Renée Englot in Labrador

In May of 2011, I travelled from Edmonton, Alberta to Labrador for the Book Week tour. I’m a storyteller and I do most of my work in schools, so the week, in some ways, was very familiar territory. On the other hand, I’ve never been to Labrador and it was quite the experience for a prairie girl!

My tour began with visits to schools and libraries in Labrador City and Wabush. In the evening I told stories to a group of adults and children. My second story was an ‘actors from the audience’ style story and it was such a hit that I went with all ‘actors from the audience’ stories. A toddler who kept wandering off duty as a fairy added lots of laughter.

Day 2 took me up to Churchill Falls. I was fascinated by the community. It was interesting to learn about life in a company town. As an added bonus, it was Health and Safety Week at the hydro-plant. Because of that, the company was offering free helicopter rides the evening I was there. A large group of children lined up for a ride and I joined them! What a thrill. On my turn, I was one of the only people who’d never been in a helicopter before so I got to ride up front - an aerial view of the Churchill River. Then I traded my headphones for a hard hat and when down underground for a tour of the hydro-plant.

On Day 3 I flew on to visit a school in NorthWest River; Day 4 I visited a middle school in Happy Valley - Goose Bay and flew on to visit the library in L’anse au Loup; Day 5 included a school in L’anse au Loup and a drive to Red Bay to visit their tiny school - a lovely audience of 15 children in Kindergarten to Grade 9 to finish my tour.

I highly recommend the experience!