Journey with Story is a children’s storytelling podcast with a distinctive Celtic flavor, for children ages 4-10, where I will be sharing carefully selected stories: originals, written by me, retellings of fairy tales and folktales, and beloved classics, all rooted in universal themes such as hope, love, and kindness.

I have called it Journey with Story, because I think good stories are a lot like journeys:
They involve movement – a movement of your heart – that’s what the word emotion means. So a good story can move our hearts to feel, love or joy or hope or wonder.

They involve discovery-listeners should discover something about themselves, about the world, or both.

They involve souvenirs – I like to think of story “souvenirs” as those universal truths that linger with us long after that last word is uttered – some bolt of beauty or some whiff of wonder.

For as long as I can remember, I have been steeped in stories – reading, writing, listening and telling them. I am a native of Glasgow, Scotland, where I was an elementary teacher for several years before moving to the States. For 12 years I was a narrator of books for the blind at the Colorado Talking Books for the Blind, and for over 20 years, I was a storyteller at two low income elementary schools, where I read folktales and fairy tales to children from K-8th Grade. I am also the author of seven published picture books.

I also give frequent presentations at schools and conferences, where I love to wax poetic about the how life and literature are linked, and how and why parents need to read aloud to their children from birth until as long as their children will let them!

Nothing can substitute for a parent snuggling up with a child and reading a story – but hopefully this podcast can complement how you are already nurturing a love of stories in your children. In our frantic, fast paced, digital world, it is more important than ever that we make a space in our day to pause and ponder, to wonder at the gift of life, and to bask in the beauty of our world. Listening to stories is a great place to begin.

Happy Listening!

Original music and arrangements by Colette Jonas