Little Bunny Foo foo

Today was the third Story Time at work. Whether due to a more convenient time slot, or the fact that buzz had been building from my previous performances, I had over twice as many attendees today. In fact, they had to relocate me from one of the signing rooms to the HUGE board room. It was also a more "high-ranking" audience...president, vice president...no pressure there!

The story I did was "Little Bunny Foo Foo,"' which was my own adaptation of a traditional camp/scout song. I expanded the verses to include reasons why Foo Foo bops the field mice, got rid of what I thought was a cheesy ending (Hare today, Goon tomorrow), and added my own ending. I have not yet written out a transcript for this story. I have told it before, and since I was very familiar with the storyline from the song,never took the time to write it down. I will do so soon though, and post it with the other transcripts.

I REALLY LIKE TELLING THIS STORY! And, I think and hope, people enjoy hearing it. I like that it can incorporate blatant moral lessons with twisted dark humor. Also, the repeated lines and hand motions can be used with younger audiences to bolster participation. My favorite thing about this particular video recording is that you can hear the audience reacting the way I want them to. It is reinforcing to me as a teller when they laugh or gasp in the right places.

(On an even more positive note...the president was so excited by the story that she demanded an encore and command performance of a second story...luckily, I still had my purple dry erase marker with me...I grabbed the white board from the sales room and did a rendition of Harold and the Purple Crayon. She even suggested that we do something like this once a week to break up the stress...I am all for that!)

Thank you to my supervisor, Kim, who filmed this one. She was so shocked at the end that she almost forgot to stop the camera!

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Today I did the second Story Time at work. This time I did an adaptation of Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon. I eliminated a few elements (such as the policeman that Harold meets), and adjusted the wording to be more formulaic...and thus easier to remember. I posted the transcript to the right. (The only change from the transcript is that instead of 9 pies I only drew 4...time and space issues.) I recommend that you try to find a classroom or conference room with a full size white board if you want to recreate this. It would have been a lot easier/better if I had had more space to draw. Harold wouldn't have had to wander around in such an odd manner, and it would have been less squished.

Regardless of difficulties, it seems this story was a big hit. Our VP, Harold, was unable to attend at the scheduled time, so I gave him a private performance later in the afternoon. However, one of my co-workers has a husband named Hal (Harold), who she told about it. He took time out of his day to drive all the way to the office and hear the story! I was very touched.

Thank you to Andy for filming the story. It was very nice of him. He even stood the whole time to avoid the dreaded up-angle!

I hope you enjoy the story!

Change in Plans

Originally I was going to hold an inspirational, business related, storytelling session for the sales and management teams at my company.

Now, due to a high volume of stress in the workplace, and a desire for whimsy and decompression, I am holding 3 escapist children's storytelling sessions at work...for all of the employees.

The idea is for me to tell a different story everyday. I chose The Mitten, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and (by popular request) Little Bunny FooFoo. The sessions are scheduled at slightly different times so that my co-workers can come to the session that best fits their lunch or break schedule...or they can come to all three! Granted, the stories are aimed at a much younger audience, but that is what is so hilarious about the whole thing! My coworkers can pretend to be kids again!

3 days...3 different stories...Juice Boxes...Cookies...

This is going to be fun!

The advertising flyer being circulated at my office is posted to the left. It gives the nitty gritty...what story, what day, what time, etc.