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The tellers are coming!  The tellers are coming!

Frantically, I try to absorb all the research on stories and learning and then I must put all that stuff into context and condense it into sound bites. And then I have to provide adult learners with activities that will make them feel easier about  incorporating storytelling into their work lives.  And then I have to organize all this stuff so that it makes sense.  And THEN, I have to NOT blank out when presenting.

So here's my to-do list:
Create the certificate of participation - because it's the thing I would forget to do if I don't do it NOW.
Make an enlarged resource list - which I will make available here.
Collect definitions of the word story.
Collect quotes from studies to support the research.
Organize how I hope to present this stuff.
Practice it - so I don't blank out when someone takes me down a shady tangent.

Oh, did I tell you?  I'm leading a workshop for teachers and librarians about telling classrooms and storytelling clubs.  On Saturday.  From 9 to 12 noon.  At StoryFUSION.  JOIN ME!

Also, I am the MC on Saturday night - for Mary Wright and - TA DAH!!!  Jennings and Ponder!

This is the MOST wonderful time of the year!!!

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StoryFUSION was so much fun.  All you people who did NOT attend, well, too late now.  You will have to wait until next year.

There is a chance...just a chance...that Antonio Sacre will be in the Lehigh/Berks County area next year.  He is clever, amusing, touching, dramatic, and engaging, among other things.  I saw his Children's Show - funny and enthusiastic.   He had 200+ 4th and 5th graders eating out of his hand.  I saw him interact with high school students.  Antonio was so respectful and encouraging of the teens' storytelling efforts.

And then I watched his short presentation on Friday night and his Feature Performance on Saturday and I am a true Antonio-ite, now.  Today, I took a workshop from him that concentrated on how to become a successful working storyteller.  This man WORKS for his money.  He is relentless in pursuing storytelling excellence.  So, see what you missed?  So Like him on Facebook, please.  He deserves it.

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I am telling tonight at StoryFUSION. (Northampton Community College's Lipkin Theater at 7 pm.) I will tell the first story of the night.  I admit to being nnnnnnnnn-nn-nervous, a lll-l-little.  So come out and give me friendly faces in the audience, please.

Also my Kutztown University Favorites of 2012 (and the very beginning of 2013) Book List is up on my Lists page.  Check it out.

Must practice.  Once upon a .... no, that's been done.  A Little Old....no, maybe I should just do a little aside about domestic tranquility.  But I only have 15 minutes to tell my story.   Whewww. 

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StoryFUSION begins soon, very soon.  Go to the StoryFUSION page for all the details but it is fabulous stuff.

Check my Storytelling page - above - for the Guerrilla storytelling events on Tuesday, April 16th and Wednesday, April 17th.  These events are FREE and out in public places near you.

On Thursday, NCC and the members of the LVSG are offering FREE workshops at Northampton Community College.  I am offering "Story in a SNAP", a workshop that will use improvisational exercises to combat both writer's block and stage fright.  It will be a lot of fun and it would not be possible without the help of Professor Susan Petrole.

Story in a SNAP workshop - Thursday, April 18th at 11 am at Northampton Community College, in Room CC 165.  (CC stands or College Center - the BIG building in the middle of the main campus.) FREE and open to everyone.  Please join me.

To keep us all in the storytelling mood, I must share this video from just a year and a half ago.  Kelly will be telling on Wednesday.  Look for her.

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I have two passes to StoryFUSION!!!  They can be used on Friday, April 19th OR Saturday, April 20th to hear Antonio Sacre - who is every bit as much fun to hear as he is to see!  Honest.  If you want these tickets, comment below.

You totally want to see this guy!  Honestly!

I also have the COMPLETE hardbound works of Tom Angleberger, including  Art2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling.    However, I am giving these away at my Book Review session at the Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference ONLY.  That's this Saturday, April 13th, at Kutztown University. So, sign up NOW!  You will not only get a chance to win awesome books, you will also hear presentations by these great authors: Suzanne Fisher-Staples, illustrator Christopher Soentpiet and Janet Wong.  Amazing.

I have to go read more books.  Good luck.

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Well, StoryFUSION is officially over and it was a BIG SMASHING success.   You weren't there.  At least, I didn't see you.  I just want to let you know that you can't miss this again.  Never again.  You MUST be there next year.  It was amazing.   And it WILL be amazing next year, too.

But suddenly, I feel like I have NOT read enough middle grade fiction.  The Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference is only 3 weeks away.  I will have to visit three libraries in quick succession starting tomorrow and gather together as many amazing middle grade books as I possibly can.  I haven't read Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight, nor have I finished Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

So, panic set in.  It set in as the Master Class that Elizabeth Ellis offered this afternoon was drawing to a close.  All those unread middle grade books crept into my mind and taunted me.  It's fortunate that there are reviewers like Betsy Bird and Kate Coombs out there to keep me on topic.

More on all this tomorrow when we find out who wins the Battle of the Kids Books.  My eyes and fingers are crossed.  I will probably faint from holding my breath.  This Battle has been a more exciting than being a wing walker. 

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Who can think about Kids Book Website Tuesday when the phone keeps ringing and I have to make nametags for StoryFUSION and I haven't collected enough media cords for my workshop yet?????

I can!!  Ta Ra Ta Ra!  I can think about Kids Book Website Tuesday.  Of course, right now my favorite KBW is Battle of the Books.  DUH!!  With amazingness happening at every cliff-hanging turn!  Today, Judge Jewel Parker Rhodes chose Drawing from Memory to move to the semi-finals.  I have hope for Inside Out and Back Again to rise from the dead in the final round.

I was hoping to share a Reading Rainbow site but since the show was taken off, PBS no longer hosts a site for it.  But, never fear, Reading Rainbow fans.  I have heard from very credible sources that Reading Rainbow will come out with an app for your iPhones this Spring!!!  YAY!  Take a look!  It's in a book!  Reading Rainbow.

Here you go.  Stone Soup, the magazine, has been publishing stories, poems and drawings of young people for decades.   So Stone Soup, though not actually a book website, is my choice for this week's Kids Book Website.  Sample the writings of children and teens.  This magazine never publishes the work of grown-ups.  NEVER!  Stone Soup is Peter Pan's favorite reading material, I've been led to believe.  I'm sure that's true.

Make sure you check out the video on the magazine's home page.  Very cool.


Back to BoB: Tomorrow, Life: an Exploded Diagram goes up against  Wonderstruck.  My first lackluster prediction is that Wonderstruck  will head to the next round.  But Chris Lynch is the judge and that changes things.  Must....think... ... ... I am going to predict Wonderstruck.  Just because I feel I should predict something.  Is that lackluster enough for you?  Both good books.  Both worthy opponents.  Just not A Monster Calls.

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Months ago, we sat around a table in a nice conference room on Northampton Community College's campus and brainstormed student workshops.  "Why not have a workshop where the kids use their cell phones to collect pictures and create stories out of them?"  I suggested brightly - (or dimly, we will see.)
So the germ for the Story in a Snap Workshop was born.

Thursday afternoon - 2 days away! from 1 to 3 pm in Richardson 20 at Northampton Community College, Susan Petrole, English professor extraordinaire, and I, idea monger, will lead a story creating workshop using found objects and/or photos as inspiration to create original stories.  For instance, what would you do with that picture of chairs? Or this one?


Are they as happy together as they seem?  Hmmmmmm?  How come only one of them has arms?

Join Susan and I as we lead you in an exercise of spontaneous story creation.  It will be fun.  And we'll tell some great stories, too.

I forgot!  This workshop is free and open to older teens and adults.

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With StoryFUSION just around the corner - met up with Susan Petrole at NCC today to talk workshop plans.  So much fun! - ANYWAY, with this festival of storytelling awesomeness speeding towards us, it only makes sense that Her Own Self, Elizabeth Ellis, be the featured teller on Storytelling Thursday.  Even if I have featured her before - have I? - she deserves more exposure and recognition.

You can read all about her storytelling activities at her website.  Go to this page on the StoryFUSION site to listen to a story and interview.

Elizabeth is a fount of storytelling wisdom.  Her down home, laid back telling style is deceptively simple.  She uses her voice in powerful ways and her performances NEED to be experienced.

Zeus Radio interviewed Elizabeth last Fall.  Listen to that interview here.

A librarian, a mother, an author, a professor, and the member of a family with stories galore - all these roles inform Elizabeth's telling.  All of the hats she wears make her stories relevant, funny, touching and perceptive.

There are still tickets available for her Keynote address on HOPE: Storytelling in Financial Hard Times on Friday evening, March 30th AND for her Storytelling Performance on March 31st.

Elizabeth's workshop for teachers, librarians and performers on Saturday March 31st also has a few spaces left.  Please click here to register for any or all of these events.

These events and more take place at Northampton Community College - at StoryFUSION - in Bethlehem, PA.

I hope to see you there.

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The people at the Children's Book Council have opened the polls for the Children's Choice Awards.  Are you a child?  WERE you a child?  Well, click here to vote for your favorites from the past year.  There's a nice little place for teachers, librarians and booksellers to vote.  That's us, adults.  Vote there.

I picked Inside Out and Back Again to win in the Battle of the Books for a couple of reasons.  One, I did not like the narrator's voice in Heart and Soul.  I felt it fictionalized the telling and this history is too important to be fictionalized.  But, I am pretty sure that is just me.  That voice also makes the story immediate, which might be more important.

Second,  I liked Ha's story.  I liked how Ha and her brothers overcame bullying and managed to fit in.  This was a story of a victory.  There is a truth to this story of assimilation that transcends one culture.  And yet, I appreciated reading about how Ha and her family kept parts of their culture alive.

Once again, both books had such merit and are so well-written that I would not have been disappointed either way.  BoB gives me a reason to wake up and race to my computer every morning!  Squeee!!! (as the middle schoolers might say!)

Please check out the storytelling page for the latest on StoryFUSION.

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Readergirlz and Figment are planning a Rock the Drop event on April 12, 2012.  It works like this.  Get a book.  Put the bookplate, below, in the book.  Drop the book somewhere that someone might find it.  It's like International Book Giving Day but more subversive.

So do it.  Easy enough to share a good read with an unknown "friend".

Battle of the Books:  Daughter of Smoke and Bone won its first round - as I predicted.  I am buffing my chipped nails on my lapel as you read this.  Don't forget to read the commentaries after Sara Zarr's thoughtful judging. 
One of the comments to BoB's post mentioned the artwork for today.  I like the little bomb shelter sign that Dead End in Norvelt so ineffectively uses as a shield.  Thanks to RB for drawing attention to these graphics.  So read EVERYTHING on the Battle's page; the decision, the commentaries and the comments.  All fun, all worthwhile.

Monday's match.  Hmmm.  I haven't read The Grand Plan to Fix Everything.   It's hard to imagine that it is better than Allen Say's Drawing from Memory.  So I'm going with Drawing as Monday's winner.  HOWEVER, I might change my mind.

So what happens next?  Come on March 31st to see!

I still have two passes to the Elizabeth Ellis performance on March 31st at Northampton Community College.  Listen to the interview and story at the link above.  Honestly, she is so good we should charge TWICE as much as we are charging.  Try something new. 

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Well, I have two passes to Saturday, March 31st show at StoryFUSION.  Any takers?  This is no longer a blog Giveaway.  This is a First Person Gets It Giveaway.

I am performing - with Larry Sceurman, who is amazing and magical, - on Sunday afternoon, 2 pm, at Godfrey Daniels, 7 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA 18105.  I will bring my accordion, just for fun.  Larry will bring his magic.  We plan to tell a story together, too.

So, my storyteller of the week is...ME!  I am awesome.  Actually, I am pretty good, even if I say so myself.

Here I am as Monsieur Maurer (Mah-ray)

Here is my storytelling history.
About 30 years ago,  someone told me I should be a storyteller.  I had only seen two actual "storytellers" at that time, Kathy Pierce and Ed Stivender.  The idea that anyone could actually make money doing something I just did naturally - honestly, try to shut me up when I get going - was amazing!

So I began to tell stories everywhere I could - in storytimes, to church groups, at Halloween bonfires.  I made up a flier and sent it out - cut and paste since design software was very expensive back then.

A year or two later, a F(f)riend asked me if I would be her storytelling partner, and Ollie Ollie Infree Storytellers was born.  We told at schools and camps and church groups and retirement dinners and ladies' clubs.  We even told at Mayfair, which was a brand new festival back then.

Before or during this partnership, I started an intergenerational storytelling troupe at the library where I was the YS librarian.  Storytellers' Circle, the group was called and it was a lively fun group.  We put on Halloween shows for the library, visited senior groups and nursing homes and nursery schools and day cares.  We had parents and children join together.  And children who joined without parents and parents who joined without children.  We were all learning together.  Chaz Kiernan and his daughter, Emily, were members of this troupe.   YAY!

This is how the Black Rose Tellers began - and that is Kelly on the right!

  I started the Black Rose Teen Tellers in 2004.  And it continued until I resigned from that library in 2011.  The Teen Tellers did reader's theater, planned and performed for Dr. Seuss Birthday Parties and Teddy Bear Costume Parties, Tellabration, for benefit events, and BEST of ALL, these teens hel

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It's Whatever Wednesday here and I have so much on my mind that if I did not control my flailing fingers - Wow!  Be grateful for my reticence.

 I uploaded a story fragment on Scribd.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  There is a story behind the names in this story.    Someday, I might share the story-behind.

And now to the main event!

  I have a giveaway.  TWO FREE PASSES to StoryFUSION's  Saturday Evening Elizabeth Ellis performance on March 31st at Northampton Community College's Lipkin Theater.  This is an awesome giveaway made possible by the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild.

Here is how you enter.  Comment on this blog.  Add your town and state.  For example, if your user name is watergirl and you live in Cranston Ohio, just put that in.  I am guessing that local people are more likely to enter.

You have until next Wednesday, March 14th,  to enter.   I will put all the entries into the Chobani Cup of Oracleness; pull out the winner; and announce that winner here on Thursday, March 13th, as part of Storytelling Thursday.  You will then email me at an address to be disclosed at that time and tell me where to send the passes.

You get another entry if you share this post on your Facebook page and come back and comment SHARED here.  Thanks so much.  StoryFUSION is - I need a new word that indicates an level of excellence that is rarely achieved by local arts festivals - artawesome? Fantasabulous?  Tale-errific?  Help me out here.

Get yet another entry if your comment includes a new word that describes a truly excellent art festival experience.

That's THREE possible entries for each of you.  Put on those thinking caps.  Share this post with everyone and get them to comment, too.

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Storytelling Thursday, here!

StoryFUSION!!  STORY - fusion.  A fusion of all the ways story can be told.  Well, maybe not all the ways. But a whole SLEW of ways.  The whole thing happens at Northampton Community College, one of my alma maters.  And it happens from March 29th through April 1st, 2012.  That's THIS month.  Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild is a MAJOR contributor to this event - as in we make it happen.

So I promised you I'd give you the low-down on this event.  But there is really too much to tell.  Here's a link to the schedule.  

Elizabeth Ellis is the featured teller.  She is intelligent and mesmerizing as a performer.  She sweeps people up into her stories.  She is a fantastic educator.  I <3 Elizabeth Ellis - could you tell?

So many other people are involved.  The workshops alone are amazing - and that's NOT just because I am co-leading one of them.  Here is a nice description of all the workshops.

The student performances promise to be wonderful.  I saw a minute or two of the multi-media project. I am in love! 

So here is YOUR cost analysis (smirk) of this event:

Free events:
Thursday afternoon and evening - all FREE! 
Friday's "Dear Mr. Lincoln" Reader's Theater event at 10 am and 1 pm - FREE (10 am is pretty full, though.)
Saturday afternoon - Film shorts, Story Jam - Free but donations are gratefully accepted.
Sunday - Sacred Stories - Free

Admission events:
Friday night - Keynote Address - $10
Saturday workshops - $35 each
Meals -$12 for lunch and $18 for dinner.  Nice menus, I promise!
Saturday afternoon Children's show - $5!  A bargain!
Saturday evening performance - $10
Sunday afternoon:  Elizabeth Ellis workshop for performers - $50

Pick THIS to save money:
ALL FESTIVAL PASS  - $60
This includes all performances on Friday and Saturday, 1 workshop and both meals.  This does NOT include Sunday afternoon' workshop.

Register HERE.

Comment if you want to sign up for a Thursday workshop.  Since there is no cost, there is no online way to register in advance.

See you there.

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1. Parent Magazine's Camp Mom has a whole bunch of book lists by age on their site.  When you visit, expect ads.  It's a magazine.  That's how they roll.

2. I just returned from a StoryFUSION committee meeting at Northampton Community College.  This festival is HUGE with events Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday, March 29th through April 1st.  I will tell you much, much more tomorrow on Storytelling Thursday.

3. So, book reviews.  I am finally reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.  Here's a warning.  This is not a good, relaxing bedtime read.  Once you get used to the narrator's annoyingly self-absorbed self-deprecating remarks, this book is hilarious.  It's sad, too, but mostly, it's laugh out loud funny.
I haven't reached the end, though, so maybe it gets depressing.  But I laughed so hard - several times - last night that I jazzed myself awake.  My poor long-suffering husband retreated to the sofa.  Yeah, it's that funny.

And when I finally decided that I had to close the book, I lay there trying to figure out how I would tell people about this book.   Here's the set up.  Greg Gaines has managed to reach senior year of high school without committing to any group, doing any extra-curricular activities, or making any friends - except for Earl, his film-making buddy.  He is a "normal" teenager who has decided that invisibility is the key to survival.  His attempts to remain under the radar have succeeded so far but they create a great deal of anxiety for him.

Then, his mother emotionally strong-arms him into visiting Rachel, a girl he "dated" in sixth grade.  (Do sixth-graders even go on dates?  What?  They're 11!).  Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia and is pretty darn sick.  The book is about Greg's attempts to "cheer up" poor Rachel.  Then he gets Earl involved and the films he and Earl hoped would never see the light of the screen are shared in an attempt to keep Rachel's spirits up.

To Greg and to the reader, Rachel is a shadow character, there to reflect (Do shadows reflect?  See, now Greg has me doing this questioning-the-writing-as-it-goes thing.) Greg's lack of self-esteem and to convince him that he is a loser supreme.  OK, SHE doesn't convince him; his own self-loathing convinces him that he is a loser.  She actually likes him and his films.

I am two thirds through the book.  I hope that Greg manages to keep his act together and graduate.  Right now, he is concentrating on Rachel so much he's blowing off his school work.  I hope one of his films is shown to be a work of genius - comic perhaps.  Or, that he manages to accept that he can't be a total loss if he worries so much about keeping someone else happy.  I hope that IF Rachel dies - and I'm not sure she will though that's because I am an eternal optimist - that her death is not sobbing-pathetic.

There's a lot of Teen Guy specific bad language and obsessions in this books - just a head's up. 

Oh, I just went to the publisher's page for this book and I have to go finish it - RIGHT NOW!!