1. Irish Folk-tales. 2. Stories from Scandinavian
Myths. 3. The Rhinegold Stories. 4. German Folk-tales.
5. Arthurian Tales. 6. Stories of Charlemagne and
Frederick Barbarossa. 7. Tales of American Indians. 8.
Negro Tales. 9. Stories of the Carnegie Heroes. 10.
Kipling—Captains Courageous, Jungle Stories. 11. Van
Dyke—A Friend of Justice, The Keeper of the Light. 12.
Irish Folk-tales (Requested).
"The practical results were very satisfactory. The books in the club library were used more, the boys' composition and recitation work at school improved, and they acquired the habit of polite, attentive listening."
SUGGESTIONS
The importance of a definite time and place for the story hour, for a prompt beginning and for an ending before it becomes tedious, cannot be too strongly urged. The storyteller should "size up" the conditions and suit the story hour to them. If she is simple, natural and unaffected, and sufficiently resourceful to vary her program to suit the interests of the children, the story hour will be successful.
Various practical forms of co-operation have been suggested, notably in the visits of library storytellers to playgrounds wherever the public library is actively interested in storytelling, and such visits are desired by the playground.
The story hour season in most libraries ends in April, making it possible in some libraries to release assistants once or twice a week to visit playgrounds. The benefit derived from such visits is mutually endorsed by playground and library assistants.
Conferences of groups of workers interested in storytelling, under the leadership of a professional storyteller, who also understands the practical conditions and limitations under which the playground and library assistants do their work have proved stimulating and suggestive in a number of places. Volunteer workers who have the ability to tell stories and who can so adapt themselves to their surroundings as to make their story hours effective, can do much for storytelling. This is especially true of men who have had actual experience of the life from which their stories are taken and can make these experiences of absorbing interest to their listeners.
In conclusion, the committee recommends that wherever practicable, storytelling in playgrounds be placed under a leadership corresponding to that now given to games and to folk dancing. That a clear distinction be preserved between storytelling and dramatics, as differentiated, though closely related, activities of the playground and the settlement. That the story hour be valued as a rest period; for its natural training in the power of concentration, and in that deeper power of contemplation of ideal forms in literature and in life. That storytelling in settlements be more widely developed as a feature of social work worthy of a careful plan and of sustained effort. That storytelling in libraries be made more largely contributory to storytelling in other institutions by a thoughtful and discriminating study of story literature, and by effective means of placing such literature in the hands of those who desire to use it.
The committee also suggests that the subject of storytelling is worthy of the consideration of the universities, the colleges, and the high schools, of the country, to the end that students may appreciate and value the opportunities for service in a field of such possibilities as are presented to those who possess, and who have the power to communicate, their own love of literature to the boys and girls of their time.