Naomi Baltuck

DECEMBER STORY STRETCHES

'TIS THE SEASON!...

Don't forget to pull your winter stories out of the deep freeze and thaw them out in time to celebrate the winter holidays. Your programming might include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan stories and traditions, as well as seasonal themes, from wintertime and snow days to colds and flu shots. Below I have listed some resources you might find useful, and a few stretches to add to your seasonal repertoire.

SNOWY DAY: Stories and Poems, edited by Caroline Feller Bauer, is a good source of material, if you are telling winter stories. "Here are poems and stories to match every mood...there's a Russian folktale about the beautiful snow maiden who comes to life, Isaac Bashevis Singer's story about a snowy evening in the village of Chelm when the village elders decide a valuable treasure has fallen from the sky, and a story from Japan about a man who is rewarded for his kindness to six statues. This diverse collection of stories and poems is sure to captivate...So, put on your parka, pull on your boots, and read about snow!"

The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards, is a retelling of traditional stories about light from all over the world, from the Inuit story about how Raven steals the light to the Italian folktale about La Befana and the Royal Child of Light. At the end of the book is a selection of rites, games, and songs to sing.

DID YOU KNOW...

What goes "Ho, ho, ho, plop?"
(Santa laughing his head off!)

What does a near-sighted gingerbread man use for eyes?
(Contact raisins!)

"The Snow Queen With the Cold, Cold Heart," is a story that is packed with winter fun, and it includes plenty of opportunity for participation for kindergarten to fifth grade audiences. You can find it in my book, Crazy Gibberish and Other Story Hour Stretches, as well as on the award-winning CD of the same name. (See my website bookstore to purchase a copy).

"Snow Bunting's Lullabye" is a Siberian folktale retold by Margaret Read MacDonald, in her book, Tuck-Me-In Tales . It is sassy and sweet, and will appeal to young and old listeners. Best of all, there is plenty of opportunity for audience participation in this story.

THE MITTEN by Alvin Tresselt is an ALA Noteable picture book that is also a wonderful winter story. There are many versions of this tale in print, including one by Margaret Read MacDonald in her book DON'T LOOK BACK: Twenty Lively Tales for Gentle Tellers, that includes plenty of audience participation.

FIVE LITTLE SNOWMEN Adapted by Naomi Baltuck

Five little snowmen all in a row. (hold up five fingers)
Five little snowmen all made of snow. (shiver)
Out came the sun and shone all day, (draw circle of sun with finger held high, fingers become rays of sun)
And one little snowman melted away. (use both hands to show snowman drooping)

Four little snowmen all in a row.
Four little snowmen all made of snow.
Out came the sun and shone all day.
And one little snowman melted away.

Three little snowmen all in a row.
Three little snowmen all made of snow.
Out came the sun and shone all day,
And one little snowman melted away.

Two little snowmen thought up a good plan. (point to head and nod)
Into my kitchen they both ran, (run in place)
Into my freezer, where the temperature's just right. (shiver)
And they come out to play on very cold nights! (jump up, holding arms out)

MY FAVORITE WINTER CRAFT IDEA

When I was teaching in the classroom, we made marshmallow snowmen. It requires some prep time to cut out felt bow ties, circles of felt for buttons, hats, eyes and noses, and to sew a loop of thread through the cap of each snowman so that it may be hung from a tree. But the result is well worth it.

1. Glue two big marshmallows together, one on top of the other, to form the body and head of the snowman.
2. Glue four mini marshmallows to the bottom marshmallow for arms and legs.
3. Glue a felt circle just large enough to cover the snowman's head, with the loop on top for hanging.
4. Glue four smaller round felt circles (I use red) to cap the ends of the mini marshmallow arms and legs.
5. Glue two small dark blue circles onto the top marshmallow for eyes, and one just underneath it for a
mouth.
6. Glue a little red felt bow tie where the marshmallows come together, with a little green felt button in the
middle of the tie for decoration.
7. Glue two little green buttons on its tummy, in a line just under the tie.

These ornaments are not supposed to be eaten, but they look so good that one pupil's younger sister couldn't resist nibbling the back side of a snowman while it was hanging on the tree. My student had made several snowman ornaments. After discovering that the first one had been taste-tested, she checked the others; they had all been sampled. Fortunately, the guilty party lived to tell the tale. If you use non-toxic glue, such as Elmer's, then no harm is done.

However you celebrate the season, stay warm, have a very happy holiday, and a Happy New Year.

Happy tales,
Naomi

Pierce County Librarians Create Some Great New Stretches!

On November 29th I presented a workshop on Story Stretches to Pierce County Librarians. We had participants who worked with every population, from babies to toddlers to school age and teenagers to senior citizens. I presented lots of material that they can add to their repertoires, but we also spent some time creating some brand new story stretches. The material participants came up with was fresh, fun, snappy, and sweet. You can be certain that it will be used in upcoming programs. They have generously allowed me to feature their original story stretches in this publication.

THE ITSY BITSY DACHSUND
Sung to the tune of "Itsy bitsy Spider"

The itsy bitsy dachsund was playing in the grass.
Out came the cat and gave the dog some sass.
Out came the mom and shooed the cat away,
And the itsy bitsy dachsund came out again to play.

By Lauren Murphy, Dave Durants, and Judy Nelson.

For some sweet material for a Valentine's Day
program, try the following stretches.

HERE'S A HEART

Here's a heart for you.
Here's a heart for me.
This heart is_______(color),
As you can see.

Here's a heart for me.
Here's a heart for you.
I think ______(child's name)
Would like one, too!

HEARTS IN THE BOX
(Sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus")

There are hearts in the box for Valentine's Day,
Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day.
There are hearts in the box on Valentine's Day,
And this is what they say.

The red heart says, "I love you,
"I love you, I love you."
The red heart says, "I love you."
That is what is says.

The blue heart says, "Blow a kiss,
"Blow a kiss, blow a kiss."
The blue heart says, "Blow a kiss."
That is what it says.

The yellow heart says, "Give a hug....

The kids with the box go "Crunch, crunch, crunch...

Now the hearts are gone.

By Naomi Smith, Bonnie Anderson, and Carol Hopkins.

VALENTINE, VALENTINE

Valentine, valentine, turn around.
Valentine, valentine, touch the ground.
Valentine, valentine, blowing up high.
Valentine, valentine, falling from the sky,

Pick 'em up, pick 'em up , pick 'em up quick!

Valentine red, valentine blue,
I'll give them a kiss and send them to you!

By Seung, Emily, Jackie, and Peggie.

SNOW IS FALLING
(Sung to the tune of "Skip to My Lou")

Snow is falling down from the sky (fingers fluttering)
Snow is falling down from the sky
Snow is falling down from the sky
Let's go make a snowball! (pack a snowball, plop it down)

Roll a snowball faster now (roll hands, increasing speed)
Roll a snowball faster now
Roll a snowball faster now
Look-a bigger snowball! (plop down a bigger shape)

Roll a snowball down the hill (roll hands, swoop down hands)
Roll a snowball down the hill
Roll a snowball down the hill
That's the biggest snowball! (plop down a really big one)

Build a snowman 1-2-3 (stack 3 snowballs)
Build a snowman 1-2-3
Build a snowman 1-2-3
WOW! He's as big as ME!

By Kris, Sandy, Alex, and Jami

FIVE LITTLE ANIMALS ON THE FARM

Five little animals on the farm.
The sun is setting low.
It's time for them to go in the barn.
Hear the cow go..."MOOOO."
Bye bye, cow!

Five little animals on the farm.
The sun is setting low.
It's time for them to go in the barn.
Hear the duck go...QUACK."
Bye, bye, duck!

Hear the hen go..."BUCK, BUCK, BUCK."

Hear the sheep go..."BAA."

Hear the pig go..."OINK."

By Lorianne Callison and Susan Anderson-Newham

OWL FLYING

Owl flew over the mountain.
Owl flew over the tree.
Owl flew over the river,
To see what he could see.

He saw the moon on the mountain.
He heard branches rattling in the trees.
He saw the fish in the river,
And he saw ME!

ByJ.T. Isch, Tamara Sarinan, and Dawn Hornsby

The following stretches are perfect for a snow day. They are
also an excellent example of tailoring a stretch to make it
age-appropriate for a particular audience.

GLITTER, GLITTER, LITTLE FLAKE
(To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")

Glitter, glitter little flake,
Like the sprinkles on a cake.
Swirling, swirling all around,
Falling, falling to the ground.
Glitter, glitter, little flake,
You're so cold, you make me shake!

GLITTER, GLITTER, LITTLE FLAKE
(For school-aged kids)

Glitter, glitter, little flake,
I hope you're here when I awake.
Keep on falling through the night.
Make the roads a solid white.
Tomorrow there's a test to take,
But you can save me little flake!

By Brad Jacobsen, Genevieve Dettmer, Alison Pascone, and Sheri Skuja

Lost and Found: A Treasure Trove of Stories in a Small Italian Village c2007 by Naomi Baltuck

My sister Constance and I have always marveled at the similarities between our chosen arts, storytelling and painting. We each use a creative form of self-expression to tell our stories, although Con tells hers with a paintbrush, and I paint my pictures with words. On our recent trip to Italy, I came to the realization that the most awesome quality of both painting and storytelling is not the ability to capture a moment, but to recreate it.

Con and I were looking for Etruscan tombs when we stumbled upon Pitigliano, a gem of a Tuscan hilltop town. We had found other towns that were lovely to look at, but none nearly so compelling. Perhaps it was the story that helped us to connect with the place. Wandering through the narrow winding streets of the ancient Jewish ghetto in Pitigliano, my head was filled with just-learned stories of its unique past, and my heart went out to this town like it had nowhere else in Italy.

I stopped, suddenly overcome by a scene that took my breath away. In all its simple eloquence, it seemed to capture the essence of Italy. At the end of a narrow side street in this ancient hilltop town, on a doorstep festooned with flower pots as colorful as the history of this place, two cats curled up together in one flower pot. One cat was black and white, the other completely black. To me, they symbolized the concrete world of black and white, living side by side in harmony with the fluid world of shadow and mystery. Framed by high dark medieval walls at the end of the street, was the sunny Tuscan valley, alive with grapevines and olive trees, yet riddled with ancient Etruscan tombs.

"I must take that photo," I whispered to Con. I took out my camera, and tiptoed up the alley, hoping to get a close-up of the cats. But I came too close. Before I could snap my photograph, the cats leapt up, first one, then the other, and scurried away. I had lost the moment! Or so I thought.

That night, back in our little apartment in Orvieto, Con painted at the dining room table, while I tried to recall the day in my journal. I wrote of meeting the woman who told us that Pitigliano had been a rare refuge for Jews in the middle ages, after they were driven from Spain during the Inquisition. Even after the pope and the powerful Medici family forced them into the ghetto in 1600, they had thrived in Pitigliano, with a healthy Jewish population of one in five, in a town of just over 2,000.

Although the Jewish Museum had closed for the season, and the synagogue had closed for the day, the woman told us that, after the war and the Holocaust, a small handful of Jews had returned, and still lived in the town to protect the legacy, to care for the synagogue, and to tell the story of the Jews in Pitigliano. "How small?" I asked. She shrugged and guessed, "Maybe five?"

We went to the site of the ancient ghetto, and found the Jewish bakery, closed for the Sabbath, and the synagogue, also closed. We later read that there are not enough Jews to hold a minyan. A little shop was open, where homemade matzoh was sold, and where we bought a book of the history of the Jewish people of Pitilgliano. In that shop they also sold a baked confection unique to Pitigliano, called a "Sfratto," which means "eviction." The Sfratto has a filling of honey, crushed walnuts, and oranges, baked into a stick-shaped wafer. It commemorates the time when the Jews were evicted from their houses and forced to live in the ghetto. The eviction order was executed by the judicial officer who beat on the door of Jewish homes with a stick. The Jews of Ptigliano, wanting to keep a recollection of that event, invented this particular confection in the shape of a stick. Four hundred years later, they are still telling the story, and we are still eating it up.

As Con and I wandered down a narrow alley across from the synagogue, I heard music. It was the haunting strains of a lone Klezmer violin, so lovely that, at first, I thought it might be a recording. But the music ended quietly, and I knew that it had been played by human, or perhaps ghostly hands.

"Lantern bearers," I told Con. "Those few are holding up the light for others to see, until that time when others come to relieve them, or until a light comes along shining so brightly that a lantern is no longer needed."

I loved Pitigliano for its unique history, for providing refuge at a time when so few others would, for its tiny but stalwart population of Jews determined to protect a precious legacy, for the stories and ghosts that linger in every back alley, be they concrete accounts told in plain black and white, or the darker mysteries that linger in shadow.

When I had finished my journal entry, Con showed me her painting for the day. It was alive with color, and it brought to mind the fragrance of honey and walnut, the haunting strains of a lone violin. And there were my two cats, sitting right where I remembered them, curled up together in their flower pot, a perfect balance of black and white and shadow. Just as I had managed to recreate the lost moment with my words, Con's painting not only captured the concrete details of my lost snapshot; it recreated the mystery and magic of that moment better than any photograph ever could.

Her painting will be featured this month in a show at "Skeins" in Juneau, along with other paintings from our travels in Italy, Oregon, and the Tetons. But I have already claimed and purchased the painting of two cats in a flower pot. If I lose the painting to fire or flood, I will have lost a treasured souvenir of a very special trip. But I will still have the story, and that is what gave meaning to the place, at least for me. Whether it be via the printed page, radio wave, by word of mouth, or even if it comes in the guise of a Jewish confection, as long as there is someone to tell it, and someone to listen, the story will survive. and that is a precious legacy.

(Con's paintings can be viewed on her website at www.hartle.org)