Pete Seeger’s Storytelling Book
Review
Pete Seeger’s Storytelling Book, written by Pete Seeger, is an incredibly
enjoyable book. It’s similar to a Chicken
Soup for the Soul book.
Pete Seeger, a musician and
storyteller, tells stories that he knows.
There are stories that came from his father, old stories, stories about
history, stories that originated from songs, and even some that he made up
himself. In all of them, there’s an
important lesson. Whether it’s saying
that teamwork is important, hard work pays off, or that music can be powerful,
every story is both educational and entertaining.
In
one story, Abiyoyo, a boy and his father are shunned from their village. However, a giant named Abiyoyo came and
terrorized the village. With the power
of music, they must somehow find a way to save the village.
In
another, The Oatmeal Pot, a poor family receives a magical pot from a
fairy. With two secret words whispered
next to the pot, it would either make oatmeal or stop making oatmeal. One day, a neighbor found out about this and
decided to steal it. He watched the mom
say the magic word, and ran off to plan how to steal it. He didn’t stay long enough to hear how to
stop it, though. The next morning, the
family woke up to find that the magic pot was gone. The neighbor had stolen it to start an
oatmeal factory. Because he didn’t stay
to learn how to stop it, the pot kept making more and more oatmeal until the
town was filled with oatmeal! Everyone
in the town had to team up and find a way to stop it, before it’s too late.
After
stories like Abiyoyo, there’s a section where Seeger mentions his own thoughts
and suggestions to the reader. He writes
about past memories with the stories, such as how he discovered the story, how
he tells it in order to make it interesting, and funny experiences with
it. This is the memoir portion of the
book. He gives tips on how to tell the
stories so that they become more fun and interesting. He urges readers to be creative 
and adjust the story to fit
in any circumstance.
I
really enjoyed reading this book. Most
of the stories were incredibly funny and fun to read. They were fascinating and
made me want to read more. Other stories brought back many loving memories with
my parents telling me stories in bed until I fell asleep.
Another big reason why I
like this book is because it’s naturally split up into many sections. The stories are short, so it was easy to
finish up a story if I had to leave soon.
Then, when I had more time to read, I didn’t have to try and remember
what was going on before I stopped reading.
I could just keep reading and get absorbed in the next story.
However,
I didn’t enjoy all of the stories. When
I read the stories on American history, I started falling asleep. Sure, Rosa Parks is an important person, but
she was boring when compared with Abiyoyo or The Oatmeal Pot.
This website was created by Andrew Hwang on
November 12, 2007.