Looking Back to Storytelling Days

36°f, clear. Another beautiful but dry Fall day 

This post showed up in my Facebook memories. As I lounge about trying to let this knee heal, I find myself astounded at how incredibly busy I was back then. Of course, I was 9 years younger, but still...

I thought those of you who weren't readers back then might enjoy reading about how my life was back then.

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It was a wild ride, and it was fantastic fun. I told stories from pretty much one side of West Virginia to the other, mixing ghost tales, ballads, stories for children with a few side trips along the way.

It started in Ripley. This was the Do You Believe? Ghost Walks in my county's seat, and we started right at the courthouse steps. This year we had between 150 and 200 people come out for the walks over two weekends, even though it was right chilly the second Saturday. Civil War ghosts, town legends, old murders, historic homes, and the town's beginnings in frontier America all contributed to the evenings' tales.

Sunday I packed and prepared for the week's travels, and I was on the road early Monday morning, heading to Saint Albans, followed by Charleston and then Dunbar, telling West Virginia ghost stories at libraries in Kanawha county. No photos, unfortunately, as I was traveling solo so had no trusty sidekick to snap pics for me.

Tuesday morning found me in Clendenin, the home of the first library I managed. It is always fun to return and see how vibrant this library still is in this small community on the Elk River. I left there and headed north and east to Shepherdstown, WV in the far eastern panhandle of our state, to tell stories for the Speak! Shepherdstown series hosted by storyteller Adam Booth. The audience was fabulous for this event--seasoned adult listeners who really support storytelling in their community. After the evening show I drove west and south once again to Weston to be ready for the start of the West Virginia Storytelling Festival that started the next morning.

 This festival, held at Jackson's Mill, was excellent as always.

We told tales to about 1000 or more school children over two days, and participated in an evening storytelling concert for the public. Fun times!

This photo was taken in the WV Building--an unusual building built for a World's Fair and then brought back to WV. It's built of all the hardwoods found in our state.

The exterior of the WV Building, taken in the mist of early morning.

I left Jackson's Mill and headed south and west, taking the scenic route so I could once again visit two favorite places: Falls Mill and Bulltown.

Falls Mill is a small park on the site of a former mill, and Bulltown was the site of a Civil War skirmish.

West Virginia had no huge battles during the war but there were quite a few sizable skirmishes in the state. Bulltown was quiet when I stopped there, with no other visitors. There is an eerie feeling of going back in time in such a place when one is all alone. I almost felt the presence of the soldiers and family there.

Friday was booth day--we worked at Marietta to being new items to our spaces there. I'm afraid this booth was a little neglected lately while I've been on the road so much. It looked fine though, and we added a few new things. I'll post pics in a later post.

Then Saturday I drove to Cross Lanes for the last of my Kanawha county library performance series and then came back to Ripley for the Saturday night ghost walks. I was happy to see two people from the morning's program at Cross Lanes in attendance for the ghost walk--they drove a good ways to be there, bringing several friends with them.

I was kind of sad to see the end of this wild week of storytelling. I met so many people along the way, and West Virginia is wearing its beautiful fall coat so the drives were a treat in themselves.

Yesterday I unloaded my van, unpacked my suitcase, and then went over to Ravenswood to work on the booth there (pics coming in another post). And today? I think it's going to be a bit of a catch-up day, doing laundry, writing thank-you notes, paying bills, and all the mundane things that keep home running smoothly.

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

A Busy Thursday

Is it jello? Is it a sundae?

No, it's a rainbow in a jar! My first attempt, which didn't come out as well as it could have, but later versions worked very well. This was my practice batch as I practiced my presentation for the WV Library Association's Spring Fling. Storyteller Jo Ann Dadisman and I shared ideas for ways to include science with folktales to help the librarians with their plans for summer reading.

 Jo Ann and I got together early Thursday morning to put together our program. We'd been working independently on finding connections between stories and science experiments that would be easy, inexpensive and fun. The library in Sutton, WV graciously lent us their meeting room to put the final touches on our presentation.

 Who's been here? I don't know but they left their prints for posterity. I hope the birds (probably pigeons) were able to fly after putting on concrete sandals!

 Tiny little flowers were blooming in the grass, and I was anxious to get home to see how my flowers were coming along. The daffodils were opening up pretty well before I left that morning.

Downtown Sutton is charming with brick streets and many restored buildings.

 I particularly liked the steeple on this church building.

 Then it was time to take our program to the mountain! Well, to the Days Hotel on top of a hill overlooking Flatwoods, WV (home of the Braxton County Monster, in case you're interested). I have no photos of our presentation, sadly, because we were too busy to take them.

I hope someone will share photos they took so I can post them here. We had a great time experimenting with making a chicken cluck with a plastic cup, making water and light bend, making the rainbow in the jar and blowing up a balloon with baking soda along with lots of other easy experiments. Every attendee left with a handmade bookmark (by Jo Ann), a bag of candy for all sorts of candy experiments (from me), and handouts with stories, experiments and ideas from both of us.

After the drive home and my evening walk, I returned to find things much greener than when I left in the morning. The day's showers helped, I'm sure, along with temperatures in the 70's.

I love spring!

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

Conferencing with Librarians

Today was the WV Library Association's spring mini-conference. My proposal to present a session on this year's summer reading theme was accepted so I've been busily working on stories and other things for the workshop.

Can you see the shakers and other rhythm instruments everyone is holding? (And the big Aiken Drum flannelboard story behind me along with bits of a flannelboard story from Korea?) The instruments went with a chant we were doing in an African story; the lady standing with me was a great story volunteer. I shared stories from China, Japan, Turkey, Africa and England along with songs from Chile, Africa, and China and a movement activity from Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica--I couldn't find a story for that cold continent so I rewrote a penguin fingerplay to include movement. In the photo we are doing the song from China--on the back of their animal pictures, I put the words to the song so it was easy to do.That little trick can be used at their storytimes for other stories and songs.

This year's theme One World, Many Stories is custom-made for storytellers. My presentation explored each continent through story, song, craft and even snack foods. I can well remember when I was a branch library manager and presented many children's programs. Finding time to research themes, find crafts and all the other activities to go with a program could be daunting--and I had the luxury of being part of a large library system with lots of resources. I know how it can be for smaller libraries with limited resources and staffing so I wanted to offer them program materials that could be used to create quality programs easily and inexpensively.

Along with program ideas, I brought many items for display--cloths and scarves from many lands that I've collected over the years (most from thrift stores), a paper umbrella from Japan, puppets, Chinese health balls, beads, matryoshka and kokeshi dolls, flags, etc. With an international theme like this one, the displays can be rich with color and texture. I could not bring all of the items I've collected because I think Larry would have gone on strike. Bless the man, he totes my stuff uncomplainingly in and out of so many places.

One of the ideas shared today: cut open a stuffed animal toy and remove some stuffing to make a good puppet. I needed an elephant, and this little fellow works quite well with a cut in his back and a handful or two of stuffing removed.

One craft idea I shared today was a zen garden. I discovered these while researching Japan and became intrigued with the concept of a waterless, plant-less garden. I thought about how much children would enjoy placing the stones and raking the sand, and came up with a miniature zen garden that is easy and inexpensive. All it takes is some sand, a paper plate, some smooth stones and a fork to use as a rake. Put the sand on the plate, place the stones and rake the sand into wave patterns. It's surprisingly hard to rake the waves evenly. The plate can be shaken slightly to erase the waves; then they can be re-done over and over again. Each librarian got a baggie of sand and stones, a plastic fork and a square black paper plate to make their own gardens. It's a little difficult to see the waves in my garden, but you get the idea. I found it so relaxing to do this; now I want to make a better one to keep on the coffee table.

I loved being with children's librarians again. Their energy, imagination and enthusiasm translates into the work they do with children every day. It's a lot of hard work, but each day brings new rewards. I was glad to be able to share some of my ideas with them, and I hope it makes at least a little bit of their work easier as they plan their summer programs.

Here's What the Plumbing is for

Puppet stages!

These are simple screen stages. The puppeteer kneels (or stands if he/she's a little person) or sits behind the screen and the puppets use the top of the screen as their "floor." Simple to build, easy to take apart and store in a bag, and useful for multiple applications. The one above is a floor model...

....and this one if for tabletop or floor. We have one more, even smaller stage in progress, which will also be for tabletop use. Or for little people on the floor. The curtains need to be hemmed so they're not hanging on the frames properly yet.



The stages will help these guys get out of the closet!


One of the library programs I am offering this summer is Create a Story, Create a Puppet. First we'll tell a story or two with puppets; then using my puppets and the screen stages, children can make up a story to act out. They can use a folktale too, of course. The idea is imaginative play. The second part of the program is making wooden spoon puppets or finger puppets to take home and let the fun continue.


I have a lot of puppets--probably 50 or more, not counting the finger puppets, and I am always looking for more because I find that puppets and storytelling are a natural fit with children. The puppets touch that part of a child's brain that allows the imagination free rein. The story touches their mental imaging abilities and language development. Combine the two and it's dynamite.


Another reason for the screen stages is a grant program I am working on with my local library. The library wants to develop a teen puppetry troupe; I ran one for 7 years at my branch library and it is still in existence today, 12 years after its start. I will be offering 4 workshops for the teens, teaching them manipulation of glove puppets, puppet characterization and voice, and script/story selection and development. After the four workshops, they will be on their own with the very capable library staffer who will be in charge of the program.


Part of the grant covers the purchase a a starter collection of puppets and a stage. My screen stages can be used for practice until the big stage arrives.

Next step for me is to get all the curtains sewed--a hand project since I gave away my sewing machine. With only straight hems to sew it should not be too difficult. I also have get the manual ready for the teens--it's mostly complete, only needing to be revised from storytelling with puppets to using puppets on stage. The basis of voice, manipulation, characterization are the same. I also have a collection of short, easy puppet scripts I wrote for my library, and some of them will be included in the manual.


So that's what the plumbing and fabric is for! You had some very creative ideas, and some of them very close to the truth.