Literary voices in interaction in urban storytelling events for children

Telling stories to children has been the focus of much research conducted mostly in schools and families while other settings where these practices also take place have been ignored. This article presents an analysis of storytelling events for children in three urban informal contexts: a library, a park and a children's bookstore in the city of Madrid (Spain). The study has a multi-method qualitative design and includes observation, audio and video recordings, documentary materials and interviews. In our analysis, these events are considered as occasions for literature socialization and this paper focuses on exposure to different literary voices as one aspect of literary language learning. To do so a comprehensive model of different narrative voices displayed by storytellers is proposed. This model is used to uncover differences across the three settings and through a case analysis for each context the types of interactions children in the audience have with these voices are examined. The discussion centers on the distinct contribution that participating in these settings may make to children's literacy learning.