Hello

Happy New Year to all Storynory Listeners past, present and future. I hope you enjoyed listening to all the stories on Storynory this year and enjoy many more to come in the New Year where ever you are in the world!

From me Natasha
Bye Bye
N *

Hello

Merry Christmas!

There are lots of Stories to listen to on Storynory.com over the 12 days of Christmas . The story of A Christmas Carol; an adapted play from the Novel by Charles Dickens in three parts.  Dickens was a  famous English writer and his characters are very memorable in this tale including Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future. An original song from the tale Good King Wenceslas features in the Christmas tale of this title. And a version of ’ God Rest You Merry Gentleman’  can be found in the latest story  ‘Bertie’s Lost Christmas’

And don’t forget you can download and listen to any of the songs as an mp3 *  or from i tunes onto an i pod/ iphone

Have a very Happy New Year

Best Festive Wishes

N*

The following twisters practice the following:
1. Combined letter sounds in the words for clear speech I.e. W0 in the word won
2. Syllable stress placement in the for variation in speech i.e emphasising different words

The combined letter sounds involve correct constant placement with the mouth and tongue and the sue of the diaphragm and breath for open vowel sounds to produce clear diction.

The different choosing of syllable stress in the words and choosing emphasis placement in the words, will make for clear and effective communication.

CAT: Katie The Ordinary Witch

Twister

1.’Katie caught a clever Cat’.

PART A.The consonant sounds K and C. The K and the C for Katie and Clever are formed in the back of the throat as in ka for Katie and Ca for Cat.
The combined sounds ‘Cl’ for the word clever, formed by clasping the to Tongue at the ridge of the mouth to make the the ‘cl.’ sound.
The letter T is also stressed in the words Katie, caught and cat.
Clear consent T’s are made by placement the Tongue at the roof of the mouth.
And the forward placement of speech sounds’ au’ on the word ‘caught’
by placing the mouth to an Oval shape.

Let’s practice, stand in a neutral position, with your feet shoulder width apart and take a deep breath into the diaphragm

Repeat x3 faster each time.
‘Kate caught a clever cat’

PART B. The different emphasis stress of the line for variation in speech are are as follows

Katie ‘caught’ a clever cat
Or Katie caught a ‘Clever’ cat.

Either way use the correct consent sounds and forward vowel placement.

CAT:Wiz Oz
Twister- It was the wizards of the west who won.

PART A. The combined sounds of ‘Wo’ on ‘Won’ and ‘We’ on west required the oval forward shape placement of the mouth and forming it to an even smaller whistle size shape, even on the ‘e’ of west, avoid spreading the mouth side ways. This will be the same for the word ‘wa’.
Use the diaphragm, by breathing into it fully before you make the vowel sound placements.

Let’s practice: It was the Wizards of the West who won
X3 quicker each time.

PART B. Try different stress emphasis on the words i.e.
‘It was the ‘Wizards’ of the West Who Won’ or
Or It was the Wizards the ‘West’ who won

This will make the line more effective for communication depending on where you place the emphasis will also alter the meaning.

CAT: Fairytales.
Twister:
- Rarely did Rapunzel rope down her hair.

The R consonant sound most used in this twister here is formed by the Tongue placed at the roof of the mouth the back of the mouth to form the word ‘rrrr’ and make it clear for speech. The combined sounds of the two R’ to to make the word rare in the word rarely. And keep the forward placement creating space in the back of the mouth, think about opening the eyes and for the O of the word O

Look also at the ‘d’ shaped drum beat of the word down and did in the twister as a consonant formed by the placing of the tongue just behind the mouth.

Lets try it,
Rarely did Rapunzel rope down her hair
X3 times faster each time.

And now with different emphasis for variation:

‘Rarely’ did Rapunzel, Rope down her hair’
Or Rarely did ‘Rapunzel’ rope down her hair

Either way I hope that helps to form clear diction and placement of the letters R and D in the twister. As well as the different emphasis to practice variation in your speech.

There will be more twister audio on the podcast soon, so look out and keep listening!

Bye Bye
N*

Three fairytales, which have fairytales rules character’s places, phrases that occur in ‘threes’ of two quite different fairytale authors; Goldilock & the three bears and Jack & The Beanstalk by Andrew Lang and Cinderella by Charles Perrault.

To begin Goldilocks and the three bears, in which the heroine upon finding their cottage in the woods, tests each porridge of three bears, three times. Ascending upstairs goes, she test the three chairs, each of the three bears, three times. Once returned upstairs the three bears discover her sleeping in the baby bed, for this is the one she has chosen.

In cinderella, the fairy godmother grants her three wishes with her magic wand to whisk her away from the cellar where she sweeps hard away all day,to the ball with three magical things; a White horse drawn carriage, a fine dress and some special glass slipper shoes, one of which she leaves on the stairs as she hastily escapes the palace dance hall and prince before midnight falls, lest she turn into a pumpkin.

In Jack & the Beanstalk, it is the young Jack who retrieves three things from the Giant up in the castle; the golden coins, the golden hen and finally the golden harp with it’s singing voice that cries out ‘master master’ when jack snatches it and forces him to quickly escape down the beanstalk, back to his mothers home. Re-calling the voice of the giant three times ‘fee fi fo fum I smell the blood of an English man’ he quickly chops down the giant stalk which lands the giant crashing on his feet.

You may find more Fairytale rules of three in other fairytale audio’s on

Storynory.com

Thanks for listening

Bye Bye

N*

Dear Listeners,

The 6th chapter in the Katie series the ‘Witch Who Lost her spells’ is one that shows how important it is for Katie not to loose her spell book, from which she learns the magic art of how to become a witch at school and home.

The spell book that Katie writes in is one of ‘verse spells’, she has created. When it goes missing, the play Romeo & Juliet, written by Shakespeare,Katie watches at school, she understands that someone is playing tricks with her verse, for the characters speak the lines in verse out of turn.

‘Witch is the Witch that Wishes the Wicked Wish’ Katie re calls as she searches for the spell book thief. It is important for Katie that her spells don’t get into the wrong hands, for only a true witch should use these powers and only for good, as we find out in later chapters. Katie without her spell book has to learn to be a bit ordinary to find out who it is; also part of her learning curve. Mrs Hepworth recounts of the Witch trials in Salem when Witch’s were prosecuted and burnt at the stake if they weren’t seen to be doing good. Interestingly, The Witch hunts in England happened in the Sixteenth century around the time Shakespeare wrote his verse plays.

There will be more Katie Ordinary Witch series to come, in the mean time,
If you have written or learnt any verde at school,why not jot them down and make a verse book of your own. Just make sure you keep it in sight….

Bye Bye
N *

The Jabberwocky poem in the chapter, ‘Looking Glass House’ is known is a poem of Nonce verse.The nonce words in the poem are part of Lewis Carolls invention and what he coined as Lexicon: a language without direct or obvious meaning. Nonce words have a whimsical nonsensical quality, as you’ll see with the invented words in the poem. As Alice reads the poem, even she admits it is a little difficult to follow but understands ‘ that something has killed something’
The use of Lexicon in the verse is can have different interpretations and combine both nouns adjectives and verbs. Here are a few, some as described by Lewis Carroll, who even he himself admits didn’t always know the meaning.

Fictitious creatures: Nouns
‘Bandersnatch’: a swift moving creature with a snapping jaw.
‘Jub Jub Bird’ a desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion.
‘The Mome Wraths’:a of sort a green pig and means to be grave or have wrath.
‘Slightly Toves’, like a badger or a lizard and slithy meaning lithe or active

Borrogroves: a shabby looking Bird with it’s feathers all sticking out
Tulgey Wood: a thick or fast wood where the trees lie.
Wabe: grass plot around a sundial

Descriptive words: Adjectives
Chorteled: combination of chuckling and snorting
Frabjous: a combination fabulous and joyous
Frumious:between being fabulous and furious

Verbs: doing or action words
Galumphing: to tread somewhere heavy foot or foot fall.
The Vorpal sword: an ancient use of the sword.
Snicker Snack: related to the large knife.
Uffish : a state of mind when he voice is uffish and the manner
Huffish.

These Lexicon nouns, adjectives and verbs have an onomatopoeic quality; the sound they make is similar to the meaning and is best
heard when they are voiced.
Lewis Carroll also had a specific pronunciation, to some of the nouns and or words in the poem as follows:
‘ sligthy is pronounced with two words, as in ‘slit – thee’
and ‘ Gyre’ and ‘Gimble’ to be pronounced with the hard ‘guh’ sound at the back of the throat.
The rhyming words ‘Toves’ and ‘Groves’ and ‘Wrath to Rhyme with
‘Bath’ and the ‘o’ or borrow to fully pronounce the words.

The nonce invented words are strange and part of the inverted
mirage of looking glass house she has fallen into; when Alice picks up the book with the Jabberwocky poem, and holds the pages up to the mirror, she sees the words are written backwards for it is ‘The
Back to front Book.’

The rhyme scheme follows the strange inverted mirror world and Alice finds herself, within the Looking Glass House Chapter of the poem in the style of the back. The first three verse lines form what
is known as Tetrameter; a verse line of four stresses and the last lines of the stanza being a trimeter of three stresses per verse line. Alternate rhyme endings of ababa that are have both masculine and
feminine rhyme endings. In the first stanza ‘
Groves and Toves rhyme with a feminine uplifted end. And Wabe and Grabe rhyme with a masculine mid line stress.

The syntax in the poem make it a dramatic nonce poem. Exclamation marks, semi colon speech marks of the father to his son
as well as the question marks create and build a dialogue between them:

‘And has thou slain the Jabberwock my son?
Come to my arms my beamish boy!
Oh crannogs day Callooh Callay
He Chorteled in his Joy!’

Despite the nonsense verse of the poem, Lewis Carroll wrote within the traditional parameters of verse structure; four verse lines per
stanza,known as a quatrain, with severn stanzas in total. The nonce words can be seen as a way in which Lewis Carroll, was able to have space for creative expression with words in the poem, hence Lexicon language.

There were other nonce verse poets of the eighteenth century including Edward Lear’s poem ‘The Table and the Chairs’ you can
find on Storynory.com

More nonce poems, written by Lewis Carroll are within other chapters of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which you can read

Chp 1. ‘How doth the Little Crocodile?’
A short two stanza poem also in quatrains

Chpt 2. ‘The Mouses Tale’
It’s form in the shape a Mouses tale and also with a similar rhyming
pattern.

Chpt 6. ‘ You Old Father William’
The poem, that the Lobster and the Mock Turtle, have Alice read out loud.

Why not listen to these chapters and to practice reading
with Carrolls Lexicon verse in mind, why not skim
http://storynory.com/2011/03/24/the-art-of-reading-poetry-aloud/

The word ‘Brillig’ interestingly means four ‘ o’ Clock in the afternoon, when things are broiling for dinner time.

Thanks for reading

I hope you get time to listen to more Alice chapters soon

Bye Bye
N*

Did you know that there is a celebration known as ‘Alice Day’
that takes place in Oxford every year on, July 09. It features fictional characters from the book including the Mad Hatter and his Tea Party, the Red Queens croquet game, along side the guards that look like playing cards and not to forget the menacing cheshire cat.
There are also live Alice storytelling events and abridged dramatic plays on the themes from the book. The events take place mostly outdoors, on the lawns of the Botanic Gardens and the Bodeliean Library.

Oxford is where the prestigious English university lies and where Charles Dodgson, under the pen name Lewis Carroll wrote ‘ The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland’. He studied at Christ Church college and really did know a little girl called Alice with whom he went rowing with along the River. It is believed that he wrote the book for her.

There are many Alice events taking place, and book stores that run chapter readings from the book including Borders and Blackwell’s book store.
There is also the Story Museum in Oxford, who run Alice events:

http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/the-story-museum/familyevents/alice

So if you are curious why not of Alice Day this year
and re visit some of the audio chapters from Classic Blue on Storynory in the meantime.
I’ll be back with more Alice news soon,

So look out and keep listening,

Bye Bye
N *

Musicality, Verse rhythm and The Dulcimer

Dear Listeners,

The Dulcimer is a fascinating musical instrument, with three strings
to its body and forms part of the image the poet uses in the last Stanza of the Abyssinian maid, playing on her Dulcimer.

The image forms part of the poets dream, to recreate her with the
Sunny Pleasure dome in the air. ‘Could I revive within me her symphony and song’ is part of the musicality and rhythm the poet
hears and is reflected in the rhyme meter, which simplifies to a Trochaic tetrameter rhyme scheme in this last stanza.
This trochee meter has four stresses per verse line and can be read as as ti tum ti tum ti tum, that go from short to long stresses, giving
the verse line a faster rhythm.

The stanzas, which come before have longer verse line patterns known as Iambic Tretrameter. The trochee verse meter has a
characteristic forward movement when spoken and was typically used by the Victorian poets.Coleridge used it a lot in his poems and the distinct meter shapes this verse poem known as lyric. A lyric
also has rhyming and alternate rhyme endings, that are found in the
verse Stanzas. Lyrics in the early 16th Century were poems originally accompanied to music, and the musical quality can be
heard in the verse rhythm of the Kublah Kahn and conveyed in it’s images like the Abyssinian maid.
I hope you enjoyed listening to the poem
and you could find a sense of the rhythm in the verse meter.
Coleridge was a visionary poet and used used a lot of metaphoric
nature imagery, the seal the sun, the moon the stars.
We have more poems from Samuel Taylor Colerdige including
‘. The Ryhme of the Ancyient Mariner’ to come, so look out and
keep listening.

In the mean time a good way to practice and explore the meter and
rhyme scheme of a poem is to say it out loud. ‘ The Art of Reading Poetry out loud’ Storynory PCR you may find useful
It links to other Victorian poets in the Storynory Classics collection including William Wordsworth, who also lyric poems and who
Coleridge collaborated with to write his poetry.

http://storynory.com/?s=The+Art+of+Reading+poetry+out+loud

Thanks for listening

Bye Bye

N *

What do you think of Katie and the character of Isis? This is the chapter where the
Magic spells form part of their friendship. Isis is a friend who Katie needs to help her with the tricky task of being an Ordinary Witch at school. The chapter also shows that fun can be had with magic making.

There are other story chapters in the Katie and the Ordinary Witch series, you can listen to, without the App for now, ‘The Revenge’ and ‘ The Invisible Umbrella’ are two good chapters.

Bye Bye

N*

Dear Listeners,

‘The Daffodils’  by William Wordsworth, from our audio recording of the poem on Storynory.com, is a distinctively Romantic poem.

 But what makes it a romantic ?

Wordsworth was a central writer of the Romantic movement in the Victorian era known as English Romanticism.

It is full of key Romantic features in its form, language and themes.

Language:

The poet in the first verse tells us he ‘Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’

This simile, of the poet comparing himself to a cloud conveys the image of him floating loftily and dreamily, like someone with romantic ideals.

‘The Daffodils’ ,the central symbol of the poem are personified i.e given human qualities ‘Fluttering and dancing in the breeze’ and are what the poet sees as he walks. The daffodils ‘Out do the Waves’ that also dance, as conveyed in the fifth stanza, coupled with the clouds are all nature personified, that the Victorian romantic poets were fascinated with.

‘O’er hills and dales’

The shortening of O’er from Over is what is called Archaic i.e. it is abbreviated: a syntactical feature of language the Romantic poets used a lot and gives it an olden Romantic quality as you read out loud.

 The poet is describing what he sees of nature; ‘Beside the Lake, beneath the tree’s’ and the Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge were well known for walking to help stimulate idea’s for their poetry, which we see in the last stanza when the poet, remembers recalls the Daffodils in his mind:

‘For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye’
The simile of comparing the Daffodils,
to being as continuous as
the ‘Stars that shine’ and ‘Twinkle on the
milky way’ supports the metaphor

of the Stars and their action in the night sky.

The heavens and the elements of nature is a the key themes the Victorian Romantic poets were fascinated by, and links to the ideals of romanticism.

 Form:

There are four syllabic stresses per verse line known as Iambs that go from stressed to unstressed.

So as you read stress the first syllable of the word as follows: ‘I wandered Lonely as a cloud’

 This meter continues in all the verses lines of Six verse lines, equalling Six stanzas in total and giving the poem a continuous metrical effect.

There is a rhyme scheme of alternating rhyme endings, in the first four verse lines of the stanza, with the final last two verse line’s as rhyming couplets that are feminine, with the penultimate syllable stressed giving the poem its delicate, lifted quality.

This four beat iambic meter and rhyme scheme give the poem its lyrical composition.

Lyrics were a key feature of the Romantic movement that Wordsworth and other poets used.

Did you know Lyric poems were originally accompanied to music?

I hope picking out these Romantic features helps you enjoy the poem further and encourages you to read the poem

There are lots more, why not try finding some  for yourself, if you do, drop me a line and I’ll get back to you!

Bye Bye

N *

The latest Victorian poems we have recorded include William Wordsworth’s ‘The Daffodil’s and Tennyson,s The revenge. These are companions to the Victorian classics; William Blake’s ‘Tyger,Tyger’ and Browing Browning’s ‘Pied Piper of Hamelin’,  already on Storynory.com. They have spurred some thoughts about the benefits of reading poetry out loud.

Reading poetry aloud can deepen your understanding and engagement with the text, help improve your literary and language, as well as your speaking and listening skills.

Reading aloud can help your appreciation of poetry and improve your speaking voice. After a few chapters of reading aloud, your awkwardness will disappear.

As with any art form, if you practice it, you will get better.

Almost all poetry was created to be spoken out loud, and good poets know that poety starts in the mouth.

Sadly, children are not brought up to read out loud anymore, but if your trust yourself you may see some small improvements.

Why not try practicing reading aloud a little and often, and combine your practice with listening to some of the audio recordings we have here?

Storynory combines the audio of the poem with the text and visuals to help you engage with the literature.  But you can also practice doing this yourself with any poem if you have the text to hand. T

Why not try listening to these four Victorian poems in the sequence that we have in our ‘Storynory Poetry’ category

William Blakes Tyger Tyger
Robert Browings The Pied Piper of Hamelin
and recent audio poem recording’s
Wordsworth’s The Daffodil’s
and Tennysons The Revenge

All are from England and are Victorian poems with similar romantic, social and epic themes.

Verse forms patterns and meter and rhyming verse ends meter.

They’re also have highly poetic and metaphoric language, typical of Victorian verse poetry.

Combing listening to these Victorian poems will also help you appreciate them by providing an historical context as as they were all written around the same time in the Victorian period, between 1700- 1900.

There will be more audio poems from another great Victorian poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge to come, so look out and listen for that…

In the mean time I hope you enjoy learning about the poems,  and you get to listen and take time to read out loud for yourselves..
Bye Bye

Natasha

I must admit it is hard to keep all these series on the boil with only one story a week. If we possibly can we will try and slip out an extra story every now and then to get through these.

Here’s the state of play for those who are waiting.

We have chapters 6 and 7 of The Wizard of Oz recorded. We apologise for the delay after Chapter 4 because we had to redo chapter 5 for various reasons. There are 24 chapters in all.

Awaking Beauty – we will put out chapter 12 early … on Friday… and are planning to record at least 2 Awaking Beauties next week. If we can, we will keep them coming at a steady pace until we reach the conclusion which will be at around chapter 18 or 20 or so… we haven’t written the story to the end yet, so can’t be too precise.

1001 Nights is a bit problematic….. I keep reading through my Richard Burton Translation and finding lots of exciting stories, but all so inappropriate for kids or the modern age….. full of stuff that you might want to leave until you are just a bit older….. but I will dig out some more soon.

Katie / Bertie / Astropup / Wicked Uncle we will get out when we can.

As for tales from around the world, we have a really nice Japanese story recorded….. just wondering about whether it is right to use it just now given the current news…. Maybe we will add a note of sympathy and support for our loyal Japanese listeners.

Thanks for your patience !

Talking is one of the most important skills your child will learn. It seems to happen naturally, but in fact you have a very important role to play. The more you talk with and listen to your baby, the more you help them learn to communicate.

According to research commissioned by the campaign, a fifth of expectant parents are unaware of the need to talk to their baby. I’m glad to say that they’ve been getting loads of buzz on the radio and in media to highlight this important issue.

You can find some of our stories on the campaign’s “Fun” page.

When Wordsworth compares himself a cloud, we are reminded of his dreamy and lofty state of mind, which is appropriate for a poet of the Romantic era. When he compares the daffodils to the stars, he is giving them a heavenly, celestial quality.

And when The Daffodils are ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze’, the rhythm helps us to imagine the dance. And of course as “a crowd” and “dancing” the flowers are personified.

We’ve recorded the poem just in time for Spring and St. David’s Day on March 1st. Daffodils are a symbol of the Patron Saint of Wales, St. David. They hold a special place for me, as Wales is the place I grew up in!

Wordsworth’s highly sophisticated poem, I imagine is best for our older school years but its optimistic quality also o makes it enjoyable for younger years. So Kidz, if you’re studying this at school, be sure to read and listen along to the audio too. Send me your thoughts and I’ll back to you soon

Natasha

It was conceived as an app for the Apple Store. The idea behind it is that 17 pictures are synced with 18 minutes of audio and the full text. If I say so myself, it’s rather clever because if you tilt into portrait you get the text, and if you look at in landscape you get the full pictures (which are beautiful by the way).

So we wondered if people would buy the app if they could get the story for free on the site. I asked our artist, and she shook her head – “probably not” – she said. Perhaps she was being modest about the attractions of her illustrations. But not everyone has an iPod Touch or iPhone or iPad, so we decided to offer a “low-tech” version as a pdf and mp3.

And the result…

I am totally shocked by the howls of protest from kids and parents about how dare we charge for a story. One outraged parent even compared us to drug-dealers. Thanks a lot.

I do realise that many of our visitors are kids – who don’t have credit cards. Others come from countries where they can’t pay by credit cards- but usually the “English Language Learners” are more into the traditional stories. But I did think that parents in rich countries would see the $2 as a very small way to help out a free service. It turns out that they don’t.

I also think people don’t quite realise how much time (most of my time) and money we spend on Storynory, and how little money comes in from advertising. We try not to go on about money matters. I find it hard to hold out a begging bowl. But we do pay everyone who works for us: That means narrators, illustrators, and musicians – everyone in fact, except for me.

So this selling thing: It’s rather depressing.

But I am greatly cheered by this first review which has just appeared in the US view of the Apple iTunes store.

My four year old loves it! – ****
by KHrncir – Version 01 – 01 February 2011
It’s a lovely picture book on the iPhone which my 4 year old can look at and listen to on the way to school. I love that you can choose between text or pictures along with the audio. My 8 year old hasn’t played with it yet, but the 4 year old asks for it every day and the 6 year old will love that it’s Natasha reading! It’s a great price for a picture book with audio! I hope StoryNory comes out with more.

And a big thank you to those who have bought either the app or the mp3. We really do appreciate it.

Bertie

We receive some really generous donations and I can’t tell you how much they help us and boost our morale. Unfortunately it’s still a big struggle for us to make ends meet.

Of course we’ve seen the comments from children complaining that they can’t afford the $1.99 for the Katie and the Witch’s Swap story.

First of all, I would like to reassure everyone that we are not breaking our promise to the world to provide a free story every week. We’ve kept that promise since November 1995, and we mean to keep on keeping it !

In fact, Storynory is so popular, that our servers provide half a million downloads of our MP3 files every month.

We don’t just provide free audio stories – we commission (and pay for) original music – and original artwork. And of course we do pay our actors !

Katie and the Witch’s Swap has 17 original pictures. It took our artist a month to do them. I spent more time than I care to mention programming the app. This is an experiment.

Our next few apps will be riddles with an interactive element. We will see if people feel less outraged that we are daring to charge a small amount for them and we will see what works best in the Apple Store.

We also considering making some apps out of our free stories. Perhaps people will pay a small amount for an enhanced version of the Snow Queen, if it has numerous beautiful pictures and the audio is synced with the text. We need to find out.

In the meantime, if any mums and dads are having doubts about whether it is worth their while to stump up $1.99 for the app or the mp3 download – or perhaps to donate a little bit more – here are some reasons to support Storynory.

Storynory expands your child’s vocabulary.
Storynory expands your child’s imagination.
Storynory expands your child’s cultural outlook on the world.

And if that’s not enough, Storynory is used by thousands of kids around the world in countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and even Afghanistan where they don’t even have the option to pay. Teachers spend hours downloading the stories over slow internet connections so that they can use them to teach English.

Your $1.99 or your donation is not just for what your family gets out of it -it’s for what the WORLD gets out of it – for FREE. Help us to help the world.

So do please consider supporting Storynory.

We want to do more to help you use Storynory as an educational resource as well as a fun and entertaining site.

You can help use by sharing ideas about how to use stories – especially audio stories – in education.

Please use the comment form below to pool your ideas and any suggestions that you have for the site. And if you have a website or a blog with useful tips on this subject, you can provide us with the link.

In advance, thank you for sharing !

Hope you enjoyed the last three Audio Chapters of The Wizard of Oz.

In the next three chapters Dorothy, and her companions, The Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman, The Cowardly Lion go with her on her journey to the Great Wizard of Oz to see if he can help them. Each character in every chapter reveals how their character came to be, and why they must seek help from The Great Wizard of Oz too.

The scarecrow, who was only recently put on a poll to scare the crows, longs for real brains, not just the head stuffed with straw that he has now. The Tin Woodman, who was axed by the Wicked Witch of the East, feels he needs a heart. The Cowardly lion, who ironically cannot scare away the animals in the forest and trembles with fear, desires courage.

Each one of them tells their story  and firms his resolve to gain help from the Great Wizard of Oz. Each agrees to accompany little Dorothy on her journey to the Great Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy desires to get back to her beloved Kansas with her little dog Toto and with her Aunt Em but has a greater quest also; to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and for this she knows there are perils she must face and will need the help of her three friends The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion along the Yellow Brick Road to reach The great Wizard of OZ..>Will they get to the Great City? What dangers, adventures, things will happen? find out in the next three audio recording chapters of The Wizard of Oz on Storynory.com. Send me your comments and Ill get back to you…

Natasha

Dear Kidz

Good King Wenceslas is a wonderful christmas story – and it’s rather unusual because it’s told in a song in its original form. I suspect that many people sing it at Christmas and don’t even realise that it’s a story.

We’ve worked Good King Wenceslas up into a prose tale that’s easier to understand, but we’ve tried to keep its lyrical undertone. We’ve integrated refrains of guitar music with the original tune. Do listen to the end to hear the Christmas Carol performed by Gabby and Jamie. If you hear it sung slowly and carefully you will appreciate that it’s a lovely peice of music that is sometimes rather belted out in church at Christmas by the festive congragation!

The verses, though lovely, are a little hard to understand, so let me guide you through them.

Good King Wenceslas looks out from his Castle on the feast of Stephen and sees a peasant in the snow. At this point the carol tells the story in the form of a conversation in quotation marks. The King asks the page boy about the peasant

“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?

And the page boy replies

“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

Once you get that it’s a conversation, the story becomes much easier to understand. The king goes out into the snow to help the peasant braving the harsh winter which is described rather beautifully:

“Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather”

But as the king, a tower of strength, goes out to perform his good deed, he drags the page boy along with him. The poor boy is freezing to death:

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”

And this is where the miracle takes place. You have to listen carefully to the words to catch it. The King’s feet are giving off a wonderful energy and heat. The boy steps in the king’s footsteps and is revived by saintly heat.

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod [clump of earth]
Which the Saint had printed.

In helping someone less fortunate than himself Good King Wensceslas affirms the virtues of all good Christian man by going beyond his wealth and position by blessing the poor. It is for this that we rejoice in him and sing his praises in this moral and heartfelt Christmas tale.

Can you think of a time when you have perhaps gone beyond your call of duty and helped someone less fortunate than yourself; maybe you will this Christmas?

The story is read by myself and the carol is sung by our musicians Gabby and Jamie.

Drop me a comment to this Christmas Wenceslas Post Recording Review and respond back to you!

Bye Bye Natasha*

In this wise and ancient tale, an old man when see how he reaps the fruits of his old age and gains the rewards through his trust and faith in providence. The Roman Emperor rides past on his horse and decides to speak to the old man, who tells him he has lived a hundred years and is waiting to gain the rewards of the fig tree fruit he has planted.

Later on in the story when the old man returns and repays him his visit ten years later in his Kingdom of Galilee. Back bent and strained with hard work from his life in his old age he returns ten years later to pay the Emperor a visit to show him the fruits that the tree has born.

The Emperor commands the his servants to fill the old mans basket with gold coins and in this sense we can link him to the character of Good King Wenceslas who goes beyond his call of duty and brings the poor man wine and pine logs hither in the cold snow.

The figs of the tree which the old man gains are a sweet and luxurious fruit, symbolic of the riches gained by those who work hard and do good deed and reinforces the theme of faith and trust in providence of those deserving in life. The ten years that go by before he tree bears fruit and he visits the emperor and the one hundred years he has lived for, serve to show the element of time that we all must wait for in life and its link to trust in patience equally.

The anecdotal nature of the Story and its humour is provided by the crafty old women when she tells her husband to try also his good fortune with the Emperor Hadrian in bringing him a basket of figs , but which he has planted or waited the length of time to see grow, gets pelted with nuts by the Kings servants, bringing the tales to its humorous end. And the lady says to him.

‘If they had been coconuts instead of figs you might have suffered harder knocks’!

Of an ancient tale story that reaches across all cultures and we link it to Good King Wenceslas tale one of our own traditional English stories on Storynory this Christmas Time.

This Post Recording Review Is to dedicated to my Dad who likes the tale of Good King Wenceslas.

So Dad this one’s for you!

Dear Kidz,

The Old Man & The Figs is a good one to listen to in this festive season

When the snow is falling about

And think of family friends and figs for the festive season ahead!

N*

This a special edition Post Literary Review of The Garden Of Live flowers with a special comment from flower & garden expert Susan Lynn, of Notting Hill.

This is about Alice’s journey when she finds herself in the garden of live flowers and meets the flowers who try and cross her path

Her initial meanderings and route along the path that twists and turns like a corkscrew distracts little Alice from the direction she wants to be heading in, which would be the end to all her adventures and take her back to the Looking Glass House.

Caroll tells us how the path twists and Alice exclaims ‘It’s more like a corkscrew than a path!” The path th8erefore seems to reflect her strong curiosity and conflicts with her determination to keep the path straight and follow her way up on the hill. This again links to the theme of time we have encountered in the previous “Alice Down The Rabbit Hole” chapters, where Alice finds herself plunged into a world where it seem, there is little sense of control or of time and therefore we deeply empathise with little Alice when she says that despite the Garden route trying to affect ther ‘ She Really will do a character from one of previous Alice chapters It is then we see how she encounters the flowers who talks to her and cross her path, seemingly wanting to stop her in her tracks:

It is these flowers in the garden and their character, that can be seen to link to Alice and her character when she tries to move through the garden. And the origins of the flowers themselves, and the flower families they belong to, which can be found in the book The Flower booklet for The Pocket belongings, are another interesting aspect of her journey.

The character of The Rose reflects its rude and impertinent character.

‘Where does she wear her thorns ‘? Little Alice asks. And the Tiger Lily who, with its animalistic name that says it’s like a tiger, says with a roaring voice:

“Hold your tongue! And the Violet, small and rounded in a snubbing way that stops her in here tracks, says to Alice ‘ I never saw anybody stupider!

The flowers are a strong match for little Alice, as she attempt’s to navigate her way through the Garden and get on the path to where she is supposed to be.

The Red Queen, a character from previous chapters, whom Alice stumbles across in the garden and is like a Bad Luck omen, wants answers from little Alice on her journey through the Garden and to know, where she has been (highlighting?) how little Alice in a non fictional sense isn’t perhaps always where she is supposed to be!(do you mean : the Red Queen is reminding Alice that she isn’t always where she is supposed to be?)

‘Its Time to answer now’ says the Red Queen’ to her demandingly

‘ I only wanted to see what the Garden was like your majesty’ replies Alice- once more pointing up Alice’s curious nature on her Journey through the Garden of Live Flowers.

Thanks for reading

And listening

Q: Do you have any flowers in your Garden you talk to?

Susan Lynn, Gardener of Notting Hill gives us her thoughts on flowers:

I always say “Hello, pleased to see you” to flowers when they first appear, especially Hellebores – one of the first to flower in late winter and who hang their heads so you have to bend down and look up at the markings, and in late summer, the dahlias, with their mop of tousled red hair, because their survival is always uncertain

Id also recommend flower lover The Little Flower Book for the Pocket also advised by Susan Lynn, so thanks to you!

And that’s my literary review, which if you take the time to read, ill respond back to you!

Bye bye

N*

]]> http://storynory.com/2010/11/16/garden-of-flowers-review/feed/ 2 http://storynory.com/2010/11/04/dorothy-the-friendly-witch/ http://storynory.com/2010/11/04/dorothy-the-friendly-witch/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:53:20 +0000 Natasha http://storynory.com/?p=3672 It’s this chapter of Dorothy and The Wizard of OZ preceding The council With the Munchkins, where Dorothy  swept away by the Cyclone from her beautiful land in the region of the Kansas prairies, finds herself in the land of The Munchkins. It is here she meets and saves the scarecrow with the pole up his back and begins her journey to the Emerald city, to meet the Great OZ, for only he can help her. The Munchkin people tell her she is the  white witch with the blue and white checked frock, that makes her a friendly witch and she must free them from Bondage by defeating the Wicked Witch of the West. The beautiful Kansas Prairie land , where Dorothy is from is perhaps the reason for her White and Blue checked dress.

The night she dances with the munchkin people and it in the morning she meets The Scarecrow with the croaky voice, who helps by freeing the pole from his back and in return he offers to help her on her journey to the great Wizard of Oz along the Yellow Brick Road. The scarecrow is the first of The Characters who can help her and we meet the next two in the chapters to come…

So look out on Storynory.com…

And read if you can, the next dramatic chapter and reading to come

The Road Through The Forest…

Chp 1. The Cyclone

This opening chapter Frank Baum in which we see the young Dorothy in her home setting in the ‘midst’ of the beautiful Kansas prairies on a farmhouse with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and funny little dog Toto, when they get hot by the Dramatic Cyclone that Sweeps up the home, transporting Dorothy on her and to the start of her journey to the meet the Wizard of Oz

The atmosphere provided by ‘whistling wind from the south’ of The Cyclone in this opening chapter, really creates the dramatic adventure Uncle Henry who immediately stands up.And the Dorothy’s funny little Dog Toto that makes her Laugh and Aunt Em who describes her voice as both Merry and charming Voice all provide great character, that starts one thinking about her beguiling Kansas voice. And when the home is finally swept away and Dorothy is left hiding in the trap door, we are show her chatter and spirit, when she ‘resolves to wait and ‘ see what the future will bring’.

Ch2. The Council with the Munchkins

Dear listeners,

Dorothy who originally comes from Kansas, The priory land, much different from the land of the Wizards and Witches where she finds her self when up to by The Cyclone and meets the queer folk of The Munchkins and The Wicked Witch of the North who, unbeknown to her thank her for destroying the Wicked witch of the East, who wore the silver shoes. The frightened Dorothy is told she must go on a journey ‘Sometimes dark and sometime’s Strange’ to meet The Great Wizard of Oz.’ maybe he can help her’ It is the path of the Yellow Brick Road, she must journey alone to the land of The Emerald Green City.

This exiting second chapter, clearly defines the perils of the journey Dorothy must face with The Wicked Witch of the West and the land of the Winkies as well as braving to meet the Great Wizard of Oz himself. So do listen carefully to this one and the preceding in the recording of The Wizard of OZ on Stornory.com

Im looking forward to recording these chapters with Dorothy’s kansas accent soon so keep listening @ Storynory.com

In the mean time seek Yellow Brick road @ http://www.kansasprairies.net/

And don’t forget my pre recording @ http://storynory.com/2009/10/12/the-wicked-witch-of-the-west/

Thanks and Bye for now

Natasha

Halloween Post Recording Comment

The Wicked Witch of The West

Ch.12

- The Search for the Wicked Witch of the West

starting with ‘ The Solider with the Green Whiskers led them through…’

This dark and atmospheric chapter is the perfect treat for a Halloween listen

where the Guardian of the Gates lead Dorothy and her friends through from to the Emerald City to embark on the most scary part of her quest yet, facing the Wicked Witch of the West.

‘Which road leads to the Wicked Witch of the West’? asks Dorothy

bringing this character to the forefront as a the threat she is to Dorothy, The Wicked Witch could make her one of her slaves like the Weird Winkies.

It is Dorothy and her with the help of her friends The Tin Woodman

The Lion and The Scarecrow who must help Dorothy defeat The The Wicked Witch of the West who is angry and not easily defeated.

And Winged forced of the Winged Monky’s who she uses against them

fro her castle where she looks out with her one eyes powerful as a telescope, am it n exiting and scary chapter for Halloween.

The character of the Wicked Witch of the West make her the perfect scary Halloween character and like a real with with her spells she draws on her left foot foot:

‘Ep-pe, Pep-pe-Kak-Ke’

On her right foot:

‘Hil-lo, hol-lo, hello’

and

‘Zizzy Zuzz-zy, Zik’

She is an interesting character as even though she is a witch we do like her and she certainly doesn’t like to be defeated. Her desire for Dorothy’s Silver shoes but Dorothy who sees her for the ‘wicked creature she really is, gives her just desserts in the end

and she is defeated, a triumph of her joinery in the nOvel to reach the great Wizard of OZ. And Dorothy prevents her from steeling her magic Silver Shoes

This chapter I read aloud when I played the role of The Wicked Witch of The West for the Puffin World Book Day Launch.

You can see here

http://storynory.com/2006/10/01/natasha/

She makes perfect one to dress to for Halloween

Do you have any Scary Halloween Costumes you dressed up in for Halloween that you can share with us? Or any Halloween stories

Why not listen and read along with this one:

http://storynory.com/2009/10/12/the-wicked-witch-of-the-west/

And I will respond to your comments

Id recommend Wicked The Musical, a stage adaptation with the character of

The Wicked Witch and the Great Wizard of OZ

http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/about.asp

There will be more magic chapters of Dorothy in L Frank Baum’s classic American fairytale

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz@ Storynory.com so drop by and listen to them

I will be reading with her original Kansas accent and look out for the ‘Post Recording Literary’ comments you can respond to and Ill respond

Natasha is holding a Storynory Workshop in Warwick, the UK, Saturday the 11th Sept, 18th, 24th  September 2010. For more details please download the flyer or email natasha@storynory.com/ natasha.storynory@yahoo.com

Also you can visit the event details and location at:

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/corporate/EventDbP.nsf/By+Category/03B2E4FB9652CA318025778A0047B803?OpenDocument

Dear Listeners

Little Red Riding Hood and many other fairytales have been told time and time again and this version by Charles Perrault is a timeless classic but we can find different ways of telling tales and finding alternate ends. Fairytales teach us lots of different morals and two popular fairytales on Storynory.com , this and Cinderella, we find our heroine ladies, trying to free themselves from their lowly status and find ‘a way out’; Little Red Riding Hood from the thick of the woods and Cindy from sweeping kitchen floors. In other fairytale version the ladies find their freedom, despite all the odds and this is what gives the fairytale’s their happy endings.

In the Brothers Grimm version and many others, Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t get eaten up but she uses her voice, calling through to the woods, which brings the Woodcutter near  by to come and rescue her from the wicked woolf. And traditionally like in all ‘good’ fairytales they live happily ever after. Can you think of any alternative fairytale endings? And what message or moral does this bring?

                This is a PCR for Storynory Ed.  schools and teacher’s, first of its kind from Storynory.com

That teacher’s and children may find useful for their classrooms…more to come

                                                                                                Bye Bye

                                                                                                                                N*

Performed live for Young children, Parents & Families

Storytelling — Libraries & Schools

for more info:

natasha@storynory.com

www.storynory.com

Dear Listeners You can now find me on the National Storytelling Conference Network directory listings under Natasha for more info. The NSC conference in California was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Organisational Storytelling for schools and community projects and build on my skills as a Storyteller. It was super to make friends with some of the best Storyteller’s out there; Eric Woof, Mike Locket and Mary Jo Huff. I gained invaluable insight from Storyteller coach Nancy Dorval on taking Stories into Schools and libraries. The best experience by far though was in Mary J Shaefer’s Traditional Tales workshop where I got the chance to share my stand up telling for young listeners of Little Red Riding Hood!!! More details and developments-coming soon- Keep you posted!”