The Storyteller's Handbook

by Elise Hurst, Kobi Yamada (Contributor), Neil Gaiman (Foreword)

This storybook is for the world builders, the inventors, and the artists. It contains an infinite number of stories--each one waiting for your imagination to bring it to life. Inside you'll find 52 magical illustrations--of strange lands, mystical creatures, curious animals, and intriguing characters. But there are no words in this book, because you are the storyteller. You are the missing ingredient!

Open any page and start to discover. What just happened? What happens next? Every wondrous detail is the beginning of an adventure only you can tell. Revisit the images again and again, before bedtime, on a road trip, or as a creative writing activity. Whether you're looking to connect with a child (ages 4+) or inspire a writer, these pages will become enchanting doorways, and there are no limits to where they may lead.

This fantastical book features a hardcover with foil stamping and lay-flat binding to help you explore every intricate detail.

Genres: Fantasy, Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Writing, Fiction, Adventure

128 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 2022

Reviews

[Mandy, Erste ihres Namens, Mutter der Kaninchen]

Wunderschön, magisch und unglaublich inspirierend.

[Elijah]

Wow, so many beautiful pictures!!😍 To any fantasy lovers, this is the book for you!!

[Tiuri]

Cool pictures. Appropriate and ready for children.

[Bülent Ö.]

Çok etkileyici çizimler var. Yazmaya cesaretlendirici, hayal gücünü tetikleyiciler. Lakin metin kısımları çok yol gösterici değil. İnsanın arada bir açıp hayallere dalabileceği şahane bir kitap.

[Laura]

The Storyteller’s Handbook, by Elise Hurst, is an odd sort of thing. It is not exactly a picture book. It is more like a set of stories on each page. Each page holds an illustration that makes you wonder what happened, and you, as a writer, start to make up your own story of the events int he pictures.

There is no right or wrong way to use and read the book. There is so much to see in each picture. There is much to wonder about.

It is coming out in June of 2022, and for those of you who like prompts, this could be a massive prompt.

And for those of you who just like to wonder about other worlds, this is a sweet way to dip into the illustrators mind, and ideas.

Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.

[Grace Hill]

We use this collection of pictures for oral composition and creative writing and love it!! Kids look at a picture in the book for 30 seconds, then take turns telling me what they think the story is for the picture, what they might hear/smell/touch, etc., and they get an m&m when they put a lot of thought into their answers and for being a good listener as their brothers speak. We love it!!! And we get so much learning, thinking, writing and self-regulation practice through it.

[Emily Boulter]

A beautiful book! Filled with detailed drawings that will delight children and inspire creatives. One of the drawings inspired an entire children’s book manuscript that I just finished! My only complaint is that I think the artists could have expanded their imagery and characters even more. There were a few images that felt like repeats.

[Amy]

Such an inspirational book of magical illustrations. Intriguing at every page!

[talia ♡]

filed under: books i want to live inside of

[Ashley Bowers]

This is the most beautiful book I own. Magic. ✨

[Mitchell Friedman]

Gorgeous. Not really a storybook, there is no plot, no characters. The idea is that you would see the pictures and tell a story. I wish there had been slightly more emphasis, but then what would the emphasis have been. And it would have been nice if the art was not spread across two pages, I could see buying a copy and dismantling it just for the art.

[Frank Lang]

Ich habe ja schon oft gehört, dass dieses oder jenes Buch etwas besonderes sei. Aber selten laufen mir Bücher über den Weg, bei denen das tatsächlich auch so ist. Dieses Buch, das auf meine Geschichten wartet, ist ein solches.

Zuerst sei gesagt, dass sich in diesem Buch sehr viele Zeichnungen finden, die jede für sich stehen. Es ist also nicht möglich, eine fortführende Geschichte zu erzählen, die aus mehreren fortlaufenden Bildern besteht. Die Bilder sind durchgängig auf einer Doppelseite abgedruckt und sind oftmals nur dezent koloriert.

Die Motive sind alle nicht alltäglich, sondern zeigen phantastische Szenen, die mit unserer Realität nicht erklärbar sind. Oftmals passen die Größenverhältnisse nicht und irgendetwas ist zu groß oder zu klein. Nahezu jede Illustration hat ein oder mehrere Tiere im Mittelpunkt stehen und nicht selten kann der Betrachter sich nur eine Fabel für dieses Motiv vorstellen.

Dieses Buch ist so gestaltet, dass man es auch einfach nur als „Bilderbuch“ nutzen kann. Durch die ungewöhnlichen Motive formen sich so oder so automatisch Ideen im Kopf des Betrachters, wie es wohl möglich sein kann, was dort gezeigt wird. Zeichnerisch bewegen sich alle Zeichnungen auf einem sehr hohen Niveau.

Fazit
Es liegt an unserem Gehirn, das immer versucht, das Gezeigte in einen uns bekannten Kontext zu bringen. Wer geübt im Erzählen von Geschichten ist, wird es wohl schaffen, sich für eine Illustration immer wieder andere Geschichten auszudenken. Diese Leser können das Buch ganz für ein gemeinsames Lesen mit den Kindern nutzen. Es ist aber auch möglich, dieses Buch zu nutzen, um einfach für sich selbst Geschichten zu finden, die zu den Illustrationen passen. Und genau diese beiden Gruppen, sind die Zielgruppe, die mit einem solchen Buch etwas anzufangen verstehen.

[Theediscerning]

A superlative gift book for the right kind of recipient, this gives us a set of unconnected, random-seeming dreamscapes, in delicious artwork, to inspire us to find the story within. Take the fantasy realms of a Peake or a Gaiman, pepper them with characters and situations from Gorey, and gift them all with the design craft of a Dore, and you have something vaguely approaching this. One bear sits forlorn atop what might pass as a Batman gargoyle, while another tugs a humongous ship on a rope, and another ogles a brilliant sphere of light on the street, ignoring the man and his pet walking past as he ignores it. An old woman (and a fox) admire the sunset from a finger of rock Simeon Stylites would have found awkwardly small – she's alright, mind, as she has a cup of tea in her hand, her pinkie extended. Islands and elephants fly – heck, even penguins might; we're in a fully-rounded 3D dream, if dream this is.

It's a writer's guide, then, where nothing is prescripted, which might almost be a good thing as the spurts of impetus in script form here and there are not exactly brilliant. It's a wordless graphic novel, demanding you put an order, a text, and a heck of a lot of work in to make something coherent out of more than one or two images. It's an artbook of wonderful spreads, all conveying a worldscape of animals and humans alike (if not alike in scale), allowing the mind to suitably boggle before doing what might come naturally to the storytellers among us. Don't ever countenance getting a digital edition, this needs the gloss and covers and in-your-faceness of the real thing. Perhaps with a smidgen of extra variety, and less woolliness in the sparse bits of writing, we'd see five stars here, but four and a half is my response.

[Zain Mirza]

I will forever be indebted to this book for bringing back my latent creativity and pushing the limits of my imagination. Through Nov-early Jan, my friend and I would meet every Friday for breakfast and writing—pouring over the fantastical, sometimes whimsical, illustrations in this book. We'd spend a few minutes observing a picture, exclaim at little details, marveling at how much thought and fancy went into each. We'd follow up with exchanging ideas on what could be transpiring in the image before us: "What if there's an annual bear grooming festival that helps set back depression? What if children were sent on field trips into the ocean in glass orbs to see marine life instead of having fishes in aquariums?" My brain has never worked well with prompts, but the excess in this book, of imagination, of wonder, unlocked something in my brain. Words poured out, unlike any I'd ever written, sometimes funny, sometimes meaningless. We wrote with the shared understanding that it would be messy, nothing would be perfect. And because of that, emotions I hadn't realized I was bottling up came through, through descriptions of worlds away from worlds, of little girls and boys, of monocled lions and old men with snow white beards flying on the backs of birds in a rush to buy conditioner. Those mental massage sessions with my friend were some of the best writing hours I ever spent.

I read on Elise Hurst's Instagram that another Storyteller's Handbook was in the works, and I cannot WAIT to get my hands on it!

[Bernie Gourley]

This is a book, but not one that one reads but rather one that one writes. It contains more than 50 imaginative and fantastical artworks intended to help creative parents build their own stories, while helping their children learn to become storytellers. There is a forward by Neil Gaiman (who has worked with the artist on previous occasions) and an introduction by Hurst, but otherwise there’s almost no text.

The animate subjects of the book are children and animals, but not just any animals. They are mis-sized, misplaced, mythical, imaginary, anthropomorphized, and extinct creatures in search of a clever explanation for their existence and behaviors. The usual suspects of our beloved stories are most well-represented: bears, lions, foxes, rabbits, birds, and fish – for example. But there are also less well-known creatures: mollusks, a mantis, kangaroo, koala, and armadillo. The settings are also designed to fuel the imagination: oceans, hot air balloons, impossibly floating places of all sorts, cities of gothic and fantastical architecture.

If you’re looking for a storybook where you have a graphic prompt to trigger your own story, this is a beautifully illustrated example of such a work.

[Bridget]

Beautifully drawn children's book.

If I may make a suggestion, parents and/or family who plan on getting this for a child in the family, look through it first. Some pictures can come off as slightly creepy. Especially if you have a child that is sensitive (not saying this in a bad way). I personally would suggest this book for 3rd grade and up (2nd grade at the earliest) but go by *your* child that you're planning on getting this for. Most of the book is tame but there are some that may, again, come off a bit weird or creepy.

Otherwise, it's a Beautiful book that you can just look through or, create stories with as you look through it.

My grandson isn't even a week old yet but I will have my son & his girlfriend look through the book before I take the book back so we can maybe discuss some parts. I will so my best to keep it on a high shelf til he's older and see if or when I let him look through it. (I do plan on buying it eventually)

[September]

Very unique. Absolutely love it.
My favorite pictures are the one with sort of a portal or window into people these writers are realizing their papers and the papers then turn into things. Or stories. And then the one with the crying rabbit and his broken flying machine. That's my favorite one. Probably the one with the most emotion.
I do have some criticism though. I don't really like the message of the book. It feels like it's trying too hard. Even with some of the pictures...they're trying too hard. Hard in a way that sort of robs them of their main intent.
But I do really love this book and the idea of it. And I also appreciate the art work of the pictures.
Any more?

[Ashley]

What a cool book! There are very few words-based prompts, but they do pack a punch. The illustrations are so amazing and imagination-stirring that I took one look at one and thought "I need to see this movie." I think this book would be so useful to buy and keep at home for when kids are bored and not allowed screen time. It would also be an amaaaaayzing tool in the classroom, for all grades.

[Elizabeth Stiner]

It's a lovely book, mainly sketches. Some of the illustrations have a little bit of color. But more than half of the same drawing had no color, and unfortunately, that made it feel like it had an in completeness to it. It said it is meant to spark imagination, but the lack of a fully colored image bothered me too much.

[MJ Anthony]

This was exactly my kind of book. I love the fantastical nature of the artwork, and I'll definitely be buying a physical copy of the book so I can flip through it whenever I need to be inspired.

(I received an ARC copy of this book through edelweiss plus and am leaving my review voluntarily)

[Leah]

There are no limits to what you can create, but sometimes the imagination gets stuck, hiccups, and then sputters to a stop. This book is a springboard for storytelling, writing, drawing or simply dreaming.

[Audrey]

This is just beautiful. I love the illustration style. The drawings have so many details and I love how they are all connected in one way or another. The introduction by Neil Gaiman is delightful too.

[Jennifer]

This iBook is BRILLIANT AND SO BEAUTIFUL! Makes me wish I had a little one I could share it with at bedtime.
Im going to order a few for special gifts and keep one on hand for when I have a grandchildren I can share it with!
Thank you, Elise for sharing this with the world! Truly brilliant!

[Maya Harutz]

5 FAT STARS !!! A stunning art book that will awaken your imagination and will provide inspiration to the artist in you. Highly recommended, one of the most gorgeous books I own and will be a great gift to any loved one.

[Ana Morais]

What a wonderful book!

"We are so much more than the life we live, We are world builders, dream speakers, inventors, and artists.
The worlds within our minds are infinite and unique
and with each moment we give them, they grow."

[Elena]

Es un libro diferente porque prácticamente no contiene textos, solo imágenes originales y parecidas a aquellas de los cuentos de hadas antiguos. La intención del libro es despertar al contador de historias que todos llevamos dentro. Un libro para maravillarse, para niños y adultos.

[Cristian Marrero]

Amazing Book! No words at all. You become the story teller. I just kept turning the pages slowly and fell in love with each new drawing/illustration. You can open this beautiful book to any page and it becomes your prompt to opening doors to endless imagination.

[Sasha]

This is for fans of Van Allsburg's groundbreaking "Harris Burdick" chronicles, or Becker's "Journey", but a bit more nuanced. Exquisite illustrations, seemingly related yet easily separated on their own strand of meandering magic. Decadent. I could not put it down.

[Rebekah Christie]

Just pictures. And each one fills my soul. 🙌
So beautiful, so creative and just very awesome to go through. I spent a long time looking through this book and would gladly print off pictures from it to hang on my walls

[Ashley Lavender-Olsen]

A beautiful picture book, I absolutely love the illustrations in this. I got this for a project I’m working on and while I thought it would help me with the research behind the project, it did not but it was enjoyable to flip through.