***
I've told this story on several other occasions. Preparing for one telling,
I rolled three packages of play dough of contrasting colors into eighteen-
inch sticks, wrapped each in the clear plastic used for food storage, and
secured the plastic with adhesive tape. At the proper moment in the
telling, and in elaborate pantomime, I withdrew each colored length, one
at a time, from a mysterious-looking case beside me. Youngsters
crowded forward, eyes wide and riveted. I held each colored wrap aloft
for all to see, and continued with the game. The contrasting colors made
the braiding process clearly visible and more understandable.
***
I was invited by the Resource Teacher of a local elementary school to
participate in their Authors and Illustrators Invitational. Each appearance
would be a one man or woman show: a visiting writer or artist and an
audience of children. Arrangements fell into place and each of the five
sessions I conducted found me in the school library, seated in an ancient
wooden grandpa-style rocking chair, with twenty-five to thirty second- to
fourth-graders spread out before me in a half circle with their listeners
on and tuned in.
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