Kids learn an old-time art form--storytelling

Kids in the Mehlville School District are practicing one of the world's oldest forms of entertainment-storytelling. Last month, they even made it a sport during their Academic Olympics.

And some kids from Trautwein and Beasley elementary schools may perform next month in the 27th annual St. Louis Storytelling Festival. That May 3-6 festival sets aside Saturday morning time period to showcase kid storytellers.

Ten-year-old Alyssa Clausen is a 4th grader at Trautwein school. She said her performance at the Mehlville Academic Olympics was her first storytelling experience "except for reading stories to my younger brother."

Alyssa Clausen (l) and Anna Blades

"And when I read to my brother, I don't have to memorize those stories. I just read from a book," she said.

But, her memorized performance in the Academic Olympics must have been pretty good. She finished 2nd among the district's 4th graders. (The Academic Olympics are an effort by the district to give kids a chance to earn recognition in non-athletic activities.)

Sue Hinkel is a retired art teacher and a professional storyteller. She is helping to recruit young kids to carry on the nation's rich tradition of famous storytellers. "As the current storytellers get older, we don't see as many young people taking up the art," she said.

That's also why the St. Louis Storytelling Festival makes room for young storytellers. Most performers at the festival are adults, including some nationally known storytellers.

On Saturday morning, a whole time period has been set aside for kid storytellers. This year, kids will perform at Center of Creative Arts (COCA). (For information about the festival, visit www.umsl.edu/storytelling.)

The kid storytellers are being recruited for the festival from schools on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the Mississippi River.

In addition, kid artists are preparing festival posters that will decorate the entrance to the Gateway Arch on festival weekend. (In the May edition, YSL.com will feature a picture layout of some of the storytelling posters.)

The Trautwein and Beasley school kids picked their stories from published kids books. Many of them picked a book from the school library.

Joe Murphy

But, 9-year-old Joe Murphy of Beasley School did something different. His competition story came from a picture book by Helen Lester, titled "Tacky the Penguin."

He said, "I got that from home. That was the first book that I ever could read by myself."

In the book, the hero penguin is one whose shape and actions seem odd to his fellow penguins. But, when hunters come after the penguins, "Tacky's" actions scare them and they run away. "Tacky" become a hero much like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

Ten-year-old Anna Blades is a 4th grader at Trautwein school. Her storytelling came from a book titled, "Wemberly Worried." The story is about a girl who is worried about going to a new school. But, she quits worrying after she develops a new friend at school.

Anna also takes part in the school's Accelerated Singers. "I had a solo in the winter concert," she said.

Her only sport activity involves playing soccer with her pet poodle at home. When asked who usually wins, she said it was the dog.

"She picks up the ball in her mouth and runs way faster than I do," she said.

Abigail Wicks

Eleven-year-old Abigail Wicks is a 5th grader at Trautwein. She performed a story from Stephanie S. Fairbanks' book, "Boarding School."

She said the story is about a girl sent to a boarding school because she got in trouble at her regular school. "She ran the bloomers of another girl up the flagpole," Abigail said. In the end, the girl being punished apologized and was back in your regular school.

Abigail also takes part in baton twirling at school. She's in a group called "Kelly's Kuties." Her mother, whose name is Kelly, and her grandmother help run the group.

"We're going to perform at Disney World this summer," she said.

Haley Cook

Ten-year-old Haley Cook is a 5th grader at Beasley school. Her story is called, "The Princess Knight." It's about a daughter of a king who goes through the same training as her three brothers and becomes a knight.

In telling her story, Haley serves as the narrator but also plays the parts of the king, the princess and the princess' companion.

"I use a deep voice for the king, a high voice for the princess and a medium voice for the companion," she said.

Some of the storytellers hope to become professional singers when they grow up. But, Alyssa Clausen wants to be an actress. "My mother thinks I'm a drama queen," she said.