Introduction

There is currently a new wave of interest in the immense possibilities of oral storytelling amongst literacy specialists. The many ways that listening to stories being told and then being involved in retelling them can plant the seeds from which the capacity to write interestingly and fluently can grow are being more widely trumpeted – and very justly so. But there is always a danger with enthusiasms in the educational field, which is littered with discarded fads – crumpled copies of yesterday’s news, as it were. Storytelling is much more than a fad; it’s always current news, because it’s a central part of being human and humanly intelligent, as I’ll explain in Chapter 1. We should expect it to have a tremendous amount to offer, much of it still undiscovered, much of it taking us beyond basic literacy.