"Sometime you need a story more than food to stay alive." Barry Lopez

Rationale:

Stories consume us, serve as a template for making sense of ourselves, others and the world around us. Children's literature is a valuable resource and teaching and learning tool for children. Master educators know the power of story; read children's literature; and engage children in relevant dialogue which encourages connections and questions that help us stretch beyond ourselves. As Marshall McLuhan explains: "A [person's] reach must exceed his grasp or what's a metaphor."

"When a day passes it is no longer there.

What remains of it? Nothing more than a story.

If stoies weren't told or books weren't written, one [man] would live like beasts - only for a day.

Today, we live, but tomorrow today will be a story.

The whole world, all human life, is one long story."

[I.B. Singer in Cooper & Collins (1992) Look What Happened to Frog, p. 8]

"Story is another word we all understand in context without being able to put a precise meaning to it. Stories usually but not inevitably involve, landscapes, protagonists, intentions, emotions, conflicts, obstacles, struggles, and consequences (which always lead to new stories). These are the elements we always look for in any situation in which we are involved."

(Frank Smith in To Think, 1990)