Stinky Cheese with Scans and Puppets

Book:  The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales  by Jon Scieszka, Illustrated by Lane Smith

Puppets:  Jack, Hen, Girl, Wolf, Giant
Props:  None
Presenters:  3
Technology:  Scans from the book projected on screen, with PowerPoint animations

Audience:  K-2

We featured the books of Jon Scieszka for a recent K-2 Book Adventure.  We chose the theme several months earlier, thinking:  "funny guy, great books, should be no problem."  But once we got down to actually figuring out how present those books in our typical methods (act-out, puppets, powerpoint, in various combinations) it took some thinking.  We had to do Stinky Cheese Man, of course, and finally decided on:  Puppets + PowerPoint.  We didn't do the whole book, since we just had our typical 5-10 minutes.  We focused on several parts with Jack and tried to convey some of the characters interacting with book pages pieces.  Here's how we did it, probably in more detail than you want, but it doesn't make sense in summary form:

In this book, Jack narrates fractured versions of folktales and is regularly interrupted by other characters and interacts with parts of the book itself.  So we decided to use our projection screen as the book, but use puppets for Jack, the Little Red Hen, Red Running Shorts, the Wolf, and the Giant.  So we puppeteers were behind the screen, using it kind of as a curtain.  Side and front view show how this looks:

 













So Jack opens in front of a scanned image of the endpapers and Little Red Hen accosts him just like in the book. 

The Title Page and Dedication Page are scans that "Fly Down" onto the screen with Jack responding accordingly. 









When Jack describes what "Fairly Stupid Tales" are, the screen shows "Fairy Tales" at first, then a few simple animations show "Fairy" changing to "Fairly" and "Stupid" getting inserted in the middle. 

From that point, we selected segments from the book, hoping to get the kids intrigued about the stories we didn't tell while conveying the inspired absurdity of the whole thing. 

So Jack tells "Chicken Licken" in a couple sentences (with a scanned illustration), skipping to how it ends, with the Table of Contents falling and squishing everyone (another scan, "Flying Down").  He mentions the titles of a couple stories, with an illustration showing for each.  So we don't actually tell "The Princess and the Bowling Ball" or "The Really Ugly Duckling," but the titles and one illustration work to get a laugh and catch some interest.   Then we did a little more with "Little Red Running Shorts."    Wolf and Girl puppets enter and complain about the way Jack tells the story, then take off.  When the puppets are gone we show the corresponding empty silhouette image from the book, then follow up with the blank page (or in our version, blank screen) while Jack silently frets about how to tell the story with no images.

The other story we get into (after another loud interruption by the Little Red Hen puppet) is the Giant's story.  The Giant puppet chases Jack off and tells the story his way:  We have each line of his backward story in reverse order on screen as he recites:  "The end;"  "Of the evil stepmother;"  "said I'll Huff and Snuff and;"  and so on until the last line, "Once upon a time."  And Jack declares it the "Most Stupid Tale Ever" as those words Zoom on top of the illustration:

When Jack tells his endlessly repeating tale (to delay the Giant from eating him) we do something similar with the screen, with each refrain appearing below the previous one, in smaller print like in the book.  And then we end it (after another Little Red Hen appearance) kind of like a booktalk:  "The Giant comes back.  And finally gets to eat something, but I won't tell you what it is, so you'll have to check out the book and read it until...The End (as those words "fly down" on the screen).

It seemed like an effective way to do the story.  It wasn't the easiest though.  The projection-screen-as-puppet-curtain idea is cool, but it's a little awkward to manage as a puppeteer:  Not much mobility and you can't see a thing.    And this story really did need three people.  I was Jack and Sheila did the other puppets, plus we had to have Terri doing the clicking: the timing was too important to try to manage many scan transitions along with puppets.  The book is just so cool, though, and it was fun to go as far as we could to bring it to life this way... 

A Long, Crazy, Elephant and Piggie Story

Book:  I Broke My Trunk!  by Mo WillemsPuppets:  none
Props:  Elephant nose, Piggie nose, Bandages,
Technology:  Scanned images or photocopied images
Presenters:  Two
Audience:  Family Storytime

We always use two people for Family Storytime and our K-2 Book Adventure, so it's not surprising that we bring in "Elephant and Piggie" stories pretty frequently.  They adapt neatly to acting out because the characters have such strong personalities and the stories are told in dialogue.  And although they seem simple on the surface, there's some really complex storytelling going on.  Also:  they're so funny.

For I Broke My Trunk in Family Storytime, we followed the words from the book exactly.  Well, the scripts were exact, and our script-less presentation was as close as we could get.  Sheila wore a standard pig nose, and she also devised a simple broken trunk by covering a paper towel roll in duct tape (for the grey) and paper towel (for the bandage).  A little awkward to wear, because it bounced up and down a bit, but I think the look was just right.  Elephant tells Piggie the "long, crazy story" of how he broke his trunk, revealing one piece of the tale at a time:  Balancing Hippo on the trunk; then Rhino; then Hippo's sister (his big sister); and her piano. 

In the book we see Elephant's tale build in the illustrations as he tells it, so we tried to replicate that:

So when Elephant says:  "I had an idea.  I wanted to lift Hippo onto my trunk," we showed the scanned illustration.  The focus was still on us as storytellers, but the image gave the kids a visual of Elephant's increasingly silly story.  We put breaks in between the images, so when Elephant wasn't directly describing his feat there was just gray in the background.   

When Elephant's story is done (he broke his trunk not by balancing huge animals on it, but by running to tell his friend and falling), Piggie decides to go tell another friend this crazy story.  So Sheila runs off behind the backdrop out of sight and shakes our bag of cans for a good loud crash sound.  She emerges with a bandage on her nose.  And the great closing line, when Piggie is asked how she broke her snout:  "It is a long, crazy story."  For some reason we struggled with this ending a bit.  First we decided to prep a handful of kids to ask Piggie "What happened to your snout?" when she emerges...but by the time that moment came they had all completely forgotten and said not a word.  We tried just having her walk out and show the snout...but no, you really need to direct everyone's attention to it clearly to set up the ending line.  Another time it was Sheila saying:  "Do you know what happened to my snout?"  That worked...it still wasn't just right, but close enough.  (One of the benefits of doing a Storytime four times in three days: plenty of chances to try again).

There aren't that many words in the story, but you really have to get most of them right to do justice to Mo Willems' genius.  The "long, crazy story" refrain;  the repeated back and forth of "Is that how you broke your trunk"..."No. There is more to my story;"  Piggie's explosion of "HOW DID YOU BREAK YOUR TRUNK?!"  Taking your time and holding a bit of a pause before responding works well, giving the audience just a bit more time to process and anticipate.  It's all great fun to perform.  There's a fascinating discussion of Willems' perfectly chosen words for this story on the "Heavy Medal" Mock Newbery blog, where Jonathan Hunt makes a case for its worthiness as a Newbery contender...storytelling criteria and Newbery criteria are very different, but this book meets them both. 

A couple weeks later Terri and I did it this story when we visited a preschool.  No projector in this case, so we enlarged the selected illustrations and just held them up and that worked fine.    I do think I Broke My Trunk would work fine without any illustrations, but in the end I think sharing some of the perfect illustrations, along with the perfect words, enhances the presentation.  At the preschool we enlisted a teacher to ask Piggie about her snout at the end, and that worked perfectly (5th time's the charm).  And since we have a "Silly Stories" program for grades K-2 coming up in two weeks, we'll try it a 6th time....



It's a Tiger on the Screen

Book:  It's a Tiger!  by David LaRochelle, Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

Puppets:  None

Props:  None

Presenters:  One

Technology:   Scanned images in PowerPoint

Audience:   Family Storytime (mostly 3-6 year olds)

 

Usually when we scan pictures and project them for a Storytime it's because the pictures are too small to see with our crowds of 120+.  It's a Tiger is like that, but also once you put it into PowerPoint you can make some minor adjustments to make it work even better in a Storytime setting.  I used our scanned version of this book with a couple of class visits this week.  The group size was small enough that the book alone would have worked...just not as well.

 

The book is kind of a variation of "Bear Hunt":  We walk through the jungle, see some vines, notice that one of the vines is orange with black stripes.....than a page turn reveals:  "It's a Tiger!"  So lots of participation opportunities, and you can have the audience standing and running away (in place) each time the Tiger appears.  Plus the book is one of those rare gems that I always like to discover for Storytime: A good story that also counts as a "stretch," so you stick in the middle and don't need a traditional "in-betweener." 

 

Here's how our PowerPoint adaptation worked:  The first scan is just the green background while I introduce the story:  "We're going to go exploring.  Let's start in the jungle..."  Although the words in the book are just fine, I decided to just tell in my own words rather than read or memorize.  Makes it more of a storytelling presentation, which feels right with this book.  

 

Then a click and the "Jungle" illlustration does a slow "Fly In" from the right. "Look, there are monkeys, and vines," I say...."Wait a minute! What's that?!" 

 

 

Then another click and an Arrow appears, pointing at the Tiger tail. The arrow isn't in the book; it's kind of the PowerPoint equivalent of pointing to the picture on the page with your finger.

 

 

With the next click the Tiger appears, plus the added words: "It's a Tiger!" zoom in at the same time. The kids run away in mock terror, just like they're supposed to. 

 

 

Then here's a neat added feature from PowerPoint, which you don't get from the book: The next click brings back the green blank background, which is the kids' signal to stop. The visual cue works really well with the self-regulation that's required in a lively participation story like this. 

 

Then it's back to me for: "Let's not explore in the Jungle any more. Let's go exploring in a....Bat Cave." And the "Bat Cave" spread moves in from the right.

The same pattern follows as the Tiger hides among Snakes, on a Boat, and in a Treasure Chest.  After the Treasure Chest I use the Green blank again to focus the kids for:  "What if that Tiger is...a nice tiger?"  So on the count of three we all go "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." and the scan of the happy tiger slowly flies in.  Which sets up the ending just right:  "Now that we're not afraid of the Tiger, let's go exploring again.  Let's go back to that Jungle."  Click for the Jungle, another click for the arrow pointing at a green tail, and one more click for:  "It's a Crocodile!"

 

The kids had a great time interacting with the images, but also paid attention to me and the storytelling cues.  Many spotted the Tiger clue before the arrow appeared, but that didn't detract from anything, and then the arrow ensured that everyone would see the clue in time.  The second time through I realized it works great to hold off on the arrow click until you hear the first few kids spotting the Tiger. 

I enjoyed this so much that I want to use it in Family Storytime as soon as possible.  We do themes, and with no "Jungles" or "Cats" themes on the horizon, we're going to squeeze it into "Reptiles" in a couple weeks (because of the Crocodile at the end).

So I'm sold on the PowerPoint version and (slowly, slowly, so as not to upset my love of books, puppets, and oral storytelling) opening my mind to the potential possibilities of picturebook apps... 

 

 

 

Farm Animals Got the Beat

Book:   Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig, Illustrated by Marc Brown

Puppets:   4-6 Farm Animals (can make substitutions from the book)

Props:  None

Presenters:   One
Audience:   Toddler Time (1's and 2's mostly)

Since I use puppets a lot in Toddler Time, I want more books like Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown.  It's an excellent book to read aloud and share with pictures, but adapts to a simple puppet story very easily. Not quite directly, but just a few adjustments make it a just about perfect puppet story.  

The story is simple, as a toddler plot should be:  Chicks wake up Sheep; Sheep wakes Cat; Cat wakes Cow; and so on.  It's told with a rhythmic, repetitive rhyme that's easy for the teller to remember and easy for the audience to join in with:  "Chicks can't sleep.  Chicks can't sleep.  Chicks can't sleep 'cause they got that beat.  Peep!  Peep!  Peep-peep-peep!  All that peeping wakes up.....Sheep!"

So you can picture how this works with puppets.  Chick pops out and moves in rhythm to the chant.  When it gets to the "peep-peep-peep," Chick directs the peeps at the puppet bag.  An anticipatory pause after "wakes up..." leads to Sheep popping out.  Chick goes away, and Sheep does a turn with the same refrain, which leads to....Cat.  It's a nice smooth rhythm with an animal pop-out surprise at the end of each verse, and some good audience participation possibilities:  animal sounds, clapping along, and some will join in on the "--- can't sleep, --- can't sleep" refrain.

 

So it works great just following the text. But to make it just right for Toddler Time, I do make a few changes.

1. Switch plurals: The book uses plurals for some animals (like "cows" and "chicks") and I just keep everything in the singular.  It's that old I-only-have-two-hands problem.  And an easy adjustment. 

2. Cut repeated line: The book repeats the animal sound refrain: "Peep, peep, peep-peep-peep" happens twice in a row. You might get a bit more joining in from the group if you stick with doing it twice, but I just feel like it flows a little better with just one time. That one could go either way.

3. Change animal sounds: Those animal refrains are silly and fun in the book. Chick is a straightforward "Peep, peep, peep," to rhyme with Sheep, but Sheep goes "Tat! Tat! Tattity-tat-tat!' Fun to say, and also "Tat" rhymes with "Cat," to lead into the next verse. Works great with the book, but I decided to simplify these for the puppets. So Sheep's refrain becomes: "Baa! Baa! Baa-baa-Bat!" This way the toddlers get the animal sound they're used to, and can anticipate and play along more easily. Also, changing "Tat" to "Bat" at the end actually accentuates the rhyme that's about to follow because it's so clearly a switch from the expected sound. They can hear it better I think.

 

This really is an excellent stand-alone book, and here I've gone and made three changes to it. But these adjustments make sense when you think about the Toddler Time audience following puppets, rather than a child on a lap following the picture cues.

 

In the end the animals wake up Farmer Sue, who does go to sleep.  Then everyone wakes her, after which they all fall asleep. Here's where you need a bit of puppet management.  I make sure I have a place to put each puppet after they've done their verse, so I'm ready to bring them back one at a time for this ending.  I don't bother getting them in the right order, just grab what I find, make the sound, and grab the next one.  I don't even worry about slipping them onto my hand if that's awkward...just showing them for the quick sound refrain is fine.  When it end with:  "they fall in a heap!  Asleep!" I gather as many as I can onto my lap.  Having a second bag or a tub to put each puppet in once they've made the first appearance can help here, just so they're all handy for the finale.

The only problem with this book is if you're into early 80's pop music you'll probably walk around while you're setting up Toddler Time singing this song to yourself but mixing it up with the Go-Gos:   "See the Sheep walking down the street / Fall in line just watching their feet / They can't sleep / because the Chicks went "peep" / But they're baa-ing in time / They got the beat, Sheep got the beat, yeah / Sheep got the beat."  Or maybe that's just me....

 

 

Moose, Zebra, and 25 Letters

Book:   Z is for Moose  by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Puppets & Props:  Zebra and Moose puppets for sure.  Plus an alphabet's worth of puppets, props, and/or pictures
Presenters:  Two
Audience:   Family Storytime, but also will use for school-age

When I first read Z is for Moose I had two questions:   #1:  Could this mean another Zelinsky Caldecott?  and #2:  Can we do this in Storytime?  #1 was a no, it turns out, but I think we worked out #2.  For Family Storytime this week Sheila and I did a puppet show version.  Our theme was "Friends," and there's really not much evidence of friendship for 25/26th of the book, but when you're excited about a new picture book, you squeeze it into a theme anyway you can (see future post about how It's a Tiger works for "Reptiles.")

One of the many virtues of the book is that it has real changes of pace and plot shifts, even though it's an alphabet book.  Those shifts helped us construct the puppet show. 

Regular Alphabet Book Beginning:   Sheila was Zebra, announcing the alphabet from the upper part of the stage.  I was Moose below, with props for A through Q ready to go.  The first three letters just appear briefly on the stage. 

Moose Barges In:    Moose pops out for Duck to start the funny part, inserting himself into most letters leading up to M.  Many of these work just great as puppet show sight gags.  Hat appears on stage, then rises higher to reveal the Moose is wearing it.  An Ice Cream carton rises into view, then Moose pops out of it (through the unseen cut-out bottom).  We did a few letter substitutions that led to better puppet show antics.  For example, Moose popping out of Kangaroo's pouch is perfect in the book, but we opted to velcro him to a Kite and had that fly above the stage as he cries "Is it myyyyyy turrnnnnnn?" 

Moose Gets Mad:  Just when the audience thinks they get where it's going, Mouse shows up for M, and Moose is not happy. A few beats of silence when Mouse pops up accentuates the surprise, then Moose loudly enters to protest the unexpected choice for M.  Then the next series of letters has some good old fashioned puppet show violence.  Moose tosses Owl off stage;  Moose battles with Pirate.  (Another substitution from the book, since we could do more with a puppet pirate than we could with a pretend pie....a real pie could have been fun, but too messy).  Queen primly announces that it's time to end all this nonsense....and Moose charges, antlers-first, and mows her down.

Zebra Shifts Strategy:   Now Zebra presents objects R through Y rather than Moose.  For R and S Zebra uses a picture of Ring and Snake, rather than the real things.  We just made versions of each picture, one with Moose's  additions (he draws antlers on the objects, crosses out the correct words and writes "Moose" instead).  Moose snatches the good version from Zebra, shows his big red crayon, goes below, switches pictures, and gives Zebra back the  crayoned version.  After that Zebra and Moose interact from the top curtain of the stage:  They have a tug-of-war with Truck; and Zebra bops Moose on the head with Umbrella.

Moose Gets Sad:  Just when the audience is anticipating what the next clash will be, Moose stops coming out and cries from behind stage instead as Zebra brings out V, W, X, and Y without incident.  It's neat to hear the change in the audience from behind stage...they get a little quiet as they realize, with Moose, that it's almost over and he's not going to be in the story.  

Happy Ending:  Zebra talks sad Moose into coming out for the last letter.  Moose appears below, with Zebra above at first; then joins him up top for the conclusion:  "Z is for.....Zebra's Friend:  Moose!"  Very satisfying. 

One obvious challenge is finding the 26 items to fill out the alphabet, and we managed to find puppets or props to do the trick.  We substituted a few just because they just worked better for a puppet stage presentation (see K and P above, plus Net for Needle and Vase for Violin.  It would have worked fine to substitute a picture for several of the items, especially the ones that Moose doesn't interact with that much. 

Puppet and prop management was pretty easy considering how much stuff we used.  I just kept Moose on one hand the whole time and used the other to bring up props and puppets, most of which didn't really have to do much.  And remembering which one comes next is as easy as abc.    

I still think Z is for Moose would have been a fine Caldecott choice, but am very glad that it makes such a good puppet show.  As for the equally excellent book that did win the Caldecott:  big fish; little fish; hat...there must be something we can do with that one.

A Perfectly Fractured Rapunzel

Book:  Falling for Rapunzel  by Leah Wilcox
Puppets:   None
Props:   Ladder, Underwear, socks, dresses, soap, pig, batter, prince stuff, Rapunzel stuff, maid stuff
Presenters:   Three (could work with Two plus a child volunteer)
Audience: Family Storytime, K-2 Book Adventure

This is one of those stories we just about any time we can.  We've done it for Family Storytimes and most recently included it in our K-2 Book Adventure "Fractured Folktales" program and a school Family Night (grades K-5).  We acted it out with three people:  Rapunzel (Sheila), the Prince (me), and the Maid (Terri, who also narrates).  We set up a short ladder behind a trifold screen to serve as Rapunzel's tower.  And pretty much stick to the words in the book, with only minor changes. The story fosters phonological awareness (clever rhymes), sophisticated vocabulary words (tresses, and best of all: one person throwing stuff at another person....what more do you need?

The premise is pretty simple, as so many of the best ones are:  The Prince wants Rapunzel to let down her hair, but she hears him wrong and throws down stuff that rhymes with what he says. 

The opening verse sets it up:  "Once upon a bad hair day / A prince rode up Rapunzel's way. / From up above he heard her whine, / upset her hair had lost its shine. / He thought her crying was a plea / And sallied forth to set her free. / Alas she was too far away to quite make out what he would say..."

As Prince, I ask Rapunzel to throw down her hair...and she throws down:  Underwear!  (Terri recently found a big pair of muppet boxers at Goodwill...we've already used them twice (see future Froggy Gets Dressed post)).  Then Prince tries to think of other ways to say "hair":   "Curly locks" gets him "dirty socks;"  "Silky tresses":  "dresses."  Getting more frustrated, he asks for "rope" and she beans him with a bar of "soap"  (actually "cantaloupe" in the book, but that's one fake fruit we don't have).  "Ladder" is a fun one:  She dumps "pancake batter."  We try to do this story last, because it can be hard to do more stories when you're covered in flour.  The rhymes and vocabulary are more sophisticated than you'd expect, so the kids anticipating what the next throw will be usually can't guess it easily, which adds to the fun.

The book includes some excellent verses that we didn't include for a couple of reasons.  For one thing, when you act it out the action takes center stage...the rhymes that impact the action (hair/underwear) come through better than the follow up lines that are more commentary.  I hate to drop a couplet like this:  By now the prince was feeling hammered / not to mention less enamored"...but perfect as it is within the book, it gets lost in an act-out.  Also, there's too much going on to hold a script and with rhymes you pretty much have to get the words down exactly.  So reducing the amount to memorize is not a bad thing. 

The ending is just right:  He asks for her "braid" and she throws down her "Maid," who comes tumbling out from behind the "tower" and turns out to be a better match for the Prince: "I fell for you when we first met" (because she "fell" out of the tower, get it?  The kids usually don't, but I always enjoy it anyway).

 

Thie three-person version works really well, but I also think it could be done with two, having the Prince narrate and using a child from the audience as the Maid.  You wouldn't have quite as smooth an ending, but the premise, the rhymes, and the stuff being thrown from the tower is really the heart of the tale. 

Newbery Break is Over

After trying for half a year to keep up with this blog and chair the 2013 Newbery Committee, I decided to take a break from Beyond the Book Storytime posts until the Medal was chosen.  The Medal and Honor books were announced a week ago, so now it's time to return.  I've done plenty of storytime stuff in the last six months that I'll post about, but I thought maybe in honor of the Newbery year I should try to come up with a few ideas based on the books we selected.  This blog features ways to present stories using puppets, props, acting, and other "beyond the book" methods....I haven't actually tested these in a real storytime situation, but there's got to be a way: 

The One and Only Ivan.  Let's see....I've got a good gorilla puppet, that's a start.  But he's not all that expressive, and Ivan is one of the most unique characters I've ever met in a book.  Maybe if I just focus on the funny bits of the story.  How about something with "me-balls?"  According to Ivan the gorilla, "a me-ball is made by rolling up dung until it's the size of a small apple, then letting it dry.  I always keep a few on hand."  He sometimes throws them at the humans who "for some reason...never seem to carry any."  A little brown play-doh could do the trick.  Good possibility for audience participation there, and a little scatological humor is almost always a good thing...but no, I just don't think this one will work in storytime after all.  On to the Honor books.

Splendors and Glooms:  On first glance, this might be just the thing.  It's all about puppets, so it should be a natural fit for storytime.  It's just that as a puppeteer, I'm not all that comfortable with being associated with the puppeteer in this book.  Grisini is one the best villains ever ("best" measured here in literary terms not in terms of moral goodness, where he would be the opposite of the best), but he does, after all, turn children into marionnettes and ransom them for large sums of cash, along with other evil stuff.  The orphan Parsefall's also a puppeteer, and a much nicer guy (though far from perfect), but I could never do his accent right.  Best stay away from this one after all.

Bomb:   I like to mix a little non-fiction into our programs when I can, and this is an amazing informational book.  So I would do this one, but unfortunately I can't find my Robert Oppenheimer puppet, and apparently it's been discontinued by Folkmanis.  You just can't do a puppet show of Bomb without a decent Oppenheimer puppet.

Three Times Lucky:  I love to use stories with good dialogue, and this has some of the best.  How can I get some of these lines into a puppet story?:  "I wouldn't say stole...but I did borrow it pretty strong;"  "My heart leaped like the cheerleader I will never be;"  "I never forgive. I like revenge too much."  No....excellent lines for a character in a novel, but I don't see Pink Pig or Sheldon the Sheep Dog pulling these off. 

Well, I tried, but it's just not going to work.  Apparently "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" is not the same as "adapt this for your next storytime presentation."  And on the bright side, I imagine the Printz Committee members are having an even harder time with this (Good luck doing Code Name Verity or In Darkness in storytime). 

So I'll say goodbye to Newbery for sure and be back soon with a post on a book that didn't win any awards, but has silly rhymes, dress-up opportunities, and underwear jokes....just the right ingredients for a surefire storytime hit.