By NATALIE SCOTT
To kick off National Right to Read Week, West Boulevard Elementary School hosted a visit from Boardman librarian John Yingling Feb. 1. The theme for Right to Read Week this year is “Reading Around the World,” so Yingling presented stories the way that people told them before written language was invented — with puppets, costumes and recitation.
“Before there were books, people would act out scenes of the story from the books,” said Yingling. “And that’s what I am going to do here today.”
Yingling used stories from books from the library to perform for the children. Some of the stories were familiar for the students, while others they didn’t recognize. He started with the story “That’s Good, That’s Bad.” To tell the story, Yingling pretended to be one of the characters in the book — the boy who was carried away from his parents at the zoo by a balloon and into a jungle and the trouble he gets into there. The story focuses on the theme that even when you think something could be bad, it might be something good in disguise that will help you reach your goal.
Yingling also entertained the students with the story of Nuffle Bunny, which was familiar to many of them. For this story, Yingling used puppets and stuffed animals to create scenes from the book, playing the role of the father himself. “Nuffle Bunny” is the story of a girl named Trixie who loves to run errands with her father. One day when she is out with her father, she loses her favorite toy — Nuffle Bunny.
Yingling ended with a traditionally German tale, “Rapunzel,” with a fun twist. “Falling for Rapunzel” was the story of the prince, who attempted to get Rapunzel to let down her hair so he could rescue her, but she had trouble hearing and threw down a variety of other items instead.