Storyreading Home Page

<body background="images/pink_paper.gif" bgcolor="#FF99FF"> <p align=center> <img width=421 height=313 alt="" src="images/alice25a.gif"></p> <h1 align=center>Storyreading Home Page</h1> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <div align=center> <a href="whatsnew.html"><img align="left" width="40" height="40" alt="[WHAT'S NEW]" src="images/new_button.gif"></a> <a target="newframe" href="http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html"><img align="right" src="images/blueribbon.gif" alt="[BLUE RIBBON]"></a> </div> <br clear=all> <br clear=all> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>What is Storyreading?</h2> <p>Storyreading began circa 1982 at Yale when a bunch of Silliman (Residential) College students got together to read children's stories and eat munchies. When those people graduated, many of them went on to jobs or graduate school in Boston, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Santa Cruz where they founded new Storyreading groups. There were some short-lived groups in Seattle and Wisconsin, and at Princeton, but I don't have any information on them.</p> <p>Since then, many new people have joined the various groups. Some groups have more turnover than others, but there are still a handful of original members still involved.</p> <p>Each group has its own personality and its own traditions. However, some things are held in common. All three second-generation groups have an email list to which are sent invitations for each week's meeting. Meetings are held at members' homes.</p> <p>Jed Hartman wrote a wonderful description of what story reading is, and how to run your own: <a href="http://kith.org/logos/things/reading.html">Read Us a Story!</a></p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2><a name="WHATREAD">What</a> do we read?</h2> <p><img alt="UPDATED " src="images/updated.gif"> What we read varies from group to group, but the main intent is to read children's stories. How loosely that phrase is interpreted also varies. Our most popular authors include:</p> <dl> <dd><img alt="o" src="images/bl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/features/davebarry/">Dave Barry</a> <dd><img alt="o" src="images/bl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.smart.net/~tak/wodehouse.html">P.G. Wodehouse</a> <dd><img alt="o" src="images/bl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.interlog.com/~ohi/inkspot/a-yolen.html">Jane Yolen</a> </dl> For a more in depth look at what we read, check out the <a href="booklist.html">book list</a> (still very much in progress).<p> I'd like to think that Storyreaders were partially responsible for the creation of the <a href="news:rec.arts.books.childrens">rec.arts.books.childrens</a> newsgroup. For more information on children's literature, check out the <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html">Children's Literature Web Guide</a> and <a href="http://www.armory.com/~web/web.html">The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature</a>. See <a href="#LINKS">below</a> for more links.<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>The Groups</h2> I've gotten a few comments about my naming conventions, so I'd like to point out that the Boston group (unless things have changes since I was there) rarely meets in Boston. The Berkeley group meets just as much in Oakland as Berkeley. The Palo Alto group often meets outside of Palo Alto. And I would venture to guess that the Yale group occasionally meets off campus. (I know nothing about the Santa Cruz group.) However, it seems that <strong>most</strong> people in each group use the names I use here, while others may not.<p> <h3>Yale</h3> Yale Storyreading is still going strong. Hosting rotates among dorm rooms and apartments. The group meets on Thursday nights and the mailing list is administered by Will Ching.<p> <h3>Boston</h3> Boston Storyreading was founded in 1986 by Beth Kevles and other Yale Story Reading alumni. For a while it was mostly Yale and Brandeis graduates. This was because of Larry and Elizabeth Stone. Larry was one of the original Yale members while Elizabeth was a Brandeis student. Elizabeth had attended Yale Storyreading whenever she visited her family in New Haven, and invited us Brandesians to join when Boston Storyreading was founded. I was there at the first Boston Storyreading, which was held at the home of Beth Kevles and Seth Towle. Both Larry and Elizabeth are still Boston Storyreaders. The group meets on Monday nights. Elizabeth Stone is Autarch and Peter Olszowka administers the email list.<p> <h3>Berkeley</h3> Berkeley Storyreading was founded in 1987 (?) by Andy Oakland. For a few years, it stayed in one place, at the home of Charlie and Kendall Farnum, but continued rotating when they moved away. The group meets on Monday nights and the mailing list is administered by <a href="mailto:storyreading-request@wco.com">me</a>.<p> <h3>Palo Alto</h3> Palo Alto Storyreading (or Stroy Raednig, as they like to call themselves) began around the same time as the others (sorry for the vagueness; I'll change it when I get more info) and was founded by Raymond Drewry, who is still a member (occasionally). The group meets on Thursday nights and the mailing list is administered by Pavel Curtis.<p> <h3>Santa Cruz</h3> Santa Cruz Storyreading was founded by Catharine Lombard and the mailing list is administered by her. The group changes its meeting date each semester and currently meets on Mondays.<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>Long Readings vs. Short Readings</h2> The concept of having one long reading and many short readings was initiated (as with most other Storyreading traditions) by the Yale group. The idea is to have everyone bring short readings each week and for there to be one long reading, agreed upon by the group, which gets passed around and read by everyone.<p> The first such long reading was <cite>The Phantom Tollbooth</cite>. Boston Storyreading's first long reading was <cite>Chitty Chitty Bang Bang</cite>. Yale and Boston Storyreading continue this practice today.<p> The Berkeley and Palo Alto Storyreadings have forgone this practice. When the Berkeley group started, there was only one long reading, but this broke down into everyone reading long readings. Since this meant confusion for new and occasional members, we tried, for a while, to have one long reading, read mostly if not completely by the person who proposed it. This became two long readings (one fantasy, one non-fantasy) and then degenerated again into multiple long readings. Berkeley Storyreading's first long reading during the second period just described was <cite>The Princess Bride</cite>. (Charlie says that he can't remember the very first long reading, but that the earliest he does remember is <cite>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</cite>.) I don't know if Palo Alto Storyreading maintained ever a one-long-reading rule before I joined, but I'm sure someone who knows will tell me eventually (Raymond?).<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>Trivia</h2> Janet Lafler, Donna Slonim, and I are the only Storyreaders to have been regular attendees of three Storyreading groups (though not all at the same time). (Note: It has been mentioned to me that, if you include the short-lived Seattle group, this would include more people.)<p> Leon Marr is the only Storyreader to have visited all five existing groups (in one week, no less)!<p> In the early days of Boston Storyreading, I wrote a little <a href="story.html#STORY">story</a>.<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>Are you already a Storyreader?</h2> If you are already a member of a Storyreading group, please let me know what you think of this page. Did I get any facts wrong? Is there anything you'd like to have said about your group? Do you know of any appropriate graphics or links I should add? Do you have a web page you'd like listed here?<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2>Do you want to be a Storyreader?</h2> If you are interested in attending a Storyreading group, or if you would just like to get on a mailing list, write to me and I'll forward your request to the appropriate person.<p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2><a name="MEMBERS">Some</a> (current and former) Storyreader Home Pages</h2> <table cellpadding=0> <tr align=left><th><th>Member<th>Group(s) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://reality.sgi.com/employees/austern_mti/">Matt Austern</a><td>Berkeley, Palo Alto <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.yale.edu/~nanny">Natalie Laraine Bender</a> <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~boyland/">John Tang Boyland</a><td>Berkeley (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://elwin.www.media.mit.edu/people/elwin/profile.html">Lee Campbell</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"><td>Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.pobox.com/~william.ching/">Will Ching</a><td>Yale <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~cowen/lenore.html">Lenore Cowen</a><td>Yale (former), Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.wco.com/~rmd/">Rob Diamond</a><td>Berkeley <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.research.att.com/~douglis/">Fred Douglis</a><td>Berkeley (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.yale.edu/~johne">John Eure</a><td>Yale <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~feigin/index.html">Matthew Feigin</a><td>Yale (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~byron">Byron Go</a><td>Berkeley (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://yellow.crc.ricoh.com/~jackg/">Jack Greenbaum</a><td>Palo Alto <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="../">Gail Gurman</a><td>Boston (former), Berkeley, Palo Alto <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~zev">Zev Handel</a><td>Berkeley  <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.labri.u-bordeaux.fr/~loeb/index.html">Danny Loeb</a><td>Boston (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/lizm/">Liz Manicatide</a><td>Yale (former), Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.yale.edu/~marr/">Leon Marr</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"><td>Yale (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://remarque.berkeley.EDU/~bryce/">Bryce Nesbitt</a><td>Berkeley <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://mit.edu/sao/www/">Andy Oakland</a><td>Yale (former), Berkeley (former), Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www.sophia2.somerville.ma.us/~olszowka">Peter Olszowka</a><td>Yale (former), Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://www-math.mit.edu/~propp/">Jim Propp</a><td>Berkeley (former), Boston (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://polya.mts.jhu.edu:80/~reimann/">Katya Reimann</a><td>Yale (former), Boston (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://platform.nis.newscorp.com:8082/seidman/">Dan Seidman</a><td>Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://shore.net/~js/">Jay Sekora</a><td>Yale (former), Boston <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~rslitt">Becky Slitt</a><td>Yale (former) <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~smoski/">Moria Smoski</a><td>Yale <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="tp://pantheon.yale.edu/~danielw/danielw.html">Daniel Westreich</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"><td>Yale <tr><td><img alt="o" src="images/gr_ball.gif"><td><a href="http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~shadow/">Julian Yap</a><td>Yale </table> <p><img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <h2><a name="LINKS">More</a> Storyreading-Related Links</h2> <dl> <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.armory.com/~web/apple.html">The Apple Orchard</a> <dd>``A place for adults who love children's books.'' <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.bookrescue.com/">Book Rescue</a> <dd>This site is devoted to providing out-of-print children's books. It's a commercial site, but I feel it's worthy of a link. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/acs/library/etexts/namedsubject/literature">Carnegie Mellon University Etext Library</a> <dd>This directory contains text for many stories that have been read at Storyreading, including <cite>Alice in Wonderland</cite>, <cite>Anne of Green Gables</cite>, and Grimm's Tales. In fact, if you wander around in the directories there, you can find lots of cool stuff. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/childnew/index.html">Children's Literature Home Page</a> <dd>This site is the host of the Children's Literature Newsletter and contains information about upcoming issues, how to subscribe, etc. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/conf.html">Children's Literature Conferences and Events</a> <dd>A list of, well, conferences and events. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.sonic.net/~ezzell/Dt-classics/publicdomainlinks.html">Free Online Books</a> <dd>Dragon Tree Press offers this list of books (mostly children's) available in various forms for free on the 'net. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://members.aol.com/biblioholc/gseries.html">Girls' Series</a> <dd>As the name suggests, this site is devoted to book series about girls (e.g., Nancy Drew and Dana Girls). <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.inkspot.com/">Inkspot</a> <dd>This site describes itself as a ``resource for children's writers.'' <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="gopher://ftp.std.com:70/11/obi/book/Fairy.Tales/Grimm">Online Book Initiative</a> <dd>This is a gopher site with lots of canonical fairy tales. They call the directory ``Grimm'' but very few, if any, of the stories are Grimm's tales. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/books.html">The Online Book Page</a> <img alt=" NEW" src="images/new.gif"> <dd>A directory of books that can be freely read on the Internet. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.prairienet.org/pg/pg_home.html">Project Gutenberg</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"> <dd>This site has lots of pointers to online texts, including many of the same things as CMU, as well as <cite>The Little Princess</cite>, <cite>Peter Pan</cite>, and <cite>Treasure Island</cite>. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a target="newframe" href="http://www.norwich.net/readaloud/">Robinson's Read-Aloud Recommendations</a> <dd>This site is dedicated to the joys of reading aloud. You can order some books by some of our favorite authors here and find out how the Robinsons became a "read aloud family." <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.cc.swarthmore.edu/~sjohnson/stories/">Story Resources available on the Web</a> <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.cyberenet.net/~sjohnson/stories/">Story Resources available on the Web</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"> <dd>This is a page full of great links to story sites. <dt><img alt="o" src="images/rd_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.ul.cs.cmu.edu/">The Universal Library</a> <img alt=" NEW" src="images/new.gif"> <dd>The mission of the Universal Library Project is to start a worldwide movement to make available on the Internet all the Authored Works of Mankind so that anyone can access these works from any place at any time. </dl> <h3>Storyreading Substitutes</h3> <p>These sites are for those mid-week, Storyreading-isn't-for-another-6-days blues.</p> <dl>  <dt><img alt="o" src="images/yl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.iatech.com/books/">Concertina - Books on the Internet</a> <img alt=" UPDATED" src="images/updated.gif"> <dd>Illustrated stories, some with sound files (.au) <dt><img alt="o" src="images/yl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/youth/StoryHour/">Internet Public Library Story Hour</a> <dd>Illustrated stories, some with sound files (.aiff). <dt><img alt="o" src="images/yl_ball.gif"> <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/fl/ras.html">Parents and Children Together Online</a> <dd>This online magazine includes illustrated stories and poems. </dl> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <form method="GET" action="http://www.netmind.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/url-mind"> <p>Enter your e-mail address and click "Register" to receive e-mail when this page is updated. <p><b>Your Internet e-mail address: </b> <br><input type=text size=40 name="required-email"><br> <input type=hidden value="http://www.wco.com/~gailg/storyreading/index.html" name=url> <input type=submit value="Register"> </form> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"> <p align=center> <a href="http://www.Lpage.com/wgb/wgbsign.dbm?owner=Storyreading"><img alt="" src="images/signnote.gif" border=0 align=bottom>Sign My Guestbook</a> <img alt=" " src="blank.gif" height="1" width="5"> <a href="http://www.Lpage.com/wgb/wgbview.dbm?owner=Storyreading"><img alt="" src="images/oldbook.gif" border=0 align=bottom>View My Guestbook</a> <p align=center><a href="http://www.Lpage.com/wguestbk/"><img src="../gif/Lpagebutton.gif" alt="Guestbook by Lpage" height=31 width=88></a><p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p> <table align="center" border=1> <tr> <td align="center" width="100"> <a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&prev"><img src="images/kidlit1.gif" alt="Previous site" border=0 height="85" align="middle"></a> </td> <td align="center" width="300"> <font size=-1><b>This site is a member of the</b></font><br> <font face="Lucida Calligraphy"><font size=+1><b><i>Children's Literature Ring</i></b></font></font><br> <font size=-1> [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&sprev">Skip Previous</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&prev">Previous</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&next">Next</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&skip">Skip Next</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&next5">Next 5</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?random&ring=kidlit">Random</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&list">List Sites</a>] [<a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?home&ring=kidlit">Join Ring</a>] </font> </td> <td align="center" width="100"> <a href="http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=kidlit&id=9&next"><img src="images/kidlit2.gif" alt="Next site" border=0 height="85" align="middle"></a> </td> </tr> </table> <p> <img alt="_____________________________________________________________________" src="images/wavy.gif" width="100%"><p>  Last modified: Sat Oct 4 00:03:54 XXX 1997  <table cellpadding=0 width="100%"> <tr> <td align="left"><address><a href="../" target="new">Gail Gurman</a> <a href="mailto:gail@homemail.com"><gail@homemail.com></a></address> <td align="center"><a href="http://www.hey-you.com/collective"><img alt="Logo Collective" src="images/collectivesm.gif"></a> <td align="right"><a href="../credits.html">Credits</a> </tr> </table> </body>