Well, thanks to all of you for inserting the pages you are reading - now I can re-set my read-ometer and read with you.

I can identify with Yashinsky's assertion that he wants nothing between him and his audience of children, not 'wood, plastic, metal or textbooks. Personally, I believe that idiom applies to adults as well. I feel that anything that can doodled on or read keeps me from direct eyesight or earshot with the individuals in the audience and is an impediment to our communication and this thought brings me to our Dr. Seuss reading excercise: this has long been something I wondered about, and now I'm beginning to see how it can be done with out losing anything, even though the book is in my hand.

In thinking about mentors, I'm reminded of the fine storytellers who were part of the storytelling revival and who are now, in addition to being polished performers, also mentors and coaches. Can there be a better way to perpetuate the art than to pass it on to those who are coming up in the world of story? I was particularly touched by the words of Saulteaux elder, Alexander Wolfe on page 82 when he said, 'One day my tracks will come to an end and I shall go to my father and grandfathers. You will continue on this path on which we all walk.'

I grew up on the words of Rudyard Kipling and credit him as being part of the reason I love the natural world so much. How easy it is to imagine fantasy in the gentle skip of a leaf or the trill of a bird and know them as fellow entities peopling the world we share. Yashinsky has mentioned Kipling several times now and it brings this question to mind: since Kipling is long gone, can we now safely take his stories and adapt them for telling, or are they still under copy write? My suspicion is that it would be wise to check . . .SGK