT
