A Storytelling Reflection on "Dona Esmeralda Who Ate Everything"

When planning for a storytelling experience, there are a lot of factors that must be taken into consideration. The material you want to present is just the beginning of the process. Some aspects that need to be considered in material selection include intended audience and appropriateness, style and tone of the piece, clear plot development, and dramatic appeal (Greene & DelNegro, 2010). This particular storytelling experience presented some unique challenges as it was recorded and not in person so the background of the recording had to be considered. Will you be faced with constant interruptions?

In my own selection process, I knew I wanted to choose a book that checked all the boxes of things that I thought my own children would have enjoyed. A big part of selecting the material includes considering your audience. Since this was a recorded session with only an imaginary audience, I first selected my book based on my own likes and dislikes. It may be an underrated opinion, but If the reader doesn't appreciate the material then it will obviously be harder to present it enthusiastically. In a real life storytelling, I believe this book could be appreciated by preschool age up to third grade easily. As Underdown-Dubois (2011) suggested some of the food names would be new for this age group and could help to build vocabulary. Even the line in the book, "Tiramisu (Don't know what that is? Ask your parents. They love it!" voices this opinion.

Since we were asked to begin with reading fables in our previous week's module, the book Dona Esmeralda Who Ate Everything was still fresh in my mind. I had never read this book and I found it amusing. This book would be new to most young readers as it was recently published in 2022. I thought the rhyme scheme and onomatopoeia would make it entertaining for young children and the pictures are bright and colorful. This followed closely with what Greene & Del Negro (2010) outlined as style requirements of "vivid word pictures, pleasing sounds, and rhythm." The plot is straightforward and easy to follow. I also really liked the diversity that the story introduced as I want to be intentional about using materials that are inclusive and help teach about the world around us when I work with children.

As I began considering the way that I wanted to present the story, I knew that this needed to be read with the book. The pictures are so vibrant and add a lot to the telling of the story and should not be left out. There were food names that I, myself, was not familiar with and did not know the correct pronunciation of initially so I had to look up how to say them. The back flap of the book had a little bit of information from the author about what inspired this tale. Understanding most young children in the U.S. would not know where the Phillippines was or had possibly never heard of the Phillippines, I thought it would give them a better understanding of how far away the story came from if they could visualize it on the globe. It also gave me a chance to teach them a little bit of geography in a way they may remember. Below is a Q&A with author, Melissa de la Cruz, about this book and why she was inspired to write this story.

From this first storytelling video experience there are several things that I will take away from it for the future. Recording in my classroom was a good decision, because there were fewer distractions during this time period. I probably recorded it five or six times before I settled on my best recording, so while many of the recommendations Underdown-Dubois (2011) made about getting up and moving weren't possible on this video, the recommendation of practice will always apply. The correlation of story telling to acting is a realistic one and probably the part I feel the most uncomfortable with. Working with these video recordings throughout the course of this semester I am hoping will help me gain confidence in this medium. "By not being afraid of 'making a fool of one's self', a librarian can open a world of possibilities, letting go of preconceptions and becoming more comfortable in front of a group of any age" (Underdown-Dubois, 2011). So, here is to stepping outside of our comfort zone and into the next chapter of the story we are writing for ourselves.

What I am Reading This Week: Folk Tales

• Ball Game from the book, The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas by Maria Garcia Esperon.

• A Taste of Honey: Kamala Outsmarts the Seven Thieves by Rebecca Sheir

• Big Gertie and Love at First Sight from the book Front Porch Tales & North Country Whoppers by Tommy DePaola.

• The Twelve Wild Geese from the book Tales from Old Ireland by Malachy Doyle, Niamh Starkey & Maura O'Connell

• The Elephant's Garden by Jane Ray

• The Tale of the Tiger Slippers by Jan Brett

References

Boulder Book Store. (2022, August 29). Author Q&A with Melissa de la Cruz. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/6HZc63ULrXg?si=QkLqtXa-9U34UUWP

De la Cruz, M. (2022). Dona Esmeralda, Who Ate Everything. (Primo Gallanosa, Illus.). Orchard Books.

Greene, E., & Del Negro, J. M. (2010). Storytelling: Art and Technique (4th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.

Underdown-DuBois, C. (2011). Bringing Storytime Alive with Acting and Storytelling Techniques: An Interactive Article.