Story Pockets

Join the Children’s Department of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in welcoming Playhouse Jr. of Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse!  During this special Homeschool Tuesdays program, Parents and kids take part as Playhouse Jr. presents an informative and interactive program with activities based around two Playhouse Jr. performances.

Huck Finn – Based on Mark Twain’s classic American novel, Huckleberry Finn, Playhouse Jr.’s   adaptation addresses the difficult themes of race and identity in a modern and engaging style.  Huck Finn runs weekends through May 26^th in Pittsburgh Playhouse’s Rauh Theatre.

Afternoon of the Elves – Based on the Newberry Honor Book by Janet Taylor Lisle, Afternoon of the Elves is a riveting story of imagination, friendship, and the power of confronting life’s challenges.  Afternoon of the Elves runs weekends May 25^th through June 9^th in Pittsburgh Playhouse’s Studio Theatre.

As the second oldest continually running children’s theatre in the nation, Playhouse Jr. brings children and young adults into a world of imagination through live theatre adapted for young audiences from classic children’s literature.

All are welcome in the Children’s Department today at 2:oo PM for this special event!

Nationally-known storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston is in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival.  She did a free workshop for folks who attend the program The Art of Storytelling for Educators  better known as “the Educators Group.”  The group meets once a month during the school year and has activities around storytelling for and by kids.  The last meeting for this season will be Sunday, May 19 at 3:30pm.

Charlotte’s workshop focused on the different rhythms that can be incorporated into stories.  She had the group clapping a different rhythm on each hand at the same time (!), plus she taught the hambone!  Most of the group could do this knee-slapping jive at 5 mph; any faster and it didn’t sound like the hambone anymore!

Charlotte (4th from left) with participants, including staff members Julie Kant (5th from right) and Kathy Maron-Wood (2nd from left).

  Join us for two tales of the season! Beatrix Potter’s classic story about the mischievous bunny who sneaks into Mr. McGregor’s vegetable garden looking for good things to eat will charm children ages 3-6.  Children will then participate in the telling of the Russian folktale about a farmer who grows a gigantic turnip but then has trouble harvesting it.

Please call the Children’s Department to register.  412-622-3122
10:30 – 11:15 am
Mondays | May 6, 13 & 20
Tuesdays | May 7, 14, 21 & 28
Wednesday | May 15
Thursdays | May 9, 16, 23 & 30
Fridays | May 10, 17, 24 & 31
Saturday | May 18
Special Encore Performances will be take place during the Library’s 13th annual Summer Reading Extravaganza on Sunday, June 9 at 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm.

On April 19, E. L. Konigsburg died at 83. She was the author of many quirky and esteemed children’s books, including the Newbery award-winning From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Its runner-up was her first book, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Many children in her books are precocious, like the academic bowl competitors of The View from Saturday, or last-ditch clever, like Branwell and Connor communicating in code in Silent to the Bone.

A May 1 letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also details Konigsburg’s ties to Pittsburgh, which include studying at what is now Carnegie Mellon and speaking at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Note: The letter writer mentions the Nesbitt Room, which is now defunct. Some materials are located in the Hillman Library.

For more authors with a connection to Pittsburgh, check out our collection of books by local authors, located in the Children’s Department.

These words are heard quite often in the Children’s Dept, however, they were heard even more this past Sunday when The Art of Storytelling for Educators had their monthly gathering.  Stories with “stuff” were told by several folks and many of those stories came from the following books:

The Family Storytelling Handbook has examples of stories you would tell with a handkerchief, a piece of paper–either folding, cutting or tearing, nesting dolls, quilt pieces or even your hands!  She also has chapters on why to tell stories (my favorite–IT’S FUN!), when to tell them, what kinds of stories there are to tell and how to tell them.

The Story Vine has a great subtitle–a source book of unusual and easy-to-tell stories from around the world-whew!  Included are string stories, in fact, two versions of Cat’s Cradle (and I thought this was only a game!), drawing stories, stories with dolls or figurines, finger-play stories and stories that use musical instruments.

Anne Pellowski has collected the stories and written the information in both of these sources.  They contain excellent illustrations, directions for telling the stories and bibliographies for even more sources.

Here is the end result to one of the stories:

I’ll give you a hint–it’s in one of the books just mentioned!