Navajo Storyteller Spins Tales in Germantown

Storyteller Claudia Scott has a simple request for children planning to hear her tell stories at Germantown Public Library this week.

“Bring your imagination,” said Scott, a preschool teacher and a storyteller from a Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Ariz.

Scott will be reading to children at the library at 6 p.m. Thursday. It’s a free event, but you must obtain a ticket in order to attend. Scott said she plans to incorporate story telling and some music making, with hopes of expanding kids’ minds.

“Through reading stories and being a part of the activities and music they can experience anything and be anywhere,” Scott said. “They can experience going to a different place, escaping to any moment in time.”

Scott said that she decided to get into story telling five years ago when she realized that the closest library to her elementary school in Chinle was 65 miles away.

“It’s really cool to come to a place with a lot of libraries,” said Scott, referring to Montgomery County. “They have no idea how lucky they are to have those libraries. Libraries are such valuable resources. Language is developed through reading and it helps create a sense of imagination.”

Scott’s Germantown appearance was coordinated by the Tacy Foundation, a Germantown-based nonprofit that distributes recordings of piano students to schools and hospitals. 

Scott is also the sister of the nonprofit’s founder, Charlotte Holliday.

For Scott, Tacy Foundation arranged appearances at the Children’s Inn at National Institutes of Health and at the National Military Medical Center (Walter Reed & Bethesda Naval Center), where she will read to the children of wounded servicemen.

The goal is to help children in all these situations experience the world through their imaginations and harness the power of books, said Scott, no matter whether they're on a reservation, in a hospital, or at the local library.

“Sometimes we forget how wonderful opening a book is,” Scott said.

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If you go …

WHAT:  Storyteller Claudia Scott reads to children
WHERE:  Germantown Public Library
WHEN:  6 p.m. Thursday, July 12
MORE:  The event is free, but tickets are needed in order to attend. For more information, contact the Tacy Foundation by email, thetacyfoundation@ymail.com, or by calling 301-916-1439.