The most wonderful storyteller in the world, my sweet friend and talented librarian Kim, shared the most amazing stories with children and parents at Family Reading Night. She began with Helme Heine's The Most Wonderful Egg in the World, in which three chickens vie for the prize of being a princess and living in the palace with the queen. Her incredible props and the bawk-bawking of each chicken enchanted the listeners, and they were eager to hear Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. She finished the night with her version of Debra Frasier's fabulously crafted book A Birthday Cake is No Ordinary Cake, complete with a large cake (baked in the sun!) that children wanted to cut and serve. Having Debra there to introduce it was the icing! The thought process involved in transforming a picture book into an oral story is so detailed, and Kim has the added gift of being able to create and form all her own props. The children were intrigued by that as well and asked how things were made. One girl in front of me was swinging her legs, saying, "I just love stories!"
Generally shy person that I am, I stretched myself to join in as the queen and George. It was a wonderful night
Kim IS amazing, isn't she? Oh, I would have loved to have heard her tell BARK, GEORGE (one of my favorite books)! I'm sorry a prior commitment kept me elsewhere.
ReplyDeletelucky, lucky audience!
ReplyDelete