Research Validates the Importance of Storytelling and the Oral Tradition
Almost any educator who has experienced a good story shared by a master storyteller would agree that telling stories can have a profound impact on their students. There is a growing body of research that documents the benefits of using storytelling and the oral tradition in the classroom, especially for young children in the early primary grades who are developing their fundamental language skills. In fact, scientists ranging from Howard Gardner, the Hobbs Professor of Cognit
The Drum is Now an App on SmartyPal
We are thrilled to announce that the Indian folktale The Drum, written by Rob Cleveland, is now available as an interactive app with SmartyPal. In The Drum, a poor boy''s dream of having a drum takes him on an unlikely journey of discovery. He meets several people who guide him along the way. In time, he learns to make his own luck. A SmartyPal executive pointed out that “Our strategic partnership with August House not only broadens the diversity of our growing library, it al
The Future of Children's Books
Recently, Paul Mason's article "Ebooks are changing the way we read, and the way novelists write" in The Guardian raised a number of thought provoking questions for anyone interested in children’s books. Mason noted that ebooks are significantly changing the way adults read. He referenced a number of trends cited in Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World, written by Naomi Baron and published in February by The Oxford University Press. In Words Onscreen, Baron
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