A Storyteller's Anthology by Douglass Feavel {Book Review}

 I have been reading a new book lately - one that I received free for purposes of reviewing. It is called "A Storyteller's Anthology" and it is by Douglas Feavel. It has been pretty fun and interesting to read.  In Douglas' introduction he explains how he became a storyteller and how that has been useful. He says: "Within a skillfully crafted, well-presented story, a substantial amount of teaching can be presented - and presented in a manner more certain to be solidly embraced and remembered. A good story is an open door to opportunities. Sometimes the story does not just encapsulate or deliver the message; at times, the story is the message, by which I mean it is deliberately left open to multiple personal interpretations and practical take-aways. How does information become easy to remember? Move it out of the realm of pure facts such as names, events,  and dates. Those are the kind of things we encounter - and don't like - in a final exam. Transform the message into a song, poem or story."

  This thought process goes along perfectly with the way I try to homeschool our kids and teach kids classes at church. I think that learning can be fun and that stories and music and I would also add acting/activities can make learning much more interesting. When something is interesting it also tends to stick a lot better.

 In the book Douglas Feavel tells about his reason for the book and the process taken to write in in his Preface and introduction and then the remainder of the book is made up of all sorts of stories. Most of them are true stories of people and some of them are what he calls Parables. Not a story that he knows to be true (at least not for sure) but one that still teaches a lesson.

   I have enjoyed reading the book to myself but I have also taken the time to read quite a few stories aloud to the kids. They found the story of Tommy Thompson a man who invented equipment that was able to go very deep into the ocean and helped him recover gold (millions of dollars worth) that had been lost in a shipwreck during the time of the California gold rush. It was a fascinating story from the view of history as well as science and actually politics/human nature too.

  He has stories from history such as the one about Pheobe Anne Moseby (more commonly known as Annie Oakley) and ones from recent times such as the one about Rick Rescorla a Hero from both the Vietnam war and the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center.

  This book is one that I am happy to have on our book shelves.

   If you would like to purchase this book you can find it on Amazon. I also noticed that you can get it free for your Kindle if you have one. If you would like to enter a giveaway for this book please go here.