One-Person Puppetry Streamlined and Simplified: With 38 Folktale Scripts

by Yvonne Amar Frey

"Once upon a time, in a land gone mad with the noise from cell phones and Walkmans, lived a middle-aged librarian who refused to grow up."― Yvonne Amar Frey Most guides to puppetry assume multiple puppeteers, large stage, elaborate props, custom-designed puppets and more. With library staffing and budgets stretched thin, and other curricular commitments for teachers, few have the time or resources to develop full-blown puppet performances. Expert author Frey provides a much-needed puppet alternative to enrich story-times, book talks, and other library events for children of all ages. Over the course of 20 years, she has perfected nontraditional shortcuts that make solo amateur puppetry painless, cost-effective―and fun! In Part One, Frey shares the techniques Part Two features scripts for 38 simplified tales, including humorous "fractured" fairy tales, folktales from around the globe (Japan, Tibet, Russia, Arabia) and adaptations of Aesop's Fables. Also plan for entertaining patter between these short plays―songs, parodies, jokes, riddles, and a puppet that can serve as the introducer. Children's librarians, teachers, pre-school programs, even parents and home-schoolers can entertain their audiences using this simple proven system.

151 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone with a background in puppetry, this book is good if you've never done puppetry before and you as a librarian are trying something new. this book is also a good tool in terms of using it to possibly create a how-to puppetry program for school age kids. The scripts (when they say simple) are only a few pages long and don't include more than 2 characters. The stories, many of which are well-known in terms of literature, are simplified adaptations. No elaborate hassle here, which is great for the busy or underbudgeted librarian.
However, even with its simplicity in nature, there is very little to tell the person doing this HOW to go about doing it. Its almost essentially, here's a long batch of short 2 minute plays, but no real hints/tips/tricks on how to make puppets, where to acquire them, literally the behind the scenes essentials to do this successfully or how to market it to your kids. That's the other thing too. Kids can sit through a 30 minute even an hour long puppet show (I've seen it) and this would literally mean that the librarian thinking this book with its 38 scripts would solve their issue still have to go and type up original fairytale or folktale scripts that would stretch to at least half an hour...causing the librarian more work, but... it does live up to its title, streamlined and simplified.

[Stephanie Keil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only one script is for one puppet only. I was hoping for more solo puppet shows but, alas, there is only one. Gives good advice about setting up portable stages and such and how to make your own puppets. If you are interested in puppetry then read this book!

[Sally]

Possible resource
has a good version of the Elf and the Shoemaker.