APPLY TO HOST BETHANY ELLIS (IN PERSON)
NOTE: Bethany Ellis is available to offer presentations in English or in French.
Home Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Creator Type: Storyteller
Tour Region: Alberta
Target Audience: Kindergarten to Grade 12
Cost: $300* (per 45- or 60-minute presentation OR two 30-minute presentations)
*(The storyteller collects $250 of the fee and $50 of the fee covers The Canadian Children's Book Centre's administration fees for coordinating Book Week).
Taxes charged on presentations: NO
BIOGRAPHY
Bethany Ellis began telling stories many decades ago while working at a summer camp. Realizing that her young campers were not really engaged in the book she was reading aloud to them, she closed the book and began to tell and they all sat up and listened, and begged for more. Since then she has told stories at festivals, concerts, and Story Cafes, as well as in libraries and schools from South Korea to Cote d’Ivoire, from England to Nepal. Bethany brings her background as an actor, French teacher and world traveler to her performances. Since returning to Canada in 2004 Bethany has worked with Storytelling Alberta as a performer and mentor. She has also been busy with Artist-in-Residencies offering Storytelling workshops in both English and French. In 2008 Bethany toured Quebec as a participant in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Book Week and in 2011 was given a special recognition award for “Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning” for her work as a storyteller, playwright and theatre director with Caraway School in Edmonton.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Animals Behaving Badly
(Duration: 30 minutes)
Target audience: Kindergarten to Grade 2
Preferred audience size: 30 - 60 students
Maximum audience size: 90 students
“The Gunny Wolf”
An joining-in story with a clever heroine
“Dopey the Dinosaur”
A fun rhyme for children to repeat and learn
“Take a Little Walk, Bear”
A joining-in story about can happen when you don’t listen to your mother
“Pickin’ Peas”
A clever farm-girl captures the rabbit ruining her crop, dancing involved
Once Upon an African Time
(Duration: 45 - 60 minutes)
Target audience: Grades 3 - 6
Preferred audience size: 30 - 60 students
Maximum audience size: 90 students
“Look Back and See”
A Tanzanian folktale about the beginning of time and a village of darkness
“Fari M’Bam”
A Wolof Tale from The Gambia in which the King of the Donkeys goes on an adventure
“Trickster, Tricked”
A Ghanaian legend of Anansi the Spider
“Ogaloussa the Hunter”
A Liberian “illustrated proverb” about remembering those who have left this world
Not What You’d Expect
(60 minutes)
Target Audience: Grades 7-12
Preferred audience size: 30 – 60 students
Maximum audience size: 90 students
“The Old Brick House”
A (mostly) true tale of prejudice and perceived poverty in 1960s Northern Alberta involving a ghostly swing
“Twisted Grimm”
A retelling of the Rumplestiltskin story from a surprising perspective
“Shetland Island Giants”
A trickster tale about a quick-witted survivor
“The King’s Rabbits”
Only by cunning can the hero herd rabbits and fill a sack with lies