Hear ye, hear ye…Announcing the launch of my brand spanking new youtube channel!

And what better way to launch it than a wonderful ‘freebie’!

Apparently it’s quite normal NOT to like watching yourself on T.V.

I feel it’s a bit of a learning experience to always go back and watch myself, see how I handled the questions from an interviewer, see what ways I could improve, etc. etc. But somehow I never enjoy it.

This is not false modesty speaking.

I really do find it hard to watch myself.

Makes me feel all prickly inside.

And yet I did receive a pretty hefty grant to prepare not one, but two storytelling DVD’s of me, um, storytelling some of my favourite/most popular stories.

The first one is the story I have always referred to as my ‘no brainer crowd-pleaser’.

This is the story I traditionally pulled out to tell at the END of a set with squirmy little kindergarteners–by FAR my hardest audiences!

I think of kindergarteners as little energy leeches–they suck the energy right out of you!

They are SO hard to impress!

And by the time I’ve finished sharing the books with them and they’re getting kinda antsy, this is the story I ALWAYS ALWAYS fell back on to close up the set.

My no-brainer crowd-pleaser–and usually the adults in the audience are laughing just as hard as the kids!

I heard some vaudevillian entertainer once say, “Always start with your second best gag and end with your best gag!”

Well folks, this is my BEST gag!

My version of my Big Red Lollipop story.

Yup, the same story that was chosen by the New York Times as one of the ten best illustrated books of 2010, and the same story that won both the Charlotte Zolotow and Golden Kite awards for best picture book writing. (Those are the only two awards–as far as I know–in America for best picture book writing! For goodness sakes I even beat Mo Willems!!! And Kevin Henke!!!)

So here it is, please, ahem, enjoy responsibly!

(Hint: Teachers, it would be a really good idea to pair this video with reading the book of the same title to the students and discuss with the students how the versions of the story differ!

And check out aspects of my Picture the Story presentation teacher guide for more suggestions on how to enrich the students’ experiences!)

Very soon you will be able to purchase the entire collection of folktales which contains this story. It’s aptly called Roosters and Lollipops.

And will cost about $10.

But first I really must thank the Ontario Arts Council whose funding made this project possible!