Bringing your pyjamas and your cuddliest stuffed animal was encouraged during bedtime stories at the Bonnyville Municipal Library.
As part of the 2019 Cenovus Wordpower Tour, storyteller Bethany Ellis and author Debby Waldman came to lull attendees off to dreamland on Tuesday, April 30.
For the ninth year, the Young Alberta Book Society (YABS) had authors, storytellers, and illustrators visiting schools and libraries to share their skills with children across the region from April 29 to May 3.
”It’s important for kids to know there’s a variety of different avenues to explore out there,” explained library programmer Kate Burman.
The event promotes literacy and a love of reading in youth throughout northern Alberta, including nine-year-old Taneisha Michaud, who was excited to see the library hosting Ellis and Waldman after meeting them earlier in the week at her school.
”I was like, ‘yeah, I get to wear my new slippers,’” she exclaimed.
Alberta storyteller Ellis uses her theatre background to share tales in ways meant to keep her audience engaged.
”Mainly, I’m trying to entertain. There’s been so many studies done when a person hears a story with their ears as opposed to with their eyes, and it seems that the plot lasts longer if they’ve heard it through their ears,” she expressed. “Often, they can remember the stories they’ve heard after they’ve heard them once, and hopefully, they’ll go home and tell other people.”
Ellis mainly writes scripts based on folk tales for youth theatres and has told stories to adults in cemeteries, at weddings, or in theatres in the past.
During her travels, Ellis has met and learned from others who had similar careers.
She said, “I hooked up with other storytellers whenever I could, and I realized I wasn’t the only crazy person who actually was doing this sort of thing. It was nice to have inspiration from other countries.”
One of Waldman’s favourite aspects of being involved in the tour is introducing kids to writing.
”To be able to have a group of kids in Grade 2 sit for an entire hour and pay attention, I mean they get a little fidgety, but there’s times when they’re really quiet and I just think, ‘wow, they’re really interested, and all I’m talking about is the career I’ve had,’” she said.
Waldman sees the Wordpower tour as a chance to introduce students to a career they may not otherwise know about.
”It’s the kind of thing I wish somebody had come to my school, and a talk I wish I could have heard when I was their age, because we didn’t have anything like this when I was growing up.”
Along with making a stop at the library, Ellis and Waldman also visited local schools, including Duclos School, Cold Lake Elementary, and Notre Dame Elementary School.
