“Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” is one of the stories in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. These stories are very, very old, and most were told and learned out loud, not written down. Storytelling is a way that people have passed their stories down from generation to generation—and long before people knew how to read and write.

Ask your favorite grown-up to tell you a story about their childhood. Once you’ve listened ever so carefully to their story, tell their story to a friend or someone else in your family. (And if you already know how to write, you can write it down and then retell your favorite grown-up’s own story to someone else.)