LaGRANGE- Children storytelling was in full effect all day Thursday at Franklin Forest Elementary School as storyteller Carol Cain told playful and exuberant tails to kindergarten students all the way up to fifth graders.

Cain, who will be one of five storytellers partaking in the 21^st Azalea Storytelling Festival this weekend, started the session out singing “One World, Many Stories” to get the kindergarten classes pumped and ready to listen.

“I always have a list of possibilities,” said Cain, referring to if she ever knows what she’s going to talk to students about before telling stories to them. “And then I look at kids and look at the moment and sometimes it’s just a matter of what I want to tell. I usually come with a prepared idea but I’m also prepared to change my mind.

“Sometimes I improvise and see what the volunteer does and that might dictate how I might tell my story but I always have a plan and I’m willing to change,” said Cain. “Sometimes a story bubbles up and says tell me.”

Cain presented a story about a mouse named “El Gota” to the kindergartens. She was animated when telling the children an elephant story regarding a pet elephant and the backyard it stayed in. Her last story to the kindergarten classes centered around a spider story that was well-received from the children.

“Usually with the younger crowd I stick to folktales because folktales allow animal characters to do those stupid things that we humans do but I can get away teaching a lesson without preaching a lesson,” said Cain. “So folktales allow me to do that but they also like hearing stories of when I was growing up and when I was a kid.”

“It’s fun because I’ve been at several schools this week and I’ve been full of stories,” said Cain.

 

Shirttail- Reach James Simpson II at 706-884-7311, ext. 2155, or by email at james.simpson@lagrangenews.com