Shout Out!

This simple, 12-page guide takes children through the steps of how to carry out an interview and write a story. It is an introduction to spoken history. The reader is taken through a number of steps including how to choose the right person, what kinds of questions are good to ask, and how to get comfortable.

The author, Katie Davis, stresses the need to listen. As she describes, "you will hear stories that people often keep to themselves - that we don't slow down enough to hear. These stories can be truer and more important than many things we hear on radio, see on TV or read in the newspaper.

Katie Davis runs a group called Urban Rangers which seeks to give kids "the tools for life" and includes service projects, conflict mediation, a bicycle recycling programme and an oral history booth.