The First Show of the Holiday Season

During the months of November, December and January, I perform a multicultural holiday show in schools which features seven different celebrations: Advent / Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Winter Solstice, Ramadan/Eid and Kwanzaa. Yesterday I gave my first performance for this year and had a wonderful time with a gym full of four to twelve year olds.

One of my favourite parts of performing in schools is talking with the children afterwards. Yesterday, the kids who gathered around me after the assembly, were literally beaming with joy when they told me that I had actually talked about the holiday they celebrate at home! We all need to have our lives reflected back to us from the world around us.

After I had packed up my storybag, loaded the props into the car and was headed for the door, the librarian asked if I had a moment. A grade 3 student had requested to speak with me! Most intrigued, I made my way to the library where I met a shy little boy who, in a spirit of kindness and generosity, wanted to tell me the correct pronunciation of Ravana, the ten headed demon in the Ramayana. He knew something that I apparently didn't, and wanted to help me.

I was touched by his thoughtfulness.

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

The Sound of Listening

One of my favourite sounds is the silence that settles over an assembly of children collectively listening to a great story. Yesterday as I told a story from Japan, the air filled with expectation, concentration and determination as 300 children listened to the adventures of a young boy entering a haunted monastery, armed only with a paintbrush and his creativity.

The imagination is an amazing thing to behold in faces of children. Yesterday, during the two assemblies I held in a school of over 600 students, I got to witness that expression on hundreds of adorable faces.

In the story, The Little Boy Who Love to Paint Cats, a young artist falls asleep in a haunted monastery after painting hundreds of cats on the walls of the big room. He is awakened in the night by scary sounds coming from the room covered in cats. As I told this story, I saw what the expression of the little boy in the story must have looked like when he heard the scary noises, in the faces of every child sitting in the school gym.

Amazing!

Thanks for listening.

Cheryl Thornton

I Don't Remember, But...

Yesterday, I told stories to kids in one of the few summer camps I perform for annually. The kids range from age 6 to 14 and seem to be happy with all the ages mixed together.

Before we started our stories yesterday, I asked if anyone remembered what I told them a year ago. A ten year old girl replied, "I don't remember, but there was a platypus who was different from the other animals and the animals didn't get along with each other at first, but then it changed in the end." She remembered an Australian aboriginal dreamtime myth I told twelve months ago!

A seven year old boy listened as she practically told the whole story verbatim, then said, "Yeah, I remember that one too, but I remember, I was the man in the story with the bundle of cloth on my head and it talked and then I threw it down and scream and ran down the road. Remember me?" That was 'Talk,' the humours West African folk tale that I have kids help dramatize as I tell.

It never ceases to amaze me how well kids remember the stories I tell. Most of my stories are obscure, practically forgotten tales from long ago, that most children have never heard before. For kids to be able to recall the characters and plots from only hearing it once, astonishes me, over and over again. It shows how powerful the art of storytelling is and how brilliantly these old tales shine in the imagination.

I always ask groups that I've seen before to tell me what they recall, just for my own delight and to remind myself that the arts are an essential profession.

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

www.storyvalues.com

Weeping and Wailing

When I begin telling stories to a new group of two, three and four year olds, sometimes a few of the more sensitive ones will begin to cry. New faces or situations can throw them off their tuffets, causing them to emote. The weeping and wailing never lasts long, thank heavens! Once we finish with the introductory song, we get down to the business storytelling and that stops them every time.

With young children, I always begin my story classes with a few 'little stories' or finger plays. The crying ones quickly realize that if they are making too much noise, they won't be able to hear what happens to the 'little mouse,'or 'grandma's spectacles' or 'the cup of tea.' No matter how short or insignificant a story may be, a story is a story and we all need to know what happens. Like music, stories are an essential part of the human experience and even the youngest among us respond to the arch of a story.

After a few minutes of warm up stories, we plunge into world mythology. Once again, no matter how unsophisticated the listeners may be, they intuitively comprehend the language of myths.

After 60 minutes of creation myths, hero/heroine adventures and pourquoi tales, we end with a good-bye song. As I pack up to leave, I am often hugged by a few of the children, and it's usually the previous criers, which makes their hugs moist and messy. This is truly, one of the major hazards of storytelling.

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

www.storyvalues.com

A kindred Spirit

This morning, I had the pleasure of telling myths from ancient civilizations to 75 grade 5 students in Georgetown. After telling the first story, the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, a quiet looking boy with glasses, sitting at the back of the room asked me if I knew the myths of Perseus, Theseus, Hercules and Athena. His eyes brightened when he heard that I knew them and loved them.

After an hour of telling various myths from around the world, the same little boy in the back of the room said, "Isn't it amazing that these very old stories are so much fun to listen to and seem to be brand new and real."

"Yes, indeed," I answered my little kindred spirit.

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

http://www.storyvalues.com

Did You Dye Your Hair

This morning, a five year old girl in my Thursday storytelling class asked, "Did you dye your hair Cheryl?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," I replied.

After a most traumatic visit to the hair dresser's last week, I ended up with a lighter shade of brown. No longer sporting the skunk-look, (dark on the sides with a pure white stripe down the middle), I asked the children for a show of hands as to which look they preferred.

The new do won, hands down, thank heavens! I always love fashion advice from kids. They're so up to date and modern.

After the style support, we got down to stories. First, they told me highlights from their lives: 'We're going to the cottage tomorrow.' 'Today is my grandpa's birthday.' 'I lost as tooth yesterday,' etc. I then told them a Grimm's fairy tale, a Panchatantra tale, and a Greek myth. It was a good day.

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

Stories Last

Today while telling Greek myths to several grade 5 classes, I met a little grade 2 boy in the hallway. I know his teacher and she has been playing the Storyvalues stories all year to her grade 2 class. His teacher introduced us and when (Jason) heard my voice he recognized me as the 'storyteller' that he hears on his computer.

Without missing a beat, he said, "I really liked that the bunny knew what was happening with the tiger all along." He was talking about a story from India called, 'The Man, the Tiger and the Bunny.' "I really liked how the bunny tricked the tiger back into the cage so he couldn't eat the man."

He teacher looked at me with amazement saying, "We listened to that story over a month ago. I can't believe how well he remembers! Each month I play a Storyvalues story to the class and Jason always asks if we can listen to it again. He really enjoys the stories."

Stories are so wonderful and we all enjoy hearing them. They make deep impressions and are hard to forget. Our thoughts, emotions and imaginations are engaged when we listen to great stories so it is a very active experience. I'm thrilled that Storyvalues in now available for families so little kids, like the little boy I met today can listen to the story again at home with their parents. Just need to get the word out!

Happy Storytelling!

Cheryl Thornton

http://www.storyvalues.com