Choose from these exciting, original kids’ audio stories.

Clem the Detective Dog
Ralphie The Gopher
Sheriff Daisy & Deputy Bud
Rainbow of the Sioux
The Monotonia Chronicles
Tibbodnock Stories
Fiona the Smart Ghost
Ivan the Not-So-Terrible
Nikki the Invisible Girl
Sarabel to the Rescue

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Contact Jennifer Spoerri
415-577-0171
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Spoerri
Ph 415-577-0171/ 510-525-2889
jennifer@talltalesudio.com
For review copies, please call or email Jennifer Spoerri.

Can Storytelling Make Your Child Smarter? Eager for Kids to Reap Benefits of Lost Art of Storytelling, Self-Help Legal Pioneer Launches TallTales Audio CDs

Albany, CA, May 21, 2007 — In 1971 Jake Warner defied naysayers who said “do-it-yourself law” was like “do-it-yourself brain surgery” and founded the nation’s leading self-help legal publishing company, a publishing house that is still thriving over thirty-five years later. Now, he’s at it again. Convinced of the many benefits of storytelling for children, Warner wants to encourage families to rediscover the art and magic of the told tale. He’s so committed to the power of storytelling that he's launched an adventurous collection of TallTales Audio CDs and MP3s and an interactive website, TallTalesAudio.com (just in time for summer vacation). Also included are Warner’s top 10 storytelling tips for summer vacation fun.

TallTales Audio CDs and downloads provide the perfect antidote to our fast-paced, high-tech age of video games, computers, in-car DVD players, iPods and Tivo. Besides giving families a fun way to spend time together, storytelling can be a creative way to teach children a family’s history, cultural wisdom, spiritual or ethical values, and even practical rules to live by. And there are academic benefits, too. Unlike TV and other passive media, storytelling helps children develop listening skills and vocabulary, learn history and family lore, increase their ability to speak confidently and think quickly on their feet and, most importantly, foster their own creative imaginations. In fact, many leading educational institutions, including the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), recommend the use of storytelling to engage students and help them sharpen listening skills and practice reading and writing.

Developed by a small group of storytellers led by Warner, the TallTales Audio collection features a wide variety of new stories, from mysteries and old west adventures to ghost stories and fairytales, for kids ages six and up that are available on CD or via download. The colorful yarns of Clem the Detective Dog, Sheriff Daisy and Deputy Bud, and the Tibbodnock Stories are so much fun kids will want to listen to them over and over.

In fact, one Berkeley dad reports: “Before my son discovered TallTales Audio and other audio stories he used to wake up at 6 a.m. and then wake us up. Now he just puts on a favorite story CD and lets my wife and I sleep another hour.”

TallTales Audio founded “In my family, we still tell lots of stories — at bedtime, around the campfire, on car trips, and at family gatherings. My kids all loved original bedtime stories and now my grandkids beg for them,” says Jake Warner, TallTales Audio co-founder and Board Chair of Nolo, the Berkeley, CA-based consumer legal publisher.

“To fulfill my grandkids’ requests to hear their favorite stories over and over, audio producer Rich Stim suggested I record them. When we found that kids not only loved these stories, but were inspired to make up their own, Rich and I asked graphics designer Toni Ihara, to help create TallTales Audio. "Our goal was to re-energize the lost art of family storytelling.” “It’s simple,” adds Rich, “a wonderful story deeply engages a child’s imagination. The human voice does this in a way that no electronic medium can.”

More about TallTales
TallTalesAudio.com is kicking off with 10 funny, original adventures for kids ages 6 to 11. Stories, which are available on CD or via download, include mysteries, pirate yarns, old west adventures, tales about talking animals with high IQ’s, time-traveling escapades, and a story about a highly independent princess of the world’s most boring kingdom. "But publishing wholesome kids’ stories is only part of our mission," says Warner. “Energizing the tradition of family storytelling is what we’re really about.” At TallTalesAudio.com, parents and kids will find a fun and safe world with tips and advice (text and podcasts) on how to create and tell their own stories. For parents, go to Storytelling Tips on the home page. For kids, check out the Kids Only section.

Kids love to make up their own stories
To get kids started on their own storytelling adventures, TallTalesAudio.com invites them to borrow favorite TallTales characters. To see how this works, go to the Clem the Detective Dog area, click on the “More Fun” starburst and then enter the word “tail” in the secret code box. Voila! You have the exciting first paragraph of a new ‘Clem’ story ready and waiting to be finished. “And we’re developing our own storytelling contest for kids which should be on the TallTales website by the end of summer,” says Jake Warner.

TallTales stories are a click away
It’s easy to listen to TallTales Audio stories. At TallTalesAudio.com you can download the first story in each three-story series for free. Moderately priced CDs are also available for sale. Play it for a child and tell us what you both think. 

Top 10 Tips for Doubling Your Summer Vacation Fun With Storytelling

Vacations are wonderful times for family storytelling. Away from the distractions of work, school, and the everyday rat race, days are longer and bedtimes later. In fact, vacations may be one of the few times the whole family is together (and relaxed) for an extended period. Fortunately, whether you’re spending a week or two at a lakeside cottage, exploring big city museums, camping, or visiting Europe, there are lots of fun ways to build storytelling into your vacation.

1. Check out the history of your vacation spot before you go (most travel guides have short history sections, and Wikipedia is always a good source). That way, you’ll have enough knowledge to build a story that’s as educational as it is fun. So whether you plan to tell a story about the American Indians who lived in upstate New York or the royalty who called Austrian castles home, bone up on a few facts.
2. Make storytelling part of your vacation planning. If you’re visiting New York City, begin a story set in Dutch times that touches on both the history and geography of Manhattan Island (a story like this would surely make a planned visit to the early American collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art lots more fun). Just be sure your stories are age-appropriate and entertaining (no one wants to go to school on vacation).
3. Plan to tell stories en route to your travel destination. Whether you’re traveling by car, train, plane, or boat, there is usually more than enough time. Focus on all that you see on the way, such as giant trucks on the highway, horses on country roads, or clouds outside the airplane window (these could be part of a magical cotton candy kingdom). Again, it helps to plan ahead because it can be hard to be spontaneous if the trip becomes even more stressed than usual--for example, if you’re stuck in a crowded airport due to a delayed flight.
4. Don’t forget storytelling based on transportation themes when you reach your destination. Whether you’re up close to a kayak, cable car, subway, or monorail, there are all kinds of adventures you can create--such as a girl who falls asleep on a bus and wakes up in a village of lost princesses. Transportation themes often work particularly well with younger kids: A five-year old will be delighted with a simple story about a talking canoe (while a pre-teen will want you to throw in Nessie and Bigfoot).
5. Take advantage of the more novel features of your surroundings — whether palm trees, alligators, or ski slopes. For example, the palm trees outside a tropical bungalow might become the family home of miniature monkeys. The bright lights of Las Vegas might be the perfect setting for a band of twinkling fairies who come out to play in the middle of the night. Let your creativity loose — a dry-seeming museum portrait might inspire a story on that person’s exciting childhood. Or if you’re taking a factory tour, tell your kids an imaginative tale of what happens when the sun goes down and the workers leave.
6. Water — whether it’s the ocean, a mountain lake, or even a hotel swimming pool — is an especially great storytelling inspiration. For example, a trip to the coast of Maine can be a terrific place to tell stories about the pirate Blackbeard who is reputed to have hidden treasure there. For little kids, a stick washed up on shore can be a magical fishing pole left behind by a mermaid. And again, you can touch on history in your water stories — such as native Hawaiians going long distances (and having dramatic adventures) in outrigger canoes.
7. If you’ll travel out of the country, think about how to build your storytelling around the local culture — whether it be Buddhist monks in Thailand, bullfighters in Spain, or Aborigines in Australia. You’ll do better if you briefly research your subject before you leave (or stop in an Internet café while vacationing).
8. Be ready to make any vacation hiccups part of the storytelling fun. Late planes, lost luggage, long amusement park lines, a weird hotel room, or funky weather can add unexpected (and often unwelcome) drama to any vacation. Don’t wait until you’re home and regaling friends and family with your vacation travails. Turn them into fun stories now. One person we know did this by calling their story “The Clark Family’s Worst Vacation Ever,” with every person in the family telling about at least three goof-ups. Your sense of humor--and willingness to accept whatever problems you face — will teach your kids valuable life lessons.
9. Vacations are a great time to shake things up and veer from your regular routine. Tell stories in the morning when everyone is still in their pajamas eating breakfast or schedule mid-afternoon play with everyone charged with improvising costumes as well as dialogue.
10. Keep vacation fun alive for years to come by making a family vacation memory book. In addition to your photos, have the kids include their favorite mementos — things like ticket stubs, travel brochures, postcards, and souvenir menus. For ideas on family scrapbooks, check out http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/cutpaste/feature/famf29scrapbook. Don’t forget to include extra-special stories--take a few minute to read the best ones when they are still fresh in your memory.

These and other storytelling tips can be found at TallTalesAudio.com. You can also buy original CDs that provide great family entertainment there.

General Storyteller Tip
Want to start storytelling? Jake Warner tells parents to keep it simple with young children. "A four-year-old child will love a story about the misadventures of a dinosaur who tries to chew bubblegum for the first time. There is no need to toss in a talking fish and a rocket ship to Mars. Remember that a little practice pays off big time. Think up the broad outline of your story in advance and practice telling it a time or two to yourself." To hear stories recorded by Warner, go toTallTalesAudio.com.