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.