Let’s Chat About The Stories ~ Ideas for Talking With Kids

Conversation

1. Have you ever been to a carnival? What did you do there? What was your favourite activity?

Stranger Danger

1. Little Mouse and Littler Mouse are very worried when they lose their friend. Do they do the right thing in looking for Tiny Mouse? What would you do in this kind of situation?

Bedtime Story written by Syamphay Fengsavanh, translated by Alisha Berger

Bedtime Story illustrated by Nivong Sengsakoun

Other Credits:

This story: A Day at the Carnival is translated by Alisha Berger. The © for this translation lies with Room to Read, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Based on Original story: ‘ມື້ໜຶ່ງທີ່ງານບຸນ’, by Syamphay Fengsavanh . © Room to Read , 2018. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

This story ‘A Day at the Carnival’ has been published on StoryWeaver by Room to Read.

* THE STORY ‘A DAY AT THE CARNIVAL’ WAS CREATED BY ROOM TO READ AND IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS -BY-4.0 LICENSE. FORMATTING CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE ORIGINAL WORK FOR EASE OF READING ON OUR WEBSITE.

The post A Day At The Carnival first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

Circus Tortellini isn’t an ordinary circus.

Circus Tortellini travels from town to town with a Clever Circus School.

Circus Tortellini visits schools and puts up its Bright Big Top right next to a school, and then the fun begins.

Franco Tortellini is the ringmaster, and he knows that all children love a circus and can learn lots and lots. “Children learn special things at our Circus School…” Franco laughs.

When Circus Tortellini is ready, they begin with the show full of excitement. The children, teachers, parents, grandparents and friends are all invited.

Franco Tortellini booms– ‘Welcome to the Amazing Circus Tortellini’.

There are clowns, jugglers, acrobats, tight rope walkers, ponies, trapeze artists, strongmen, a magic show, unicycles, trampolines and popcorn.

Leon, Mia, Emma and Noah just can’t stop clapping as they watch the show.

“I’m going to be the ringmaster, I’ll be amazing!” Leon laughs

“I want to balance on the ponies in a pink tutu.” Mia beams.

“I shall juggle 10 flashing balls.” Noah whoops

“And I shall walk a tightrope high above your heads.” Emma points up high to the trapeze.

At the end of the show, with the wonderful costumes, fun and plenty of scares– Franco Tortellini and his family take a bow and Franco booms “Goodbye children, see you on Monday morning, bright and ready for Circus School!”

And that’s what happens, for the next week, there is no classroom, just the Big Top and the children Learn Project Circus!

For the four friends – Leon, Mia, Noah and Emma things turn out different to what they expect.

Franco Tortellini and his family – Gina, Francesca, Pepitto and Angelo with the other circus artists divide the children into groups in the school yard-and they throw balls, do skipping, roll out the mats and jump around – “Let’s see what you are good at!”

Franco and Angelo just walk, talk, play and mess around.

The children do lots of different things – they balance on wobbly planks, they climb up ropes, they bounce on trampolines laughing and the end of the day, they rub their aching legs and arms.

The next day, all the children are put into their Circus School groups.

Franco laughs his very loud laughs and tells them. “We watched you all yesterday, and we think we’ve found the very best groups for you all.”

“I’m a clown, I always knew it!” Leon shakes his head.

“I’m in the juggling and hula hoop team.” Mia is happy.

“But I’ve got ponies and popcorn.” Emma smiles

Noah scratches his head “Unicycles, whatever that is, and selling programs and showing people to their seats.”

They all laugh, not sure what to expect.

“Don’t let anybody ever tell you circus is easy…” At break time they fall onto a bench rubbing their aching legs.

“Well, how many balls can you juggle?” Leon turns to Mia.

“Well, we didn’t start with balls at all. We started off with bright floaty scarves. We start on balls this afternoon.”

“Ah….” The others shrug.

“Unicycles are wobbly.” Noah joins in. “We spent the morning learning how to get on and off and wobble around.”

“Well, clowns are the most important circus acts.” Leon tells his friends. “They make people laugh. But they help in-between to put things up or take them down. This afternoon we are going to learn to trampoline.”

Mia laughed. “Trampoline is easy.”

“You try it with great big floppy boots on…” Leon looked at her. “And my clown name is Loopy, clowns have clown names, and their own special make-up!”

Every day the friends practiced in their groups -– now they are starting to feel a bit nervous, their big circus day is at the end of the week.

“Have you got your costumes?” Emma joins them. “We got our pink tutus and tights today, Mrs. Tortellini is cool, she does the costumes.”

Leon has the most to do, the clowns always do, as he keeps telling them how important the clowns are.

“Yes, Loopy, the world’s greatest clown ha ha ha.” They all laugh.

At last, it is the day of the Grand Circus Show!

Leon, or, Loopy, runs around with a bucket filled with confetti, but the head clown has a bucket filled with water, just to make the audience nervous!

Leon handed out umbrellas to make them more nervous. Even his mum doesn’t know Leon under the big orange wig and baggy patchwork pants. Leon was now Loopy!

The clowns then do bell ringing, noisy and out of tune, but then, they stop, shake their heads and play a proper tune.

They also do their clown trampoline act – Crazy Bouncing in Big Boots!

Emma balances with outstretched arms on her pony.

Later, Emma slips out of her pink tutu and into her red circus T-Shirt to sell popcorn in the break, the people are happy “Lovely show, those children are so good…”

Noah first shows the audience to their seats wearing a red T-Shirt and trying to be helpful.

Later he changes into his sparkling jacket and silver hat for the unicycle show, then he starts to feel nervous.

Twisting, Turning and Weaving around – all on one wheel, not so easy. But the group manage well. The music helps and they even cycle up and down ramps.

Noah laughs as he remembers his first wobbles.

Mia’s act is juggling, all the jugglers wear bright baggy rainbow costumes and juggle with balls, rings and do plate spinning. At the end, they throw up the rainbow scarves The bright colored scarves float down and everything is magical.

“If you drop one, you just laugh, it’s all part of the act…” Gino always tells them.

Later, the jugglers leave the ring – but, they quickly slip off the costumes, they have black clothes underneath, then they slip on a black mask.

When they are all ready, they run back into the ring with all the lights switched off.

Now they have hula hoops that shine orange, pink, green and yellow in the dark.

Mia feels so good. “It’s magical, it’s ShowTime.” She smiles and twists her yellow hoop to join the pattern of the others.

The friends can’t believe it; their circus show is a huge success.

But, now, sadly, it’s the end of the show, they all troop out, back into the circus ring.

Franco in his red coat and top hat tells them to take the biggest and lowest bow-  and Franco’s voice booms loud. “Just one week, learning new things, these children are real stars!”

The clowns, the jugglers, the balancers, the cyclists, the tightrope walkers, the acrobats and dancers all take a big bow.

Leon, Mia, Noah and Emma have had the very best Circus Week, and can’t wait until Circus Tortellini is back in town again!

“Next time, I’ll be a clown, too.” Noah tells Leon. “You can wobble and fall off a unicycle…” They all laugh.

“Who would have believed it?” Mia now in her normal clothes. “We had so much fun, but my bones are aching and bruised. But, I’ve got a brilliant idea.”

They all looked at her.

“Let’s meet in my garden with the trampoline and practice our very own circus. I can teach you juggling.” Mia laughs.

“And I can teach you about Big Boot Bouncing.” Loopy Leon laughs, too.

“And we can call it Circus Pepperoni.” Noah joined in.

“Circus Pepperoni?” The others looked puzzled.

“Yes, because I love hot pepperoni on my pizza!”

© Andrea Kaczmarek 2020

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE STORY ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Motivation, Perseverance, Resilience

1. How do the children in this story approach being the stars of their very own circus?

2. Do you think they succeed in putting on a good show? Why or why not?

Short Story for Kids written by Andrea Kaczmarek

In-text illustration by Andrea Kaczmarek

The post The Circus School first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

Monsieur le Dot worked in a circus in Paris. When it was circus time, he wore puffy yellow cuffs, red pants with grey stockings, shiny black shoes, and eleven brass buttons on his fine red coat. He also had a moustache with a little black dot above it. This is why everybody called him Monsieur Le Dot.

People came from far and wide to see Monsieur Le Dot’s circus. They liked the zebra, who danced the can-can. They liked the snake, who played Twister… and the funny monkeys, who dressed up just like Monsieur Le Dot, and made faces behind his back when they thought he wasn’t looking.

But everybody’s favourite was Elsa the Elephant. Elsa was very gentle. She had long eyelashes like tassels, and skin as wrinkly as the pages of a book that someone loves very much. She had a lovely slinky trunk that could cuddle you. She had big, beautiful toenails that were like enormous window panes.

Everybody loved Elsa, but Monsieur Le Dot loved her best of all. They would eat baguettes together for breakfast. They would bicycle together around the hill of Montmartre. They would sit at the Sacre Coeur, talking for hours, as they watched the moon rise over Paris.

One day Elsa said to Monsieur Le Dot that she wanted to leave the circus. “My family is in Tanzania and I miss them,” she said. Monsieur Le Dot couldn’t say no to Elsa going home to Tanzania. He knew he would miss her, but he also knew she would be sad if she stayed. And because he loved Elsa so much, he didn’t want her to be sad. So Elsa took the aeroplane to Tanzania. Monsieur Le Dot waved her goodbye at the airport.

It wasn’t the same in Paris now Elsa had gone. Monsieur Le Dot had lost his smile. His dot drooped into his moustache. People didn’t ask where Elsa was. Instead, they began asking “why is Monsieur Le Dot so sad?”

One day the zebra who danced the can-can came to talk to Monsieur Le Dot. “We think you should find Elsa,” he said to the circus man. “I will stay behind and look after the circus. I will call it “Monsieur Le Stripe’s Circus”.

Monsieur Le Dot thought it was a very good idea. So he packed his suitcase and a few baguettes for Elsa. And his friends waved him off at the airport.

On the other side, in Tanzania, Elsa was waiting for him with a big smile on her trunk. Now that they were back together, life quickly became happy again for Monsieur Le Dot. He and Elsa ate plantain together for breakfast. They swam together in the ocean. They sat at Mount Kilimanjaro, talking for hours as the moon rose over Africa.

Monsieur Le Dot started a new circus for the people who lived in his new home, and everybody loved it. Then one day there was a knock on the door. All his old friends were standing there.

“We missed you in Paris,” they said. “Can we join your circus?”

Monsieur Le Dot said OUI !

And everyone was together again.

Short story by Jade Maitre

Illustrated by Jade Maitre with vintage public domain elements

Let’s Chat About The Stories ~ Ideas for Talking With Kids

Friendship

1. Monsieur Le Dot knew that he would be sad if Elsa went home to Africa, but he said she could go anyway. Why did he say this?

Conversation

2. Monsieur Le Dot and Elsa liked eating baguettes and plaintain, swimming, bicycling, talking, and watching the moon rise. What things do you like to do with your best friend?

The post Monsieur Le Dot first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

LET’S DISCUSS THE STORIES ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Creativity

1. Veeru makes a circus at home with some of the things he has around the house. If you were to stage a circus show in your home, what would you like to do?

2. What other shows could you create in your own home?

SHORT STORY FOR KIDS WRITTEN BY RICHA INGLE DEO

ILLUSTRATED BY RESHMA BARVE

* THE STORY ‘VEERU GOES TO THE CIRCUS’ WAS CREATED BY PRATHAM BOOKS AND IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS -BY-4.0 LICENSE. MINOR FORMATTING CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE ORIGINAL WORK FOR EASE OF READING ON OUR WEBSITE.

The post Veeru Goes to the Circus first appeared on Bedtime Stories.