Storyteller Harlynne Geisler
http://storyteller.swiftsite.com
858-569-9399 storybag@juno.com
Storytelling in San Diego, Southern California, and the World
Especially Storytelling School Assemblies in San Diego County

Note: There are shows for children, for families, and for adults. The group each show is for is marked.

For a list of some of Harlynne's school assembly shows, click here.

WITH EVERY BOOKING YOU CAN RECEIVE: fliers, word searches, coloring pages, small posters, bookmarks, and press releases designed for your library or group. Just ask!

PICK ONE OF THE SHOWS THAT ARE PERFECT FOR YOUR AUDIENCE:

Creepy Crawly Critter Chronicles
“Catch the Reading Bug” is the California Summer Reading Program, and Storyteller Harlynne Geisler is just buggy for folktales about insects. Her program begins with a buzz of stickers and a hum of riddles. Then Irish cockroaches dance, African snails wrestle, and Native American ants win a contest. Lots of audience participation! For families and children.

Woof! Dog Tales Around the World for Kids
Lassie, Spot, and Rin Tin Tin are just some of the famous dogs many people know, but dogs have been celebrated long before books and movies came along. Travel to Scotland, Japan, and South Africa in your imagination where Storyteller Harlynne Geisler will introduce you to amazing and heroic dogs as well as monsters, ghosts, and cannibals. (Don't worry - it's not too spooky.) The show begins with riddles and ends with every listener learning to make a simple origami dog (Harlynne provides the paper.)

Leaping Lizards! Dragon Stories Around the World
Dragons can be dimwitted, dance-loving, diabolical, or diminutive. Storyteller Harlynne Geisler's tales and riddles about them are from Ghana, China, and Spain.

Wise, Witty, or Wacky: Folktales about Seniors
May is National Older Americans Month, but every day is one in which we should celebrate what we all will do - grow older! Folktales from around the world have always done so in funny and fabulous ways. Storyteller Harlynne Geisler has researched and shaped tales suitable for either an adult audience or an all-age audience. Let her help your library celebrate!
Show can be tailored for adults or for all ages.

Jungle Jabber
In Harlynne Geisler's stories jungle animals roar, squawk, grunt, and bellow. Your library audiences will happily join in, learning to "talk like the animals." Zany riddles and knock-knock jokes begin every show with a giggle. For families and children.

Golden Tales of the Animal Games
What are the animal Games? Tiger and Frog do the long jump. Girl and Snail wrestle. Turtle and Spider race. These funny, fabulous folktales are from China, West Africa, and Jamaica. Harlynne Geisler brings them to life with gesture, facial expression, and audience participation. If storytelling were a sport, Harlynne would win the gold medal! With every booking you get a flier, small color poster, press release, word search, coloring page, and bookmarks designed especially for your library. Just ask! For families and children.

Hauntingly True Ghost Stories
In her travels as a storyteller around the United States Harlynne has collected eerie tales of pushes, screams, frightened rabbits, and other unusual occurrences from the people who experienced them as well as tales of ghosts in the Texas Governor's Mansion and the Wells College dorms in New York. Enjoy a bit of a shiver as she narrates these tales. These stories are popular year round--not just for Halloween! For Older Children and Adults. For Families and Younger Children, Book Harlynne's "Not Too Spooky Tales" show.

Jack and His Super Hero Friends
How cool would it be to have super hero friends who could eat entire cows (hair, bones, and all), drink up the ocean, or rescue you from being burned up by an evil king? Storyteller Harlynne Geisler knows an old tale told around the world in such places as Russia, Germany, and Appalachia where a boy was just that lucky. She'll happily tell you her amazing and amusing version. For families and children.

Riddle Me This
Storyteller Harlynne Geisler solves a murder mystery in Burma and figures out how to save the seniors of a Japanese village. These folktales come alive with the active participation of your audience.

Wizards and Spells
Long before Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, wizards have enchanted our imagination. Harlynne Geisler will weave a spell of words to bewitch your audience and make them actively participate in the telling. Her magical tales of wizards and spells are all from books. She'll also teach A School for Well-Written Wizards with silly spells and funny potions. For families and children.

A Funny Fiesta of Fantasy
No one get sillier than storyteller Harlynne Geisler. Whether she's wiggling her tail in a dragon's dance or proudly holding out an imaginary cockroach or singing in a squirrel's voice, she cracks her audience up. She celebrates her 27th year as a practically perfect performer in 2007, and she invites you to the party of your imagination and her tales of wacky wonder. Put on a comical hat. Then join the festivities by hiring her for your audience. [Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults. Great for April, when it's called "April Fools: Tales of Funny Fellows."]

Multicultural Tales from Around the World
These tales from as far away as Korea, East Africa and the Philippines and as close as right here in America celebrate the oral tradition that has kept literature alive and lively. If you have particular countries or cultures that you wish to be included in the show, just ask Harlynne. Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults.

A Fiesta of Folktales: Hispanic Stories from New Mexico, Spain, Mexico, and Central America
Harlynne was born and raised in Illinois, but in the twenty years that she has been living in California, she's learned to appreciate both the spicy food of her Mexican-American grandmother-in-law and the funny, fabulous stories from south of the border. By the end of her show, you will know that to season a Hispanic story just right, all you need to add is a little storyteller's tongue! (This program is not bilingual, although there are some Spanish words.) Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults.

Western Whoppers
A whopper, according to the dictionary, is 1) something huge or, 2) a very bold lie. Pioneers and Native Americans were impressed by the immensity of the western landscape and made up stories big enough to fit what they saw. Storyteller Harlynne Geisler will share whoppers, riddles, and unusual facts about those earlier times in an entertaining show. With every booking you get a flier, small color poster, press release, word search, coloring page, and bookmarks designed especially for your library. Just ask! For families and children.

From Story to Shining Story
This is a big country full of stories. Harlynne will introduce you to tall tale heroes Joe Magarac and Febold Feboldson and present tales that originate in the cultures that make this the wonderful "tossed salad" that we call America (including African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American, European-American). For families and children.

Mum's the Word: Egyptian Tales
This an interactive story program that highlights the funny and fabulous tales of an ancient land and includes a brand-new paper-folding mummy tale set in a pyramid. For families and children.

Rockin' Tales
Rocks just sit there, don't they? Not when storyteller Harlynne Geisler plays with tales about them! Magical rocks grow towards the sky, turn into people, solve court cases, and surprise their library audience. These stories from books actively involve the children in solving riddles and telling along with Harlynne. For families and children.

Magical Children
You know about Harry Potter and Hermoine, but have you met the other boys and girls who have magical powers and deal with strange creatures in unusual fairy tales? Storyteller Harlynne Geisler has, and she'll be happy to introduce you to them! For families and children.

Oceans Full of Stories
Sail the seven seas of your imagination as Harlynne sings, draws, and tells of mermaids, whales, sharks, and pirates. For ages 3-9 or mixed age audience.

Animal Tales
For four years Harlynne told at an animal center. Each summer month she had a different focus to her stories. She has programs that include: That's Cats, Feathers & Fins, Hoofed Heroes, Wild and Mild, and Batty about Stories. You tell her what combination of animals you want, or better yet--let her pick an enchanting program of tales about "tails" that will make you howl with delight! For families and children.

Great Girls and Wonderful Women
"Not all females are Sleeping Beauty waiting for a prince's kiss or Little Red Riding Hood rescued from the wolf by a woodcutter. Sometimes it's the princess who slays the giant or the peasant girl who outwits the rich man," says professional storyteller Harlynne Geisler. She has been enjoying the search for stories that celebrate women's wit and girls' gutsiness. She'll be sharing some of the best tales in a program for children ages three and up called "Great Girls and Wonderful Women."

Encounters with Truth: Stories for Adults
These tales will reveal the wisdom of the ages and of cultures from around the world as we laugh and sigh along with the characters that Harlynne creates with the magic of gesture, facial expression, and a finely tuned vocal range. She is truly a one-woman show with a cast of thousands. For adults.

Noises in the Night: Preschool Stories
Put on your pajamas, snuggle with your teddy, and prepare to creak, moo, and skedaddle along with Harlynne Geisler as she tells tales about the mysterious, funny, and wonder-filled happenings that fill our nights. For families and preschool children.

Highland Hauntings: Tales of Scotland
Harlynne Geisler is a member of the Highland clan MacLachlan. She has discovered stories that will truly haunt you with their beauty, power, humor, and sadness. They can be told alone or along with her Irish tales in a program of Celtic Tales. Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults.

The Speaking of the Green: Irish Tales
You can tell by Storyteller Harlynne Geisler's silver tongue that she has a wee bit of the Irish in her. Her grandfather Ralph McLaughlin passed on to her the gift of blarney which she will share in tales of princesses, ghosts, and beggars and in jokes, sayings, and riddles from the Emerald Isle. Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults.

A Bit o' the British Isles: Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English Tales
You can tell by Harlynne's silver tongue that she has a wee bit of the Irish in her. She also belongs to the Highland clan MacLachlan. Her Scottish and Irish grandparents passed on to her the gift of blarney which she will share in tales and riddles of princesses, wizards, giants, and fools.

Meeting Elijah: Jewish Tales of the Environment
You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate and understand these folktales and legends that explain how we should care for the land and the animals. Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults.

Eating Your Words; Stories, Riddles, and Poems about Food
Yum, yum! Harlynne has created a special show to "Feed Your Need to Read." Dig into words so delicious that they'll melt in your imagination as Harlynne piles sweet, spicy, and tart tales into a confection your audience will dig into! For families and children.

The Story Behind Star Wars
George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars movies, is a very smart man. He probably knows that you cannot make up a new story. Every story in the world has already been told. All you can do is take an old tale and change the details to make it look new. Harlynne believes that he took a story from Russia, Germany, and America about a farm boy who goes off to rescue a princess with the help of a magical old man and a lot of strange friends and just added aliens and spaceships. She'll happily tell your children's and family audiences at libraries, schools, and festivals her amazing and amusing version. For families and children.

The Light Within: Stories of the Season
Harlynne Geisler grew up in a family that lit the lights on the Christmas tree and kindled the candles on the Hanukkah menorah. She will surround you with the glow of the spirit of both traditions as she relates Christmas legends and Hanukkah tales. Versions of this show are for families and children or for adults. [Shows can be entirely for either holiday and can be religious in nature or secular and can include an African tale for Kwanzaa.]


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