Summer Reading 2017: Stories for a Better World

Summer seems like a long way off in these dreary days of February. But for a storyteller, summer is just around the corner, and this is the time to be busy planning and practicing for summer shows.

My summers are usually filled with library summer reading programs, and it's something I look forward to every year. This year I am focusing once again on the national theme for the libraries, Build A Better World. It's fantastic for a storyteller because most stories are meant to do exactly that--stories teach, inspire, and encourage us, not through outright "do this" statements, but through words that make us understand what is right and good, how we should behave and how goodness can be rewarded. Folktales were, after all, the original media.

Several performances are already scheduled. I hope your local library will consider having me come!

E is for Experiment!

It's Summer Reading time! Last week I presented my program Folktale Science for the first time, and what fun we had.

My program is a mixture of stories and experiments. The experiments pick up on some aspect of the story--blowing up balloons with baking soda, optical illusions, and everything in between. Good crowds came out at the small-town libraries in Sistersville and Paden City, WV; almost every chair was full in Sistersville and in Paden City the staff scrambled to get out more chairs as people piled in.

  My display table before the program began--lots of kitchen items, the puppets, the fiber optic lights (for demonstrating why we can't see stars during the day), and paper towels for potential cleanup.

One of the most popular experiments is making a rainbow in a jar. The experiment demonstrates density of liquids, and the children (and adults) were fascinated. The story I told for this experiment was how the rainbow came to be, a perfect fit. Sunday school teachers in the audience took note of this one for use in their classrooms.

And here you can see most of the rainbow after my volunteers added the liquids to the cup.

We played with cabbage too-well, with the liquid that remains when red cabbage is cooked. I modified the story of the Giant Turnip to be a giant cabbage instead, and my volunteers worked hard to pull the cabbage out. All were fascinated by the way the cabbage liquid changed color with the addition of bases and acids.

Bear, one of the first puppets I bought when I began storytelling, belonged to my youngest son Tommy for several years before before being allowed to go storytelling with me. He's still one of my favorite puppets. Tommy is 28 now, so you can see Bear has been around a long time. Here we are telling the story
Sody Saleratus. It is an old mountain story and gave me the opportunity for more audience participation and to try another experiment, blowing up a balloon with the soda/vinegar interaction.

 Yes, it works! You have to be careful though or the balloon will blow up. Fortunately it stayed intact during both demonstrations.

Then it was on to Paden City; waiting for the crowd to come in and wondering who would be there and how many would come. Display set up varies depending on the tables available and I always carry extra table covers just in case I make a mess or need more.

Story selection and presentation varies too, depending on the age of the audience and their reactions. A storyteller is always reading the audience for clues and stories can shift and change, be longer or shorter, based on those readings.

I always include some form of audience participation in my stories for children. This young lady was really into her part!

Telling the story of how the elephant got his long trunk with a group of eager volunteers. This story leads into optical illusion experiments.

I will be back on the road this week, presenting this program for Shady Spring Library in Raleigh County, WV. I will also be telling Appalachian tales for a church camp near Huntington, WV and spending a couple days at the West Virginia Folk Festival at Glenville, WV as coordinator and presenter for the Oral Traditions Tent. I hope to see you somewhere along the way.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Reading, Reading

Summer Reading will soon be upon us! I am fortunate to be invited to tell stories at many libraries during the summer months and always develop a program that fits the national summer reading theme adopted by most public libraries. Having been a librarian myself, I know the deep planning and work that goes into making these programs attractive, fun, and rewarding for the children, teens and adults who participate.

This year's theme, Dig Deep! has so many possibilities for programs it was difficult to chose just one. Dirt, caves, tunnels, mining, earth science, gardening, dragons, underground insects and animals are just a few of the ideas that came to mind. I finally settled on buried treasure. Even in my state of West Virginia stories abound about lost Civil War gold, and then there are the stories of famous jewels, pirate treasure, caves, gold and silver mines...the stories are all out there, waiting to be found and told.

To find the stories, I must read. And read. And read. I read with specific goals in mind: does the story fit the theme? Is it suitable for young audiences? Often my audiences have 3-5 years olds attending, and I do not want to leave them out of the fun, so if a story is too advanced for them, can I adapt it in some way to make it work? Are there places to add chants or movement to the story? What props, if any, might I want to use? Can the story be told with puppets (I often have children use my puppets and guide the dialog of the story as we tell it. It is great fun to tell this way and allows interaction and audience participation.

Then there are songs to find. What songs go with buried treasure, caves and jewels? My quest here may be more difficult, or perhaps I'll have to make one up!

I have collected "treasure chests": little chests of different sizes and shapes that will each hold an item related to a story. An audience member will pick a chest, we'll open it, and that's the story we will tell next. I also have some large "gems" (paperweights really) that will add to the table display. There are so many possibilities, and only so much time to tell all these wonderful tales.

So back I go to the books and planning. Perhaps you will be able to come to one of these programs and enjoy the stories with me? There is always room for another listener, of any age.