Storybook Adaptation

Attached is my Storybook Adaptation of a book entitled "Little Pea" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace. Someone on the discussion board suggested this title and I'm so glad they did - my grandchildren really enjoyed the story!

Watch out what you grab at the library!

I was in the downtown library this week and visited the Children's library area. I thought I would pick up a couple of books to read to my grandchildren this weekend. I found a couple of good picks on top of the shelf - you know the ones they display? Anyway I was 20 minutes through my 30 minute lunch hours and "judging the books by its' cover" (oh no"!) I check them out and was on my way.

As it was, I was at home with my grandchildren and my 13 yr old grandchild decided she was like to read the little ones a book. I grabbed my bag and said "Look, Grandma found you a couple of books at the library today!" I had to finish writing a paper, so I left them to enjoy the stories.

Well, as Paige, the 13th yr old, later was retelling me the story - yikes, it's about a preacher who loves fried chicken and was visiting a parishioner one Sunday enjoying a fried chicken dinner and he chokes on a bone and died. The rest of the story involved figures out how to rid of the body. OMG!

The moral of the story is "Don't judge a book by its cover" Gee, where have I heard that before?

It's been quite a week!

Since Iam sure you have grown bored reading my critique, let me give you a corrected version. Arrrgg - Hope this version is a little more palatable!

This critique compares and contrasts three different storytellers: Karen Haas, Tim Ereneta, and Bunjo Butler, all professional storytellers. I witnessed a live storytelling as performed by Karen entitled, Rip-roaring, Rollicking, and Down-right Ridiculous Tall Tales, at the Key Center Library in Key Center, WA. Both the remaining storytellers were found on-line with Tim’s, Isabella and Her Brother (audio only), and Bunjo’s, Mrs. Bear and Mrs. Crow and The Story of Talk, (audio and video).

Karen and Bunjo’s stories were for a children’s audience, but Tim’s was a fairy tale for adults. I thought this was appropriate since fairy tales were originally written for adults. Karen had the children enraptured with her tales. The way she approached the telling was as if she were performing for a crowd and not just the four children that were in attendance. Bunjo appeared to be on stage, but there was no audience in attendance since no background noise was heard. Tim performed in front of a live audience. The sounds of laughter made it apparent that he was performing for a large audience.

Karen fully engaged her audience, including adults in attendance. She began by explaining about the term Tall Tales. She emphasized that these stories were exaggerations and gave examples of what she meant by the word exaggeration. She included the audience while playing the guitar and asking the audience to sing along with her I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Spider. She also asked the kids to make the sounds of the animals that Davey Crockett encountered during his travels. Tim and Bunjo’s stories did not include audience participation.

Using different voices for the characters in her stories, Karen also opened her mouth wide while telling the story of The Wide-Mouthed Frog. Her pacing a good while she was telling the tales and also between tales. She used pauses for emphasis and full voice range. Bunjo tried to use different voices for his characters but was inconsistent which was confusing. Tim did not make voices changes, but again, he was performing in front of an adult audience.

A Tennessee accent was used by Karen when telling the tales of Davey Crockett. She used slang from the era including “fur” for “for”, “this-a-here” for “this.” She also used very descriptive words. She described the eyes of the panther that Davey encountered as, “glowing like barbecue coals”. Bunjo used a southern accent with African American slang terms, for example, “Say what?” This may be his natural style of storytelling since the stories were of southern origin although The Story of Talk was listed as an African tale.

Davey Crockett is an American folk tale as performed by Karen. She also included the story of The Wide-mouthed Frog and I was not able to find the origin of the story. Tim’s story I would categorize as “fractured fairytale”. The story was introduced as a tale from Sicily, although I was not able to confirm the claim. The “good” characters live happily ever after and the “bad” characters did not. Bunjo’s story Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow was labeled as an African American tale and as described, ended with a “universal truth”. The Story of Talk was labeled as an African tale. I was not able to find other references of these tales on the internet.

Karen used a guitar and played music for her “Spider” song. She also used to body to move about and dramatize the story. She asked for audience participating in imitating the frog’s question “Who are you and what do you eat?” Bunjo was dressed in African culture clothing and he used a whisk type broom which may have been made of horse-tail hair. It wasn’t used for a prop, but used more as emphasis in spots during the telling of the story. I could not tell if Tim used any props or other elements in his story since the story was in audio form only, What Tim did use was humor as evidence from loud laughter from his audience. He fully engaged is audience with the humor in his tale.

The strength in Karen’s storytelling was her full engagement in her telling of the stories. Her method of defining for the children the meaning of the term “tall tales” showed sensitivity and understanding of the age group of her audience. Her enthusiasm was engaging both for the children and the adults. Bunjo’s tales were interesting in that they were different types of stories than I had encountered previously. Tim’s story was full of humor and had the audience and myself, fully engaged. The story was based on a familiar theme (beautiful Isabella and the King lived happily ever after), but the story contained adult content as to the horrors that befell the wicked stepmother and ugly stepsister. The story was a hilarious “fractured fairy tale”.

It is hard to think of a weakness in Karen’s storytelling. The storytelling was 30 minutes in length and I could have listened to more of her stories, but I’m sure for the target age group the length was appropriate. Bunjo’s stories were odd. Although the characters and story were geared to children, the universal truth as stated at the end of Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow, “Your friends don’t tell you the truth, and some say the naked truth is nothing but a dressed up lie”, was not age appropriate. His second story “The Story of Talk” did not have a satisfying ending. I would conclude that Bunjo’s stories were his weakness. I found no weaknesses in Tim’s story.

In conclusion, what I gained from this experience was the understanding that if you are not fully engaged in your story, neither will be your audience. The more enthusiasm you show, the more engaged your audience. Voice changes for characters add to the fun of the stories. Lastly, good stories are the foundation of good storytelling.

Bibliography

Karen Haas Storytelling

Faulkner Keith, and Jonathan Lambert, The Wide-Mouth Frog: A Pop-up Book

(Dial; 1^st edition, March 1, 1996), 16 pp.

Haas, Karen. “Living History Performer, Storyteller, Musician”

http://www.karenstoryteller.com/

Traditional Folk Song, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (Cartwheel, August 1, 2001)

Board Book, 20 pp.

(I was not able to find a reference to the specific story of Davey Crockett as told by Karen, also the I’m Still Hungry story)

Bunjo Butler Storytelling

The Story of Talk as told by Bunjo Butler. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore,

Maryland. http://www.prattlibrary.org/home/storyIndex.aspx?id=7512

Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow as told by Bunjo Butler. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore,

Maryland. http://www.prattlibrary.org/home/storyIndex.aspx?id=7512

Tim Ereneta Storytelling

Isabella and Her Brother as told by Tim Ereneta, May 2008 podcast. Storyteller.net

http://www.storyteller.net

For more information about Tim Ereneta here is his webpage on myspace:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=92677

Tim Ereneta Storyteller Critique

On-line Storytelling

Told by Tim Ereneta– Isabella and Her Brother

This story is a fractured fairytale. It was said to have its origins from Sicily as told by the man who introduced the story on the Storyteller.net website. It is a story about a father, his daughter, Isabella and a younger son who strive to find happiness. Isabella wants her father to remarry and thinks her teacher would be a good match. However, the teacher turns into a fairytale-like stepmother who has an ugly daughter. Thus the sought after happiness for Isabella’s family is not realized.

Audience awareness/purpose

The story was told to an adult audience as evidenced by the audience noise in the background. This is a fractured fairytale. They story content was innocent, but some of the events during the story would not be appropriate for children. For example, the cutting up and canning the horrible stepsister and sending the canned goods to the stepmother as a culinary treat. This is an humorous story and not as twisted as my example may portray.

Format: Inclusion of audience or not?

This was a story told to an adult audience. No participation was required or requested.

The story is told in front of a live audience as part of a storyteller program. This story was only one of the stories told during the program.

Voice: Consistency, Conversational Style, Pacing

He has a very enthusiastic voice. I can tell he really enjoys storytelling. His pace a good with added emphasis and pregnant pauses that is very engaging. His story is humorous not only to me but also to his audience as evidenced by the laughter. The tone of his voice is also good which is varies throughout the story.

What types of stories they shared

As stated above, this is a fractured fairytale. The characters are beautiful Isabella and her younger brother. There is a father and stepmother and stepsister. Of course, the stepmother turns out to be mean and her daughter ugly. There is also a king involved in the story who marries the beautiful Isabella. The stepmother plots to get rid of the beautiful Isabella so that her daughter, the ugly stepsister, may have the king as her own husband. The king is not fooled.

What Methods, props, music and other elements they incorporated

There were no props, music or other elements incorporated into the story.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I could not identify any weaknesses. The strength was in the story and his particular methods of storytelling. The story was humorous. His use of pregnant pauses added to the humorous moments. He has a good clear voice and excellent pacing.

Conclusion:

The storyteller is certainly talented. He had me engaged in the story as well as the audience. The story was humorous and was very engaging. Some storyteller make is sound easy and Tim is one of those storytellers. According to his webpage on myspace (link below) he has acted professionally. He states is roots are in theatrical improvisation, in You Go First and Storytellers Unplugged . I would go to listen to his stories if he was in the area.

Bibliography

Isabella and Her Brother as told by Tim Ereneta, May 2008 podcast. Storyteller.net

http://www.storyteller.net

For more information about Tim Ereneta here is his webpage on myspace:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=92677

Bunjo Butler Storyteller Critique

On-line Storytelling

Told by Bunjo Butler – Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow and The Story of Talk

This is a story I found on the Pratt Free Library of Baltimore, Maryland website. Bunjo Butler has been a storyteller for 15 years. His stories about universal truths found in African, Caribbean and African American stories. He is a past president of the National Association of Black Storytellers.

Audience awareness/purpose

This is an on-line storytelling in which it appears he is on stage performing; however, I do not hear audience noise. It might have been filmed for video purposes only.

To try to create an audience I invited three of my grandchildren to listen to the story (ages 6, 5, and 3). They all said they liked the story, but all of them were fidgeting during the telling. This tells me that although they were listening, the storytelling did not capture their attention. However, this was a video on a small screen so that may have contributed to their distraction.

Format: Inclusion of audience or not?

There was no audience participation, but this on-line story was not performed in front of an audience. The story, if told in front of an audience of children, may have included some participation. That is my own conclusion and may not be true.

Voice: Consistency, Conversational Style, Pacing

The tone of his voice did vary however there was no “changing of voices” for the different characters. The dialect he used included gestures and slang from his African American background. He used the slang “ya all” at various times, also “I ain’t don nothin . . . ” His pacing was good –slow enough for the audience to follow along.

What types of stories they shared

Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow was one of the stories told my Bunjo. It has an African American origin. The point of the story was a universal truth which I will discuss later in this paper. The other story, The Story of Talk, has an African origin. I’m not sure what type of story you could call the second story. I’ll discuss this later as well.

What Methods, props, music and other elements they incorporated

There were no props, music or other elements incorporated in either of the stories. Bunjo was dressed in African ethnic clothing and had a type of broom or whisk that he held in his land. The only time I saw him us the broom for accent was during the Story of Talk showing emphasis when he was “going to beat the dog”.

Strengths and Weaknesses

His strength as a storyteller was his enthusiasm he showed while telling his stories. You could tell he enjoyed storytelling. His voice volume was good and he spoke clearly.

I feel his weaknesses were in the tales he told. In the story of Mr. Bear and Mr. Crow the universal truth of the story was stated at the end. The story was about Mrs. Bear who was getting dressed to go downtown to do some shopping. She dressed in her finest clothing. Mr. Crow was sitting on a branch look at Mrs. Bear through the window and advised her not to wear the outfit. She should wear what the others were wearing in town which was bags on her feet for shoes, pan on her head for a hat, and a sheet over her shoulders. Mrs. Bear took his advice and went to town as he suggested. When she got to town, everyone laughed at her. She returned to her house and was mad at Mr. Crow. Mr. Crow said as he was flying off,. “I told you what they were wearing downtown, but I didn’t tell you that it was truth”. The storyteller says at the end “your friends don’t tell you the truth” and “some say the naked truth is nothing but a dressed up lie”.

The content of the story was geared toward a younger audience, but the message was too mature for that audience.

In the second story, The Story of Talk is labeled an African tale. This story is about a man who has neglected in his garden for several weeks. He decided to dig up some yams. The third yam he digs up speaks to him and tells him he had no right to dig him up since he, the farmer, has neglected his garden so long. Then the dog gets involved and the farmer cuts a twig from a tree to beat the dog but the tree talks to the farmer and says to put down the twig and the twig says, but me down gently and the rock says don’t me the twig down on me. The farmer is scared and starts running and runs into a fisherman. The farmer tells the fisherman the story, and the fisherman doesn’t believe him until the fisherman’s hat talks to him. The story continues until they run to the king. The farmer, other the farmer has collected on the way tell the king the story. The king does not believe them until the King’s stool talks and say now neglectful the king has been to him. The farmer, fisherman and the king run away and are never hear from again.

The story talked about what might happen when you don’t take care of your things, but I wasn’t impressed with the story. The part about beating the dog was harsh and unnecessary to the story. I don’t believe his target audience would be small children, especially when he is talking about beating the dog with a twig!

Conclusion:

I’m sorry to say I was not impressed with the storyteller or his stories. I question the origin of his stories. I “googled” both story titles and did not find any matches. This was a good example of a storyteller stories I did not think were good stories or stories I would tell to a young audience.

Bibliography

The Story of Talk as told by Bunjo Butler. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore,

Maryland. http://www.prattlibrary.org/home/storyIndex.aspx?id=7512

Mrs. Bear and Mr. Crow as told by Bunjo Butler. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore,

Maryland. http://www.prattlibrary.org/home/storyIndex.aspx?id=7512

Karen Haas Live Storytelling Critique

Tall Tales: Storyteller Karen Haas presents her rip-roaring,

rollicking, and down-right ridiculous tall tales.

Saturday, April 12, at 1:30 p.m.

I attended a live storytelling by Karen Haas at the Key Center branch of the Pierce County Library system. It was held on a Saturday afternoon on a beautiful day, which may explain that only 4 children and 4 adults attended.

I spoke with Karen and told her I was a student from the University of Washington currently taking a class in Storytelling. She told me she hoped I would have fun and then the stories, commenced.

The title of her storytelling was “Rip-roaring, Rollicking, and Down-right Ridiculous Tall Tales”. Her website is here.

Audience Awareness:

The four children that attended were the approximate ages of 4, 6, 8, and 9. She seems undaunted by the low turnout. The way she approached the telling was as if she were telling to a crowd of four or thirty. In other words, she gave us her “all” even though it was such a small group.

Format: Inclusion of audience or no?

She began the session asking if they kids knew what a “tall tale” was about. She let the kids guess and then emphasize that a tall tale was full of “exaggerations”. She defined exaggeration and gave a few examples. During the session while playing the guitar, the kids were asked to sing along with the “Little Old Lady that Swallowed a Spider” song. She also asked the kids to make the sounds of the animals Davey Crockett encountered during his travels.

Voice: Consistency, Conversational Style, Pacing

Karen used different voices for different characters in her stories. During the “Wide Mouth Toad” story she opened her mouth wide when the frog was talking. Her pacing was great. She told the story at a slow pace so she did not loose her audience. If however, Davey Crockett was riding down the river on a log, she picked up her pace. She paused for emphasis and she used full voice ranges. She also had a voice that projected throughout the room without being too loud.

Usage: Dialect, Grammar, etc.

When telling the story about Davey Crockett, she used a Tennessee accent. She used the slang form the era including “fur” meaning “for”, “this-a-here” for “this”, just a few examples. She also used very description language. For example, in describing the eyes of the panther that Davey encountered, she said they glowed like barbecue coals. When telling the Frog Story, she used her mouth to imitate a wide-mouth frog.

What types of stories they shared

Karen started with the story of Davey Crockett. Then while playing the guitar, she encouraged everyone to sing along with her the “The Little Ol’ Lady that Swallowed a Spider”. Then she told the story of the Wide-Mouth Frog who ate flies and then asked others in the pond what they ate. The conclusion comes when the frog asks the alligator what he eats who says “I eat wide-mouth frogs.”

What methods, props, music, and other elements they incorporated

All of Karen’s stories were from memory. She had a guitar and played music for the “Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”. She also moved around a lot to dramatize the story. She incorporated the audience several times during the performance including standup and asking us to follow her motions through the story. An example was looking far ahead with palm over eyes to spy the animal making noises in the woods. Jumping down from a log and running in place to catch up with the panther.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Her strengths were in her acting ability. She was fully involved with her stories. Her descriptions were clever and she tried to describe elements to the kids in terms of what they would understand. As I mentioned above describing the pather’s eyes like glowing barbecue coals. She was also great with her dialect depicted by a southern accent. She also used slang with fit the story. Examples of slang words she used was “I reckon”, “lookey here”, “hotter than a flap jack on a sizzling grill”.

I didn’t see any weaknesses. The kids and adults were engaged in her story and everyone fully participated – even the adults. I’m sorry the turnout was so low, but again it was one of those rare warm spring days.

Bibliography

Haas, Karen. “Living History Performer, Storyteller, Musician”

http://www.karenstoryteller.com/

Faulkner Keith, and Jonathan Lambert, The Wide-Mouth Frog: A Pop-up Book

(Dial; 1^st edition, March 1, 1996), 16 pp.

Traditional Folk Song, I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (Cartwheel, August 1, 2001)

Board Book, 20 pp.

(I was not able to find a reference to the specific story of Davey Crockett as told by Karen, also the I’m Still Hungry story)

Happy Mother's Day to those of you out there were are mothers (this include no children, but pets mothers). Today has been hectic but fun. I spent the night with the grandchildren and we had a campout in the living room. Heck, it was fun!!

Anway, today I am turning in three of my Storyteller's Critiques for your viewing pleasure. A live storytelling by Karen Haas in one of my critiques. The next one is a from a story told on the Storyteller.net website. The last critique was an interest exercise for a storyteller I did not like and for his stories, which I did not like as well. I really didn't think I would bump into something I did not like, but alas, I found one.

Please enjoy and enjoy the remainder of this day!

Back from Outer Space

I'm back from a few weeks in outer space (well it fells like it after all the sinus infection medication) and have found myself, as Jenine put it in her assignment clarification presentation, in "deep yogurt"; however, I am back in the saddle again and ready to ride!

Now get that live storytelling down on paper! Almost done with a few clarifications from Jenine. While listening to the assignment presentation solidified my ideas for upcoming assignments. Whew!

I'll write again soon - real soon!