Miss Norma Had Her First Gig!

Back in January, I told you about our children's librarian, Norma McKellar, going to New Orleans to learn how to be a PBS PRIME TIME Family Reading Time "storyteller." Well, she had her first gig the other night.
PRIME TIME Family Reading Time is sponsored by the Louisiana Endowment for Humanities. And the Brooks County Public Library in Quitman asked Miss Norma if she'd be their "storyteller." Well, she was just tickled to pieces to do it.
So, off she went to New Orleans for special training. Now, you wouldn't think a storyteller would need any special training, but for this program you do. PRIME TIME and bilingual PRIME TIME provide a six-to-eight week program of reading, discussion, and storytelling at public libraries and other venues. A discussion leader and storyteller conduct weekly book discussion and storytelling programs for children 6 to 10 and their parents. In each 90-minute session, a storyteller demonstrates effective reading-aloud techniques, and a university professor then leads discussions about the texts.
On Thursday evening, March 19, Miss Norma went to the Brooks County Library to give her presentation of "Going to Grandma and Grandpa's." There were approximately 25 people in attendance, ages 15 to 6, and their parents. The university professor was Bobbie Warren from Valdosta State University, who told a ghost story.
Norma said they talked about oral tradition, the stories that start verbally. (Wow! That means long before TV!) But the best thing Norma said was "books and stories are the stepping stones for learning values."
When she goes back again this coming Thursday to Brooks County Library, she'll read the book "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears." She said it's a book about justice and fairness...another stepping stone for learning values.
Great way to learn, huh?