Wendy Berner in Ontario

A giant thank you card signed by every student in the school... Teens fascinated by urban legends pleading for me to tell just one more... Keen, excited students wherever I went... Here are but a few of the many images from my tour of the Niagara Region –

The kindness and thoughtfulness of the hosts and various conversations we had about the art of storytelling added texture to Book Week. It was heartening that so many adults and students seem to understand the difference between reading and oral storytelling. Again and again during Book Week there was that moment of silence when you can actually feel and hear everyone in the audience listening as one; the adults listening as avidly as the students.

In a storytelling presentation I usually tell 6+ stories. Audiences often clap after each story, but some aren’t sure what to do and just clap at the end. One audience was quiet when I finished the first folktale. I took a drink of water and then, in that mysterious collective response that sometimes happens, the students all seemed to realize that they really wanted another story. They began to clap wildly and call: “Encore! Encore! Encore!! ” Well-pleased with themselves and wanting to hear more folktales, this continued for story after story until the presentation was over.

I did a TV interview between two sessions at one school. The cameraman/editor asked if I minded him filming during the beginning of my next storytelling presentation. I said it was fine. He must have really enjoyed the stories as he stayed and listened for almost the entire hour.

It was the end of a very satisfying storytelling session. The students and teachers had listened intently and asked thoughtful, intriguing questions. When I said we had time for 1 or 2 final questions, a red-haired boy in the front row raised his hand. I had noticed how fully engaged he was as a listener, quietly repeating to himself a few words he liked or that were new to him as I was telling.

He was the kind of person who hungers for stories and is nourished by them. After a full hour of hearing folktales, with his heart in his eyes and hope in his voice he asked: “Is there going to be a Part Two?!”