Danger: Books!
Danger: Books! is an ongoing series of readings from books that have been banned or challenged in the United States. Every year, we offer a fresh selection of readings. Past programs have included excerpts from The Lord of the Flies, Beloved, The Lorax, Geography Club, The Boy Who Lost His Face, and And Tango Makes Three. Readings are presented in the Book-It Style™ by professional actors who perform the most controversial sections from the books, then facilitate a discussion on the First Amendment and how and why books are banned and challenged.Please note: Danger: Books! does not include a book or workshop.

GRADES: 6 – Adult
TOURS: Sept – Nov
THEMES: Censorship, First Amendment rights, artistic freedom
EVENTS: Banned Books Month, Teen Read Month


Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices
The Campaign for Equal Rights in Washington
by Shanna Stevenson
One Hundred years ago, women in Washington State won the right to vote. Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices by Shanna Stevenson tells the story of the women who, in 1910, fought, spoke out, and organized to pass an amendment to the State Constitution giving women permanent voting rights—a full ten years before the United States would do the same. But we know the battle didn’t end there, and this compelling book also details women’s continuing struggle for equal rights over the past century—from advocating for the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 to current struggles to achieve equality in education, politics, and the workplace. This timely tour of Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices is made possible through support from 4Culture.

GRADES: 6 – Adult
TOURS: Sept – Nov
THEMES: Women’s History, Suffrage Movement
EVENTS: 100th Anniversary of Washington State passing suffragist laws


The Prince of the Pond:
Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin
by Donna Jo Napoli
This fall, Book-It All Over brings back one of our most popular and beloved touring stories. A new twist on an old tale, The Prince of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin, is a charming story of a prince in frog’s clothing. The victim of a witch’s curse, De Fawg Pin tries his best to adapt his human sensibilities to an amphibious world, and the outcome is truly hilarious. Receiving the School Library Journal “Science Is Fun” award, this story blends the fantastic and the facetious, the silly and the scientific, to create not only a delightful fairy tale but also an entertaining lesson in pond life.

GRADES: K – 6
TOURS: Sept – Dec
THEMES: Family, community, reproduction, acceptance, tolerance, patience, habitat—rivers, lakes & ponds


Henry’s Freedom Box:
A True Story from the Underground Railroad
by Ellen Levine
If you were enslaved, to what lengths would you go in order to be free?  In Book-It All Over’s winter touring show, Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, Henry Brown is faced with this question. Born a slave, repeatedly separated from his family and the people he loves, Henry decides to take an incredible risk and literally mail himself to freedom. In this remarkable true story of perseverance in the face of oppression, audiences will have the chance to follow Henry’s rollercoaster of a journey from bondage to liberty.

GRADES: K – 8
TOURS: January – April
THEMES: Perseverance, slavery, family, American history, creative problem solving
EVENTS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Black History Month


The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
When her parents die of cholera in Colonial India, spoiled Mary Lennox must go live with her uncle at Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire, England. Uncle Archibald Craven is a brooding, mysterious man who mostly leaves Mary to her own devices. Lonely and friendless, Mary chafes in her new situation until she discovers the key to an unkempt garden and, with the aid of a local boy named Dickon, learns how to make it grow. The newly-found key unlocks not only the garden, but Mary’s capacity to love and nurture. Book-It is pleased to celebrate spring with this classic story of family, friendship, and renewal.

GRADES: K – 8
TOURS: February – August
THEMES: Friendship, family, rebirth, gardening, the environment
EVENTS: Earth Day, Spring

Details:
Each performance runs between 25 and 45 minutes and can be performed in venues as small as a classroom or as large as an auditorium. In conjunction with each performance, Book-It offers workshops for children and young adults to reinforce what they have seen. Students can use voice, body, and imagination to create characters and explore environments, or develop a play in the Book-It Style™ from their own story.  These workshops allow young people to make the leap between seeing art and creating it.
 
Workshop Choices: Themes in Motion (Grades K-2, 45 min) Based on the story presented, the teaching artists use creative dramatics to take the students through different themes. Storytelling Standing Up (Grades 3-12, one hour)  30 students write a seven-sentence story, adapt it into the Book-It Style™, are cast and directed by the teaching artists, then perform their literary creation.

Cost: Touring Story $575, includes performance, book, study guide, and workshop
          Additional Workshops: $125 each, additional travel fees apply.