The Smile of the Cat (Storyteller Series Book 4)

Morris is a storyteller and early childhood arts specialist. A native of Japan, Motoko has told stories professionally across the U. Her award-winning CDs are available at www. Danish storyteller Lise Marie Nedergaard is third generation in a family of professional storytellers. She has performed for audiences of adults and children all over Denmark and at storytelling festivals at home and abroad.

She represents the H. Andersen Museum in Denmark as storyteller on public occasions. Andersen drew inspiration from a wealth of sources: Loren Niemi is an innovative storyteller, Fringe Festival performer, and author. Valentina Ortiz speaks the ancient Aztec wisdom as well as the modern stories of Mexico.

She loves bright colors, beautiful songs and deep prehispanic sounds.

As a storyteller and a musician she has traveled the world; has published 4 books and produced 4 records with her original stories and music. Her audiences range from kindergartners to adults, and her venues run the gamut from schools, to libraries, to festivals, to homeless shelters, and even to youth detention centers.

Children tended to have it spades, gradually loosing it as they became more linear in their thinking as they "grew up". Now, though, I see kids as young as five loosing the ability to conjure up anything that is not right there in front of them. The world of Hans Christian Andersen is a world of wonder, imagination, and of possibility, it is a place that the children of New York - who have the very world of art and culture at their finger tips, need desperately.

For without the power of imagination how can one truly live their lives to the very fullest. Therese Folkes Plair is a classically trained singer who in changed her artistic direction from opera to world music and storytelling. She has been traveling to seven African countries and conducting workshops, as well as performing and lecturing. With playful elegance and engaging humor, Connie takes her listeners on an entertaining journey from old-timey mountain tales to surprising, heroic adventures of everyday living.

And storytelling will never die out. It has a glowing future because of its rich past. Rachel was raised in London on a splendid concoction of immigrant oral tradition, English folk music and concrete jungle. There's no faulting Reid's command of her craft". I am excited to play a part in preserving such a space!

Regina Ress , storyteller, actor, writer, and educator, has performed and taught from Brazil to Broadway, from homeless shelters and prisons to Lincoln Center and the White House. She teaches storytelling at NYU. Who could not love it being a part of it! She tells folktales from around the world in all the K-4 classrooms, and teaches students to tell stories. She believes there should be a storytelling teacher in every school. It is a vital art form that creates human connection and develops the imagination and public speaking skills, especially needed in the age of digital entertainment.

Peninnah is a recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator and the National Storytelling Network's Lifetime Achievement Award "for sustained and exemplary contributions to storytelling in America. They always wanted to have their pictures taken sitting on his lap - as children still do - and they have carried these memories into their adult lives. Ken Setterington is a storyteller, librarian and author from Toronto, Canada. He has told stories in festivals and on tours internationally.

His most recent book is Branded by the Pink Triangle. Shapiro has told folk, fairy, literary, and personal stories for over 40 years. Adult children who grew up listening to stories at the statue often bring their children. In this way, the stories' wisdom — be it expressed through funny, scary, lyrical, or teaching tales — is transmitted generation to generation.

Mia Lynn Shelton is a New York-based actress and voice over talent. From discovering and harnessing her many voices by participating in the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center-sponsored storytelling contests in elementary school, to competing in humorous and dramatic interpretation in speech and debate at Marymount School of New York, to becoming a member and director of BUTA Black Underground Theater and Arts Association as a student at Dartmouth College, performing has always been her passion.

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4. A Burlesque Translation of Homer (Illustrated).

When not working, Mia volunteers as a pet therapy team with Wynston, her Yorkie, and enjoys Capoeira, Muay Thai, Latin dancing, traveling and fashion styling. Drawn to the power of ancient fairytale she approaches story as a living dream that holds within it the capacity to heal and transform lives. Some past venues include: Anne also gives workshops on storytelling in education and the creation of family history projects.

Laura Simms is an award winning performer, writer, and educator advocating storytelling as compassionate action for personal and community transformation. She performs worldwide for adult and young audiences. The event is made for families, and free for all ages, Some of the best storytellers in the world gather up the listening hearts of children and families, tourists, great writers, ordinary people, storytellers, rich or poor, doing what we human beings have done since time immemorial: Ron Sopyla has been telling stories at the Andersen Statue for about 20 years.

He has told stories in schools, libraries, museums and Festivals throughout the North East. He's a theater teacher at PS 88 in the Bronx.

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He lives in Beacon NY, in a small house under a big mountain next to a wide river with two cats and two dogs. People who came as children now show up with their children in tow. It always surprises me, though it shouldn't, that most of the audience is made up of adults without children.

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Stories nourish us all. Rolf Stang tells such favorite stories as Thumbelina and Inchworm. Through The Tale of the Ugly Duckling children learn that it is unkind to be a bully and that each of us has the potential to change into a "swan. Recently completed a collection of Ceredigion Folk Tales for the History Press, an illustrated biography of Dylan Thomas, and a series of films on Welsh artists, musicians, storytellers, and their landscape. He lives on the windy west coast, and walks the old Welsh Tramping Roads, gathering tales and drinking weak tea wherever he goes. Suso graduated from high school in The Gambia, West Africa.

Salieu Suso is the leader of the Jaliya Kafo! She is a champion of stories from diverse cultures to promote world unity. She has won two Emmy awards, an American Book Award, an Oracle Award, and among many awards has also recieved the Brooklyn President's Award for "lifelong dedication to promoting Italian Language, literature, poetry and culture.

Meet our Storytellers

Julie Della Torre works in schools, libraries and nature centers in New Jersey. She works with preschoolers as well as seniors in high schools and seniors in centers. Her firm belief in the value and depth of folktales and fairy tales allows her to share the tales and teach the telling of these tales to all she meets. A touring professional storyteller, Megan has been loving story as her job for twenty-five years.

She loves being a guest storyteller for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as sharing stories in countless venues for marvelous audiences. Winner of the Oracle award from the National Storytelling Network. Petting the little duckling completely immersed in the hope that I, too, could grow into a swan!

Jeslyn and Ben Wheless , mother and son, are award-winning storytellers and folksingers who play guitars, dulcimer, and autoharp. They perform in many venues in the NY Metro Area for audiences of all ages. They also teach storytelling and rap! In addition to folk and literary tales, Jeslyn and Ben enjoy writing songs, stories, raps, and plays for children. She made Andersen's stories come alive and enter the listeners' hearts. Through the years my children climbed on the statue after listening to stories, and later Ben performed there with me. When we tell stories and sing in front of the beautiful statue, Ben and I feel close to Diane, and to Daniel, who heard so many stories there.

Marc Young is a Maryland-based storyteller whose passionate performances entertain listeners of all ages. His most memorable storytelling experience took place by a campfire on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania, where he was heckled by a troop of olive baboons. Names have power, and this one invokes the recognition of sacred spaces in the world, unique confluences of setting and spirit.

This leafy bower, nestled in the clanging heart of the city, is such a place. I feel honored to tell a tale standing where so many masters and servants of Story have shared their gifts, particularly my teacher of blessed memory, Diane Wolkstein. Zucker is the author of nine books, most recently, The Pedestrians , a double collection of poetry and prose.

MUSICIANS OF BREMEN - STORIES FOR KIDS -- KIDS STORIES - STORYTELLING

Zucker teaches poetry at NYU and is proud to co-ordinate the yearly Diane Wolkstein Memorial Storytelling Celebration, during which world-class storytellers tell stories by Diane Wolkstein to celebrate and honor her life and work. The gift of stories is life-long. What a wonderful book! Children will love it, and adults will find themselves wishing they could be half as witty as author Lukoff and illustrator Nelson. Buy several as gifts for young people you know, and be sure to buy one for yourself as well!



This book is engaging, well illustrated, and full of puns weaving the pictures and words together. It's fun to read and fun to listen to. A plethora of applause. Not necessarily in an us vs. And, on occasion, we move ourselves out of one group and into another. What I do know is that in the English language we get a little goofy when it comes to names. A "trip" of sheep. A "business" of ferrets. There are plenty of inventive collective noun books in print these days, but in some ways I feel like few of them have taken the time to put quite as much kid-friendly thought into their writings as Kyle Lukoff has done here.

It would seem that Kyle has deeply considered the concept of groups, and where one fits in them, and then given each a wry subversive twist. A picture book for children with a penchant for cleverness. All at once, the child reader can see what is happening.

Turn the page and a new collective noun meets your eyes. And new storytelling opportunity. Fourteen double page spreads contain fourteen animal groupings that play with language in creative, kooky ways. But even if it had been, Kyle Lukoff endows each small section with all the backstory and thought of a writing prompt. In that book, you get glimpses of different mysterious stories.

Writing teachers have been using that book for short story writing prompts for years. Well, that book came out in I mean, the book is working on so many levels at once. After all, that could get a touch dark. My sole objection to the written sections may be the ending of the book, or lack thereof. Picture books without plots have it rough to begin with. Hard enough to sustain interest without reviewers like myself hemming and hawing over whether or not your book ends on a high note.

The Hollow Bones was their favorite band. Even so, I think some small changes could have been employed. Read this book with your eyes closed. Okay, have someone else read this book to you while you have your eyes closed. I want you to listen to the cadences. I want you to take in the tone.

This is the first sentence in the book: For me, the first thing that came to mind was Edward Gorey. In fact, as odd as it may sound, I honestly believe that if this book had been published years ago, Gorey would have been the obvious illustrator to pair with it. An odd thing to say, I acknowledge freely, since the selection of Natalie Nelson as illustrator is both inspired and as unlike Gorey as you might find.

Where he was monochromatic, she saturates her world in these luscious gouache paints. Yet both contain that understated humor so necessary when working hand in hand with Mr. I do wonder at how much of a hand Mr. Lukoff had in the illustration decisions. Perhaps there were some notes with the original manuscript but I believe Ms.

Nelson must have been given room to grow and play with this book. Often she comes up with inventive little ideas that could only have been hers alone. Look at how the elephants sometimes have drawn noses while others have mixed-media trunks. Or that single owl giving its hoot of dissent in the craziest manner possible while everyone around it gives it the stink eye.

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With the exception of those ape tails, Ms. Is there a term for a book for young children that appeals on a host of different levels? It may not receive its due in the classroom, but sometimes humor is the spice that makes the whole picture book enterprise all the more pleasing. Single animals need not apply. We bought this book because our 3 year-old daughter loves anything about birds, especially owls and peacocks. She enjoyed the drawings and was intrigued by the concept of collective nouns; we ended up googling other collective nouns as well, so it was an opportunity to explore language in a fun way.

Four stars for cleverness and creativity. This was too sophisticated to capture the interest of my year-old granddaughter, but I loved it as an adult. This is over-the-top fun for language lovers and just right for stirring the imagination of young writers wanting to stretch their wings. Natalie Nelson's illustrations are a delight. A unique and delightful book. See all 11 reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.

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