Find Good Stories First

Using Children's Literature in Unitarian Universalist Faith Development Experiences

An Interview conducted by co-editorTracey L Hurd, with Rev. Keith Kron,
Identity-Based Ministries Group, UUA
Boston, MA

Q: Many religious educators use children's literature—stories—in their messages to children or in story-centered models of religious education. What questions can guide good story choices?

Find good stories first. That's not always as easy as it seems. Chances are if the story is interesting to you then it will be interesting to the people you read it to. It can be easy to forget to think about the story first, when you're focusing on what you want to say. Good stories provide paths to connections.

If you have a good relationship to the story—if you have passion for it or if you find it meaningful—then people will not only hear the story but they will hear your personal relationship to it There are really two stories in every story told.

A good story is made by a good storyteller who has a strong connection to the story, a passion. And you can transmit that passion in different ways. You can be explicit and talk about your connection to the story. Or you might not mention your connection at all, and instead impart feelings of connection without words.

Q: Would you recommend telling listeners about your connection to the story? And if so, would you recommend doing that directly or indirectly?

Generally I think understatement of expression is better. Too much hype (about your connection or meaning of the story) becomes more about the hype and less about the story. Magical moments come from feeling the storyteller's sense of connection to the story without words. This is not to say that the opposite doesn't also work.

With extra information [about the storyteller's connection to the story] it becomes two stories. The danger of providing no information about why you chose a story is that the listeners may have no sense of where you're coming from. I can remember any number of services where someone read a story and I have thought, "Why did they pick that story?" Sometimes providing just one sentence can make all the difference—and make it more interesting. But the beauty of stories is that they always have multiple meanings. If you shape the story too much, by providing contextual information, then you can curtail the meanings.

It can be a simple matter of language. For example saying, "One of the things that this story made me think about is …" opens the door to many different interpretations. Saying, "This story tells us …" closes the door to more than one interpretation. By opening the door, people can access the story differently, and find common ground.

The beauty of a good story is that it can be important to people in many different ways.

Q: In this conversation there's been a shift from talking about story reading to storytelling. Is one method better than the other?

Both ways work. It depends on the comfort level of the storyteller. Does she need a script? There's a danger, when just reading, of focusing more on the book than on the interaction of the story with the listeners. Even turning pages can have an impact.

What I do is to type out the text of the story in advance. Then I have someone else show the book and turn the pages. This does a few things. First, it ensures that the pictures can be seen by those who wish to see them. Second it makes me think about the pacing of the story—how not to go too fast or slow. And third, typing the text makes me so much more familiar with the story that I'm more likely to be able to tell more of it.

Storytelling is a learned skill. There are some people who come out of storytelling traditions. My mother, brought up in Appalachia, communicated a lot through storytelling. She was from an oral tradition. Her father, my grandfather, didn't know how to read and write and so storytelling was a primary way of communicating. The same was true for others of his generation. Often they worked on farms and couldn't read or write, but, boy, could they tell a good story! My father's family was completely different—very bookish. They do better with things down in writing and in imparting things that way. Both methods work. You can make a number of dazzling points, but if you tell a good story, people will remember it. Stories stay with us. They are part of who we are. They are who we are.

Q: Often religious educators need to pick readings to go with a theme—can you comment on that ?

Pick a story that has meaning for you. Watch length. Less is more. For me, the beauty of really good children's stories is that they sort of process one of my basic beliefs: It's not really that hard. You can take seemingly complex issues and through a very simple story find a way to explore that issue in very meaningful ways. Think universally about your themes. Figure out what it is you're genuinely interested in talking about. Let that guide your story choices. For example, to accompany a sermon on social justice, I have used the children's book Click, Clack, Moo. It's about cows that type, a duck that plays mediator, and how the group organizes, makes demands, and learns how to effect change. A children's story only has to open up one aspect of a message. It has to open up possibilities and make some connection on some level (as opposed to "covering" a topic). Sometimes when the connection is less clear, it's even more interesting. Often books can address multiple themes. Take, for example, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse. That book could be used to address forgiveness, teaching, being part of a community, pride, self-absorption, growth, self-awareness, and many other topics. Or A Weekend with Wendell, which might be used with themes of friendship, bullies, the role of parents, balance of life, the need for home, the need to play, or even power.

Often adults shy away from difficult topics or themes. But stories are able to capture well the emotional texture of the most difficult topics. Again, the storyteller's relationship to the story matters. For example, I was once leading a service and recommended that the person giving the children's message read Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War. It's a book about what happened to elephants in a zoo that was bombed by the US in World War II. The reader, a minister, felt that the book wasn't appropriate for children. I had to decide what to do. I decided not to have her read it to the children because I knew that the kids would attend to her discomfort. Instead I read it to children later myself and we talked about it together. Children can learn that it's natural to have emotions, like

sadness or anger, around difficult issues through stories. But adults have to be ready to engage with them.

Q: When starting a new church year, what pointers would you offer to religious educators who want to effectively use children's literature?

I guess I would say that a good way to start a year is to think about what 8-12 children's books you find most meaningful and to consider putting them first. Use stories that resonate in your heart.

Q: So what would those "top" stories be for you, Keith?

1. Frederick, by Leo Lionni. New York: Random House-Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1967.
2. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes. New York: Harper Collins-Greenwillow Books, 1996.
3. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, by Doreen Cronin, with Betsy Lewin, Illustrator. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2000.
4. Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne, with Ernest H. Shepard, Illustrator. New York: Dutton Children's Books, A Division of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1991.
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by John Scieszka, with Lane Smith, Illustrator. New York: Penguin USA-Viking Children's Books, 1989.
6. Does God have a Big Toe? Stories about Stories in the Bible. By Mark Gellman, with Oscar de Mejo, Illustrator. New York: HarperCollins-HarperTrophy, 1993.
7. Old Turtle, by Douglas Wood, with Cheng-Khee Chee, Illustrator. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001.
8. Everybody Needs a Rock, by Byrd Baylor, with Peter Parnall, Illustrator. New York: Simon & Schuster-Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1974.
9. Chicken Sunday, by Patricia Polacco. New York: Penguin USA-Philomel Books, 1992.
10. Yoko, by Rosemary Wells. New York: Disney Publishing Worldwide-Hyperion Books for Children, 1998.
11. Pamela Camel, by Bill Peet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.
12. The Shrinking of Treehorn, by Florence Parry Heide, with Edwin Gorey, Illustrator. New York: Holiday House, 1971.
13. A Weekend with Wendell, by Kevin Hinkes. New York: HarperTrophy, 1995.
14. Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War, by Yukio Tsuchiya with Ted Levin, Illustrator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

About the Reverend Keith Kron:

In addition to his work in the Identity-Based Ministries group at the UUA, the Reverend Keith Kron teaches online courses about the use of children's literature in Unitarian Universalist settings for the Starr King School for the Ministry. Before becoming a UU minister, Keith was an elementary school teacher ( Lexington, Kentucky, for 9 years, teaching grades 2-4). His current children's literature library consists of over 5,000 books for people between the ages of 0-18. He is particularly interested in children's books about stories not often told.