Librarians rule!

What a week I just had! On Tuesday, I told stories at a couple of schools in Holt and Kearney, Missouri. I've been to these towns before, so kids remembered me. I heard a second-grader (age 7 or 8) say to his teacher, "We heard her before! She's hilarious!" Guess I have a reputation.

Then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I gave the first three of seven workshops for public librarians around Kansas, in preparation for the summer reading program "Dragons, dreams and daring deeds." I got to hang out with about 200 librarians in all. I like working with librarians, not just because I used to be one myself. I still think of myself as a librarian, even though I've been a storyteller for longer than I was ever a librarian. I was a Slavic cataloger (!) for two years and a children's librarian for five; I've been a full-time storyteller since 1993.

At each workshop, I met inspired librarians who enjoy what they do and truly want kids to love books, reading and the library. We pooled our ideas on the theme as well as on storytelling and puppetry. I know this is going to be a fabulous summer, or as a kid once wrote in a letter to me, "alsom". Marshmallow catapults (I don't think anybody's going to do the flaming pumpkin trebuchet, though one intrepid librarian has plans to catapult a TV set), Medieval insults, dragon puppets, stories of kings and queens, knightings, tea parties and much more are in store for kids all over the realm.

I'll write about the realm in the next post.