One day last week one of the audience members approached me after the show and asked me if I like telling stories. I said I do and this child then said to me “Good because you’re really funny and I like them.” That made me smile. Another parent told me that her child had never sat through anything before – until she brought her to one of my shows. Stories and comments like that really do touch my heart. I never tire from hearing about how stories affect people or how much they enjoy them. It’s why I do what I do.

This extremely busy week I will be telling my tales here:

• Monday: Lighthouse Learning Center @ 10:00am
• Monday: Hull Family Network @ 6:30pm
• Tuesday: Dolly’s Nursery School @ 10:00am
• Tuesday: Fragile Footprints @ 1:45pm
• Tuesday: Plympton Library @ 6:30pm (Round 1 – Building Stories)
• Wednesday: Bright Horizons @ 10:00/10:30am
• Wednesday: Jonathan Bourne Library @ 1:00pm (Round 2 – Building Stories)
• Thursday: Preschool Playmates @10:30am
• Thursday: Monomoy Community Services @2:00pm
• Thursday: Eldredge Public Library@ 4:00pm (Round 1 – Building Stories)
• Thursday: Jonathan Bourne Public Library@ 7:00pm
• Friday: Brown Bear Preschool @ 9:30am
• Friday: Triumph Head Start @ 2:00pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows. Make note that the Hull Family Network show and the Bourne Library on Thursday are free for the public to attend. All of the Building Stories events are free to join in – but please call the respective libraries as there is limited space available! Looking forward to seeing everyone this week!

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Mattapoisett
2. Hull
3. Hingham
4. Kingston
5. Plympton
6. Bedford
7. Bourne
8. Bridgewater
9. Chatham
10. Cohasset
11. Taunton
12. Plymouth

There are places I get to visit over and over – places where I can count on a large group of children to gather who just want to hear stories and laugh along with me. It’s places like the Holmes Library that make me love my job the more I do it. They say “Everyday is a gift” and I can say with absolute authority, when you have days like I had visiting Halifax, it’s absolutely true! I have quite the bust week though – keep checking as shows are added almost everyday!

I am gifted being able to visit these places this week:

• Monday: Bright Horizons @ 10:00/10:30am
• Monday: Holmes Public Library @ 6:30pm
• Tuesday: Kid’s Country Day Care @ 10:00am
• Wednesday: Weymouth Rec Department @ 10:00am
• Wednesday: Jonathan Bourne Library @ 1:00pm (Round 1 – Building Stories)
• Thursday: Brookline Library @11:00am
• Thursday: Adams Street Branch Library@ 2:00pm (1-shot Building Stories)
• Friday: Winslow House @ 10:00am

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows. Quite a few shows are open to the public this week – The Holmes Library, Brookline Library are free for the public to attend. The Winslow House on Friday has a $5 per child entrance fee – but the money goes right back into the beautiful museum – so it’s worth it! Both Building Stories events are free to join in – but please call the respective libraries as there is limited space available!

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Franklin
2. Halifax
3. Hanson
4. Weymouth
5. Bourne
6. Brookline
7. Dorchester
8. Marshfield

Here we are! Summer is in full swing and the end of this week will see my daughter turning 6. I can’t believe I will be the father to a 6 year old. She’s so big! I am excited that she will be traveling with me to a few shows this Summer – nothing like having a cute tag along who loves my stories!

Here are the events for this week:

• Tuesday: Hedge School @ 11:00am
• Wednesday: Pilgrim Childcare @ 10:00am
• Thursday: Lottle Discoveries @10:00am
• Thursday: Kingston Collection @ 2:00pm *FREE to the public!
• Saturday: Bridgewater 4th of July Celebration @ 12:30pm *FREE to the public!

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows. Two shows are open to the public this week – the first, at the Kingston Collection on the 2nd, which is usually a fantastic show! Make sure to come and enjoy the day! Also, I am celebrating the 4th in Bridgewater this year for a 1/2 hour show at 12:30! Have a great week – hope to see all of you this week!

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Plymouth
2. Duxbury
3. Brockton
4. Kingston
5. Bridgewater

Last week of school! Well, not even the whole week… my daughter’s last day is Tuesday and I’m not sure who is more excited for the summer – me or her! Things are in full swing as we have had a few fires in the fire pit and the pool is now open! A few more cookouts and it will really start to feel like the summer has arrived!

Storytelling events for this week:

• Monday:  Bright Ideas Childcare Center @ 10:00am
• Tuesday: Bright Horizons @ 10:00/10:30am
• Wednesday: Joshua Hyde Library *Free to the Public! @ 2:00pm
• Thursday: Hancock School @ 10:00am
• Thursday: Bright Horizons @ 4:30pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows. The Joshua Hyde Library is open to the public to attend – so, please, come and join all the fun!

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Plymouth
2. Nashua, NH
3. Ayer
4. Brockton
5. Braintree

This week is quite interesting. I was telling tales in Quincy at a school I have visited for the past 4 to 5 years. The principal asked me how things were and then told me that, of all the storytellers, artists, and entertainers they have visit the school, I am his favorite. That kid of stuff I take to heart – it really means a lot to me. I enjoy being able to go back year after year to visit the same children, the same staff, of schools I see annually. It means a lot, especially since I spend most of my time alone driving show to show!

Here are the friends I am visiting this week:

• Monday:  Bernazzani Elementary School @ 9:30am
• Wednesday:  Clara Macy Elementary School @ 9:00am
• Thursday: Carver Elementary Schools @ 9:00am-2:00pm
• Friday: Triumph Head Start @ 2:00pm
• Friday: Hands on the Arts Festival *Free to the Public! @ 2:30pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows. The Hands on the Arts Festival is an annual event that I love telling tales at! Make sure to come and enjoy the day!

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Quincy
2. Bellingham
3. Caver
4. Taunton
5. Eastham

I approach each show a bit differently but I usually lay ground rules for storytelling.  First off, I never decide what I am going to do before hand (there are a few exceptions), instead I wait for the group to gather and read the crowd.  I feel like the show is a bit more spontaneous that way which keeps me on my toes.  Second, I want to enjoy myself – it’s a simple mantra, really, that I use to remind myself before a show.  I simply say, “alright, let’s have some fun!”

Lastly, I have been in the game so long that the final rule is to have no expectations and to keep it loose.  Be ready for anything.  Anyone who has worked with children know that this last rule is a must.  Children (the entertaining ones, anyways) are unpredictable.  You have to be ready to handle whatever they toss at you in the course of the show.  These rules have been learned from 15 years in the business and I hope they will serve me for many more!

Here are my shows for this week that I have no idea what I am telling yet:

• Tuesday:  Lil’ Munchins Preschool @ 10:00/10:30am
• Thursday: Joyful Noise Preschool @ 10:00am
• Thursday: Kids in Action @ 7:00pm
• Friday: Hertz Nursery School @ 10:00am
• Friday: Bourne Library Teddy Bear Picnic @ 12:00pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page (which I am aware needs to be updated – slated to happen this week!) for more information on all of these shows.

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Scituate
2. Sandwich
3. Hingham
4. Sharon
5. Bourne

As I was traveling to Newton tonight it occured to me that, some days, I spend more time traveling to a show, alone in my car, than I do actually entertaining people.  I like the travel most days – getting lost in my own head and enjoying this beautiful state we live in - but I don’t think, and hope I never, get used to traffic.  That is a beast that will never be tamed for me!

Thankfully, there isn’t too much traveling this week!  Here’s where I am going:

This week’s schedule:

• Tuesday:  Temple Shalom Preschool @ 7:00pm
• Thursday: Dolly’s Nursery School @ 4:30pm
• Friday: Wood Elementary School @ 2:00pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows.

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Newton
2. Hingham
3. Fairhaven

I spent pretty much every moment I could outside this weekend. I watched my daughter and son play together which, due to their vast age difference, doesn’t happen very often. They were playing in the sandbox creating, and then destroying, sandcastles. It was a snapshot of their childhood that I consider myself very lucky to have caught. Moments like that are gone in a flash. I think this summer will be one of the best!

I will also spend my 39th birthday on Thursday doing what I love the most – traveling around and telling stories! Hopefully it will be beautiful and I can spend all day enjoying the weather, telling tales and then retreat to home for some cake. Sounds perfect to me!

Onto what is happening this week:

This week’s schedule:

• Wednesday:  Cedar School @ 10:00am & 12:30pm
• Thursday: Little Learners @ 10:00am & 12:30pm
• Thursday: State Street Early Learning Center @ 6:30pm
• Friday: Little Learners @ 10:00am & 12:30pm
• Saturday: Pine Fest @11:30am
• Sunday: International Fair at Bay Farm Montessori @10:15am

Both Saturday and Sunday’s shows are open to the public and are free to attend! So make a note to come and enjoy yourselves! Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows.

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Hanover
2. Billerica
3. Quincy
4. Plymouth
5. Duxbury

Hope all the Mothers out there enjoyed their day this past Sunday! As you can tell by the inactivity on this site I had have non-stop stories to tell! I was all over the map last week going from Walpole to Falmouth – then to Bridgewater and to Dartmouth! Like I said, I was all over the place! I did enjoy a bit of down time this weekend, mostly spent with my family as we enjoyed the beautiful weather we were having. Even more so, I was out birding almost every day and catching a peek at all the summer birds returning from their winter homes.

Now that I have a moment to spend in my office, here is a peek at what is happening this week:

This week’s schedule:

• Monday: Bright Horizons @ 10:00/10:30am
• Wednesday:  CNK @ 10:00am & 1:00pm
• Thursday: CNK @ 10:00am
• Friday: Wachusett Community College Child Care @ 10:00am
• Friday: Triumph Head Start @ 2:00pm

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows.

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Bedford, NH
2. Pembroke
3. Gardner
4. Taunton

I am not sure how anything can top last week!  While telling stories in Norwell at the Science Center I spotted a pileated woodpecker – one of the largest woodpeckers has to offer!  I will post pics later, but I also saw Age of Ultron and thought it was incredible!  The whole family then took a trip to NJ to visit family and for me to have a chance to work at Zapp Comics for one of my best friends in the world during Free Comic Book Day.  If that weren’t enough I met Mike Mills of R.E.M. (Check pic of the week this week!) on the way home!  It was too much to handle!

But, it’s back to work now – and I have a few schools to visit this week!

Here is this week’s schedule:

• Wednesday: The Learning Ladder @ 10:00am
• Thursday: Lil’ Munchkins Preschool @ 10:00am & 10:30am
• Thursday: Wooded Acres Preschool @ 10:00am

Please check the Upcoming Shows page for more information on all of these shows.

Places I will be visiting this week:

1. Hanover
2. Scituate
3. Kingston