Chappaqua Library To Hold Midsummer Storytellings

While storytelling may connote reading directly from a book, the Chappaqua Library does it differently: from the oral tradition.

The library's Midsummer Tales series, an annual collection of three storytelling events, involves having speakers tell the tales from memory, while making their events interactive, according to Miriam Budin, head of children's services at the library.

The first event is tonight at 7 p.m. in the theater. It will feature Carol Birch, a retired staff member of the library who was one of "the three strong women," or librarians who started the midsummer series more than 15 years ago, said Budin.

Birch's event will be unique, because instead of basing her storytelling on an oral tale, she will do it from a written work, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon. The book is about a woman who skips rope with ferries.

Budin said Birch's performance won't merely be memorization based.

"It will sound like it's coming out of her brain," she said, describing how it will be an interactive event.

The library, in its promotion of the event asks people to "Bring your jump ropes to join in the action!"

The second event will be held Aug. 3, and is officially called The Joan Schlanger Memorial Storytelling Concert, which is named after the late woman and funded through an endowment from her family. This year's act will feature Jonathan Kruk, a storyteller, and Rich Bala, a folksinger, doing a performance called Once Upon the Hudson, which is a collection of tales that involve the Hudson River. It will take place at the same time and place as the first event.

The third and final event will be on Aug. 10, also set for 7 p.m. and in the theater, will feature a husband and wife team of "tandem tellers" called The Storycrafters, who will present a performance called The Water of Life, which the library describes as "A wellspring of musical stories and participation-peppered world folktales!"