Education and Inspiration through the ancient art of storytelling!
Know what an atalatal is or how it was used?
Which ancient Illinois city was home to 40,000 people?
Why unique wicket dams are needed on the Illinois River?
Or what a water strider looks like?
Well, Brian "Fox" Ellis, local storyteller and educator, gives you the answers in a new activity and coloring book called "Exploring the Illinois River."
The 40-page book, written by Ellis with illustrations by Jeff Carlson, traces Illinois River history from the Devonian Period - 350 million years ago - to the modern area.
In this book you learn by answering quizzes, figuring word problems, solving crosswords, coloring pictures, identifying creatures on a mural of insects, drawing lines from predator to prey and writing your own tales.
With activities and brief narratives, readers are introduced to trilobites and tully monsters, the elaborate rituals of the Cahokia Mounds builders, the river's locks and dams and the variety of bridges in the Illinois watershed.
Ellis has been telling stories on board the Spirit of Peoria riverboat for several years.
He researched the river history, its geology and wildlife and began to generate one-page handouts for the people who took his cruises.
Finally, Ellis realized, "I've got a book going here." And so he published "Exploring the Illinois River."
Ellis' career as storyteller started when he worked as an environmental educator at summer camps in Ohio. Since science is about trying to understand our world, he reasoned, and that's also the purpose of many myths and stories, perhaps he could teach kids more through stories than by delivering facts straight out.
So where do his stories come from?
"I listen to the world around me," Ellis says.
He hears the creatures he sees at different times of day, in varying light, on the hiking trails he frequents; the many faces of the plants especially as the seasons change; a hemlock tree that gave him shelter from a chilling rain.
I spend time alone in the wilderness. I observe and I listen. And the more time I spend, the more I hear from nature.
"One time I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. When I got back to camp, I asked the kids, 'Do you like to eat fish?' 'Sure,' they said. 'Well then,' I said, 'these mosquitoes gotta feed the fish.'" With that, Ellis launched into a story about the web of life that ties us all together.
"Whisper the names of wildflowers," Ellis exhorts his readers in a second book "Learning from the Land, Teaching Ecology through Stories and Activities."
"Wade knee-deep in an icy creek, singing the songs of frogs. Imitate owls. Share the silences with the oaks and maples. The land is full of legends clamoring to be heard!"
Stories help deepen our appreciation of nature, Ellis says, which is why new stories are always stirring in his mind as he travels the country adapting his workshops to meet the needs of teachers and students. He helps kids learn science skills, appreciate nature and write historical fiction.
To learn more about Ellis' projects, his books and audiotapes, and his workshops and performances, call him at Fox Tales International, (309) 689-8000, or send him an e-mail at Contact Fox.
Oh yes, in case you haven't figured out what an atalatal is, it's a spear throwing stick used by the first humans who ventured into Illinois at the end of the glacial period.
And that large, ancient Illinois city was located at the site of the Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois. Because the Illinois River descends gradually in its last 231 miles, the wicket dam fold down onto the riverbed so boats can pass without locks when the river is high enough.
You can see pictures of it, and of the multi-legged water strider, in Ellis' Exploring the Illinois River.
