Last week I had an opportunity to fly to Sharjah, to talk to a group of Story Tellers about bibliotherapy. These story tellers will be going to refugee camps around the world,  bringing books to them and helping them to relate to their world through stories. Hosted by UAEBBY, the UAE board on Books for Young People, the group consisted of board members, as well as writers of children’s books, the head of the Library in Sharjah, educators and interested parties. During the workshop, which lasted two days, we talked about different ways of telling stories ( using words, pictures, clay, poems and song) and how to best approach children who have been through trauma. Many of the storytellers will only be visiting for a short time, so the bibliotherapeutic aspect of their work must be short but lasting. How to leave the children with something that will last them for months or years, is the challenge. And how to help the children make sense of their own stories, building new stories for themselves, is our particular goal and desire.

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