The reward of the story-teller who has successfully met the child's
story interest is the plea embodied in the title of this book: "Tell
me another story." The book meets this child longing on a psychologic
basis. It consists of groups of stories arranged so that their telling
will result in definite mental growth for children, as well as
satisfied story hunger.
There has been a tendency in the past to group stories in a haphazard
way; there has been no organized plan of selecting stories to precede
and follow one another for the purpose of definite functioning of mind
processes. The effect of one story of distinctly differentiated theme
from one which has just been told is to break continuity of thought.
On the other hand, stories of similar theme, but contrasting form told
in the story-hour have a mental effect of concentration and will
training. This mental growth through stories is the aim of the book.
The instinctive and universal interests of all children form the
themes of the story programs; and these interests are presented in
their natural order for a year, beginning with home life, taking the
child out into the world, and carrying him through his school,
industrial, seasonable, and holiday activities. Three stories have
been grouped in each program as the number upon which children can
most easily fix their attention.
The plan of grouping the stories in each program is very definite and
psychologic. The first story in a group is an apperceptive one; it
secures the child's spontaneous attention because, through its plot,
it touches his own life in some way. It brings him into close and
intimate touch with the interest theme of the program because it
speaks of things that he knows, and other things that he can do. The
second story in each group makes an appeal to the child's reasoning
powers; having secured his attention through the apperceptive story,
the story-teller now takes the child a-field, mentally, and secures
his voluntary attention. It calls for constructive thought; it
presents the theme of the program in a broader way, with wider
application. It is, usually, the longest story of the program. The
third story is, invariably, the dessert of this story meal. Through
its brevity, humor, tenderness, or sharply contrasting treatment of
the program theme, it supplies the necessary relaxation, the fitting
climax for the program.
An analysis of the Trade Life program will illustrate the psychologic
appeal upon which the book is built. The story, The Holiday, opens the
program with its apperceptive appeal, showing the dependence of the
home upon the industrial life of the community and the possibility of
a child's coöperation in it. The second story in the trade program,
Selma Lagerloöf's Nils and the Bear, gives this wonderful Swedish
writer's presentation of the iron industry as a factor in our growth
from savagery to civilization. The third story, The Giant Energy and
Fairy Skill, by Maud Lindsay, gives the program its climax in fantasy
and contrast.
A similar analysis may be made of each program in the book.
It is not intended that the stories shall never be told to children
separately; on the contrary, each story is one of the best examples to
be found of the child interest which forms its theme. The book has
been prepared, however, to meet in an educational way the need
expressed in its title. It should be of value for the home, school,
library, and settlement.