Perilous journeys in print

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 1997 by Carol Otis Hurst

Westward expansion, travels to freedom and taming the land of storytelling - all to explore this month!

If you're a sheriff in the wild west and there's a missing orphan and a desperado on the loose, you've got to be brave and bold. It also helps if you're as sharp as a tack. And frankly, the sheriff in Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley and G. Brian Karas (Putnam, 1996, ISBN 0-399-22645-1) isn't the brightest bulb on the circuit.

Lil Sweetness got tired of scrubbing floors with a toothbrush for mean old Mrs. Sump, so one day, she hit the road. Spurred on by the redoubtable Mrs. Sump, the sheriff takes off after her. Several times he "rescues" Lil Sweetness in the desert. (If the truth be known, the reverse is true.)

You'll love the hilarious uses and misuses of language in this funny melodrama ("she fries his patience"). For grins and guffaws, read it to first graders and up.

On the Railroad On a different note, we have another runaway in Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad by Pamela Duncan Edwards and illustrated by Henry Cole (HarperCollins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-027137-X). This one contains elements of "Lost in the Wilderness" and "Snow White."

The escaping child, Barefoot, is helped by forest animals. Some of it is logical: watching a mouse eat a berry, the escapee learns the berry is safe to eat; a croaking frog leads him to water.

Other actions stretch credulity: mosquitoes drive away Barefoot's hunters, but leave him untouched; fireflies light up the safe house. The artists were so skillful in creating this book, however, that we accept the stretches and even delight in them. And who's to say the animals wouldn't have helped the child?

Use this book to bridge to the far more serious and factual North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad by Gena K Gorrell (Delacorte, 1996, ISBN 0385-32319-0). Accessibility for kids from third grade up and the scope of its coverage make this one great.

As the foreword points out, slavery didn't disappear at the end of the Civil War; it exists today in many parts of the world. It didn't begin in the American South, but was extant in ancient Greece and Rome.

The book switches from personal accounts to chapters covering the creation of the Railroad and its operation. Those personal accounts keep us focused on the tragic human story and make the facts more vital. This is a useful book that belongs in most classrooms and libraries.

A new family. Back to humor again for Getting Used to Harry by Cari Best with illustrations by Diane Palmisciano (Orchard, 1996, ISBN 0-531-09494-4). This book uses humor to make its point about stepparents and kids getting along.

Harry and his new stepdaughter keep their senses of humor as they admit the new living arrangements take getting used to. Thanks to humor, understanding and patience on everyone's part (even grandma's), you get the feeling this family's going to make it. Nice! The road less traveled. Not everyone got to California by covered wagon in the mid-nineteenth century. Some took a bone-jarring, tedious, dangerous ride by stagecoach. If you can't imagine it, take a look at Nine for California by Sonia Levitin and illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith (Orchard, 1996, ISBN 0-531-09527-4). The endpapers and the back cover are full of useful information about the journey and the story is full of fun.

Ma has five young ones and they're all heading out to join Pa in the gold fields. Three other passengers in the stage are less than thrilled when they see the brood get on board. Ma will remind you of Iva Dunnit as she and her young ones - with the aid of a huge sack of goodies - handle every emergency and thwart every villain.

Books about storytelling. Any one of you who claims not to be a storyteller is missing a good thing. It's fun for both the teller and the listener, and you can convey information and a values through story in a way that reading aloud can't.

I've liked and admired Norma Livo's storytelling for years, so I was delighted to receive Traubadour's Storybag: Musical Folktales of the World (Fulcrum, 1996, ISBN 1-55591-953-7). She has a simple straightforward manner of telling and writing down her stories. They tell well. Some stretch out and seem to go on forever. Others, like "OneStringed Fiddle" end abruptly, but you'll hear the music long after you've closed the book.

Advice, they say, is cheap, but the advice in The Storyteller's Guide by Bill Mooney and David Holt (August House, 1996, ISBN 087 1) is masterful. Luminaries such as Jackie Torrence, Laura Simms, Jay O'Callahan and Rafe Martin answer common questions.

Do you want to know about the ethics of using another teller's tales? Worried about stage fight? Want to develop your own story? Listen to the experts' answers - and then get out there and start telling.

Carol Otis Hurst, a former librarian, is a master storyteller, a children's literature consultant and a Teaching Editor of Teaching K-8.