Maple Street Books

I so enjoy my occasional storytelling at Maple Street Children's Books.

It's very powerful sharing a story with a child...you go on a journey together, usually unsure of where you're going. I love to see children imagining the scenarios and characters I'm creating, or watching their faces relax at a particularly descriptive narrative rich with metaphors. I'm also guilty of using my stories like an asset, dangling them like sugary cupcakes...

As a middle school teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching of writing, and finding one's voice. I found it very powerful to help an adolescent reveal themselves, and explore their ideas through writing.

In my current work with young children, I've found the writings of educator, Vivian Paley to be inspiring. Her portraits of young children at different ages has helped me understand the intracacies of the stages of development. Paley's writing style is anecdotal, and rich with dialogue (mostly between children). Her analysis is authentic and her voice humble. I find her writing to be of great benefit to my parenting and teaching.

My work with oral storytelling at Abeona began in response to her book, Mrs. Tully's Classroom. In it, Vivian Paley shadows a childcare provider whose only form of discipline is the parable. She simply creates vignettes with a standard cast of characters (meant to be from her childhood experiences) who work to solve a similar problem, or she explains the effect of detrimental actions on the community. Free from guilt, the parties extract the lesson, which was rarely spelled out directly. My stories with Ana about Toralora and Ol' Ms. Moses come from the rural calm Mrs. Tully revealed in her story-approach to young children. I continue to strive for that effect--of not being overly pejorative, and respecting the child to take the gift that the story gives: the lesson that will help them understand their feelings, actions, consequences of action. It feels like a lifelong journey.

I've toyed with the idea of beginning the children's book-writing process. If I knew an artist, I might consider moving forward, although I haven't drafted one page of anything on paper. For know, I am enjoying this in and of itself. Like most of my decisions, there's a lot of intuition at play, and not a clear path that I'm expecting to take.