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From the Brothers Grimm
Newsletters
Though published primarily for educators and people in educational television, the From the Brothers Grimm Newsletter contains material that may appeal to anyone interested in storytelling, small-budget filmmaking, or the role of traditional folktales in American society.
Volume One Issue One
Title Story: Is This Too Scary For Kids? by Maureen Gaffney
Explores the question of children's fears and the part fairytales serve in helping children face those fears. Includes an interview with Tom Davenport, by the author.
Also includes:
A brief biography of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Interesting and little-known facts about how and why they collected their fairytales.
Volume One Issue Two
Title Story: The Storytelling Revival by Joseph Sobol
Discusses the comeback of storytelling since the 1970s and models of contemporary storytelling.
Also includes:
"Storytelling and Comprehension Skills: A Classroom Experiment" by Donald Davis and "Storytelling Ideas for the Classroom" by Laura Robb.
Title Story: Jack of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Sobol
There are many more "Jack Tales" than the best-known "Jack and the Beanstalk". Many cultures have stories of the clever, lucky trickster named "Jack." This article explores Jack Tales and their place in Oral Tradition.
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Also includes:
Study guide for Soldier Jack
Commentary about the creation of the "devils" in Soldier Jack
Extensive list of "Jack Tales" books and other resources.
Title Story: Oral History: Asking the Essential Question by Joseph Sobol
A brief but eloquent defense of the value of the Oral Tradition, no less valuable to our Information Age than to cultures and eras without our opportunities for literacy.
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Also includes:
A Guide to Collecting Family History and Community Traditions.
Title Story: America's Cinderella by Jane Yolen (reprint)
The "Cinderella" served up in modern American fairytales, most notably Disney's version, is weak and helpless, not at all the traditional Cinderella who is a "...shrewd, and practical girl persevering and winning a share of the power."
Ms. Yolen explores the history of "Cinderella" from her folktale roots to her mass-marketization.
Also includes:
A Study Guide to Ashpet
A Resource Guide: Cinderella
Behind the Scenes -- Louise Anderson's Dark Sally: Subtext (companion to Ashpet)
Title Story: Role-Playing Games as Storytelling -- Beyond the Roll of the Dice by David Franklin
Role-playing isn't all dice, monsters, and huddling over sheets of numbers. For many gamers, role-playing is about the creation of fictional worlds, and the development of sustainable stories with structure, development, d&eacut;nuement, foreshadowing, and so forth. In this article, David Franklin explores role-playing games as a medium for storytelling, addressing such questions as "who plays?" and "what do they get out of it?"
Also includes:
Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons¨ Game Player
Resource Guide for roleplaying games and their publishers.
Title Story: The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin (reprinted)
An amusing exploration of stories as the carrying-bags of culture. Books, Ms. Le Guin says, hold words, and words hold meanings. Stories and storytelling have a place in our culture: "the story isn't over."
Also includes:
A Selected Biography of biographical works about the Brothers Grimm, of books about fairy tales and storytelling, and of collections of Grimm's Fairy Tales and other works.
Title Story: The Black Sheep by P. L. Travers
Stories needs villains, and Fairy tales, and especially Grimm's Fairy Tales, show us interesting characters of less-than-altuistic motives, who may or may not get their just rewards in the end. P. L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins stories, explores her own love of the Bad Guys of literature -- Jacob instead of Esau, Rumplestiltskin rather than the miller's daughter, and the Wicked Fairy in "The Sleeping Beauty."
Also includes:
A Study Guide for "Mutzmag"
Title Story: Making Grimm Movies by Tom Davenport
Filmmaker Tom Davenport discusses how he makes his movies. Movies are not created like stage productions, because a moviemaker is not limited to time, space, or even reality. Mr. Davenport's media literacy series, Making Grimm Movies, shows how creative productions are filmed in out-of-order fragments and tricks of the camera, and how, through the magic of editing systems, they become the coherent films we know.
Also includes:
Advice for Young Filmmakers: Divide and Conquer. How to break a project up into small, manageable pieces: the script, casting, location and props.
A Preview of the Making Grimm Movies Guide
Title Story: Simple Movie Projects by Betsy Newman, video producer and educator
Ms. Newman gives practical advice to teachers on how to help their students learn. She discusses creating a video portfolio, introducing the equipment, helping students understand the limitations of amateur video techniques, and critique. She also suggests a variety of projects: Circle stories, Commercials, Public Service Announcements, and News programs.
Also includes:
Upcoming Release: The Stepchild: An American Snow White
A sample lesson from Making Grimm Movies.