Using visual art to extend stories

Story map of Shen and Magic Paintbrush. I use these to learn my stories.

Using story maps to learn visual art to extend stories

"Sorry, Majesty. I wish to obey..."

The Magic Paintbrush by British author Julia Donaldson is a rhyming version of the traditional Chinese story in which a child is given a magic paintbrush which will bring to life everything that she paints. In this version she must only paints things for for people who need them. When the Emperor, a greedy and unkind man, hears of the magic brush he demands that Shen be brought to him and then she must paint him a tree of golden coins. She draws a tree but refuses to finish and he sends her to prison. Shen escapes by painting a key and then a horse but the Emperor and his men follow her back to her village. The Emperor demands Shen perform for him and she starts to paint a dragon, who will become real and ‘ready for a meal’ if she finishes the painting. The Emperor realizes he is bested and flees back to his palace, leaving the villagers to revel and feast.

Another version of this story, Liang and the Magic Paintbrush was written and illustrated by Demi back in the 1990s. She told the tale with a male protagonist and it was a favorite of our family as well as a Reading Rainbow book.

I like to use this story get students to think of "what if..." questions and and ask "What if you had a magic paint brush - what would you paint for yourself? Do you need it or simply want it?" And a natural extension of this is to ask them to draw somethings they want. Or wish existed.

During my work with ReadBoston.org I like to incorporate the idea of drawing about stories, When weather and time permit, I may leave some chalk drawings outside the sites where I perform. Sometimes I leave some chalk too.

The tale of a magic paintbrush is a Chinese folk tale. Below are two versions. I am telling the story as a hybrid of these two books and recommending that teachers find the book in the library and read it as well.

The Magic Paint Brush  A Chinese folk tale

Once upon a time, there was a young man called Ma Liang. He was poor and kind and liked drawing so much that he drew pictures everywhere. One night, he dreamed that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush and asked him to use it to help poor people. When he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush on his desk. From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever poor people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use in the fields, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river to the field to help their crops grow. When he saw the hard working farmers struggling to feed their families, he drew more food for them to eat.  Soon many people knew about the magic paintbrush and were very grateful to Ma Liang.
But in the village, there lived a rich man who was mean and decided to steal the paint brush from the young man so that he could use it to become even richer. So he sent his servants to Ma Liang's home to steal the magic paintbrush.
Once he had the paintbrush, he felt very happy and he invited his friends to come to his home so that he could show them his new possession. He drew a lot of pictures, but none of them would come to life for him. He was very angry that the paintbrush would not work for him so he sent for Ma Liang.
He said to the young man "If you draw some pictures for me and bring them to life, I will set you free." Ma Liang did not want to help such a bad man, but he had an idea. He said to the bad man, "What would you like me to draw?"
The rich man said, "I want a golden mountain. I will go there to gather gold."  But the young man drew a sea first. The rich man was angry and said," Why did you draw a sea? I want a golden mountain. Draw it quickly!"
So the young man drew a golden mountain which was far away from the sea. The rich man said, "Draw a big ship quickly. I want to go there to gather gold." The young man smiled quietly and drew a big ship. The rich man jumped into the ship and set off to find the gold but when the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, Ma Liang drew a large wave which destroyed the ship and the rich man was never seen in the village again.
After that, the young man lived with his family happily and used the magic paintbrush to help the poor people as the the old man had asked him to do. Ma Liang and his the magic paintbrush were known and loved by everyone.

Ma Liang and his Magic Paintbrush

Once upon a time, in China, there lived a poor boy called Ma Liang. He had to work hard every day, gathering firewood, washing pots, scrubbing floors, etc. He loved to draw, but he was too poor to buy a paintbrush.

"I can draw on the ground with stick!" he said to himself, "But I could paint picture for poor people if I have a paintbrush."

Suddenly an old man appeared. He held out a paint brush, and gave it to Ma Liang. "Now you can paint pictures for poor people," he said.

The old man disappeared, leaving the paintbrush in Ma Liang's hand. Ma Liang started to paint immediately. He painted a butterfly, but the butterfly came to life and flew away! this was a magic paintbrush!

Soon everyone in the village heard about Ma Liang's paintbrush. Poor people began to ask him to paint things they needed.
"I am so hungry! Please paint me some rice." One poor man asked.

Ma Liang painted rice for him.

"Please paint me some fishes." asked another.

"Here you go. Be careful, it's very slippery!"

"I am cold! Please paint me a coat." asked another, he was shaking in the freezing wind.

"Here, this will keep you warm." Ma Liang painted him the warmest coat.

Soon the story of the boy with the magic paintbrush spread across China to the royal palace. Even the emperor knew about Ma Liang.

The emperor was a very greedy man. He said to Ma Liang: "Draw me a tree covered with gold coins!"

Ma Liang refused said: "No, I only paint for poor people!"

The emperor was furious! "Lock him up!" The emperor ordered his guards to threw Ma Liang into prison.

Ma Liang was hungry, cold, and lonely in the prison. Suddenly the old man who gave Ma Liang the magic paint brush appeared. He said, "Ma Liang, did you forget your paintbrush? It can save your life too!"

This reminded Ma Liang. He started to draw. He painted an Island, on the island, there were a lot of trees covered gold coins. And then he draw a huge sail boat mooring at the port waiting for sail.

The next morning, when the emperor came to the prison, and saw the Island.  He immediately order to sail to the Island with all his ministers and grandees.

When the emperor was on board, and ordered Ma Liang to draw winds to send the sail. Ma Liang started to draw, but he drew hurricane instead wind, and thick black clouds and heavy rains, too. The typhoon blew the boat far away in the sea, and the emperor's ship wrecked in thunderstorm, and they never came back.

Ma Liang waked back to his village, and he told everyone what happened. The he went on painting things for poor people. All villagers lived happily ever after.

Here are some ideas for using visuals to enhance engagement with story:

At the end of each storytelling performance all the children get to pick out a book to keep for ever.

10 Favorite Riddles + Pirates True or False

In the summer of 2015-2018, while performing as a storyteller for SaveTheHarbor.org, I used riddles to get people of all ages thinking. As Mary Read,  aka, Mark Read, a retired pirate from the last days of the Golden Age of Piracy, I emphasized that common sense and quick thinking were a pirates most important "weapons"  The connection between spoken word and literacy is strengthened through storytelling and word games like riddles. Some summers I also brought Mary Read and riddles to Read Boston’s Storymobile audience. This is a unique project that honors the spoken to written word connection every summer with an amazing program that brings professional storytellers dozens of sites and thousands of children ages 3-8 years old all over the city of Boston. The storytellers perform and then Read Boston gives out a free book to every participant.

As for Riddles?  Here are 10+ one of my favorites.

(Scroll down to find the answers to: Pirates: True or False)

1.    What is greater than God, More evil than the devil?  The poor have it, The rich don’t need it, And if you eat it, you’ll die?

2.    What must I give you so I may keep it?

3.    What do I break every time I say it?

4.    Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it.  Who uses it neither sees nor feels it.  What is it?

5.    If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?

6.    Always coming but never here?

7.    Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?

8.    What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

9.    Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?

10.    What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?

11.    Three big men under a tiny umbrella yet no one gets wet, why?


Give up?  Not yet!

Come on.

Think some more.

The best part of a riddle is the aha moment when you find the answer.

Really.

You can’t just give up.

Make a lot of guesses.

Talk to a friend.

Try again.

I’ll wait.….

Okay. Now, check your answers below.

The answers are in Spanish. ¡Claro!

Se habla espanol ? ¡Bueno ! No? Lo siento. Now, you will need to find a bilingual friend or Google translate to decode.

1. Nada


2. Mi Promesa


3. Silencio


4. Un ataúd


5. Un secreto


6. Mañana


7. Ton (Not)


8. Una toalla


9. Un humana


10. "M"


11. No está lloviendo.

Answers to the T F Pirate quiz ( see handouts at live shows) :

T √ 1.The name “Jolly Roger” may have come fromjolie rouge–French for “pretty red”
T √ 2.Pirating was not for sissies.
T √ 3.Buccaneers were pirates who lived on meat from cattle and pigs in the areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Their name comes from the French word for outdoor roast or barbecue. Their name comes from French cooking frames used by hunters in France to smoke and preserve meat,"la boucane"
F √ 4. Pirates were more likely to smoke out foes below decks using stink pots rather than fight it out down below. If they needed to go down below they probably covered their eyes for a minute or two (if the situation permitted it) and then headed below. They would not wear eye patches. This is the same method soldiers use today (if they lack night vision equipment).
F √ 5. There are no historical cases of people being made to walk the plank. Pirates marooned,shoved overboard or hacked their enemies to death. Not very nice folk, really.
F √ 6.Pirates didn't have much gold or silver to bury and most pirates had a 1 - 3 year "career". Very few saved for a rainy day or retirement. And “booty” was often food stuff, gunpowder and other supplies. The idea of a buried treasure was made popular by "Treasure Island".
T √ 7. Ooo la la! and “Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum!” In 1655 when the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica the British Navy changed the daily ration of liquor given to seamen from French brandy to rum.The practice of watering down the rum began around 1740 a mixture which became known asgrog.
F √ 8.When pirates were caught, they were brought to trial and sentenced to death by hanging and hanging was referred to as “dancing the hempen jig”
T √ 9.Bless their merry souls, pirates had such cute names for things.
T √10.Piracy is a big problem in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and particularly along the coast of Somalia. Modern day piracy accounts for $13-$16 billion dollars in losses annually.
T √ 11.Shi Xainggu (better known as Cheng I Sao) was active between 1801-1810 in the South China Sea. She commanded five to six squadrons of 800 large junks, about 1,000 smaller vessels, and between 70,000 and 80,000 men and women.
T √ 12.Clever and new agey before their time pirates may have known that the ear lobe is an acupuncture point for several eye conditions. It is quite possible that the practice of ear piercing was brought to the west from the eastern trade routes.

Devo, Florida Ruffin Ridley and "obscurity"

Interesting. Over at Facebook BHS 1971 some of my classmates say Florida Ruffin Ridley was “obscure" and only chosen to be a "politically correct." name for the Edward Devotion School.

 Obscurity?  Don't get me started!  Edward Devotion was and is not a "household word." One could easily support the argument that the Devotion name was tacked onto a school to be subservient to political and economically powerful folks which is another way to be "politically correct."  Edward Devotion is only known and honored for having accumulated a fortune. Full stop. His wealth, like most settlers of his time, was founded on land and wage theft. From whom did he “purchase” his large estate in 1645? And, on whose backs did he build his fortune? Native Americans, enslaved Africans and indentured servants?   Gonna send a big "slow clap" to his descendants for not wasting and then donating a portion his ill-gotten gains to education and the common good.  Next, I’ll send a raspberry to the Devotion family for insisting on getting name credit.

It puzzles me, as a descendent of later immigrants, some of whom who came to the US to escape brutal serf-like servitude in the Southern Italy why my co-ethnics or other descendants of vicious, violent anti-semitic pogroms in Eastern Europe would want to celebrate Edward Devotion? Exactly what tradition are we clinging to? We are grandchildren of despised immigrants of the The Immigration Act of 1924, aka the Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act ( Pub. L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Are we trying to fit in with the winners? 

Around the same time the Devotion school was named, 11 Italian Americans were lynched in Louisiana.  As author Chinua Achebe  said — 'Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.' A few years ago, then Attorney General Bill Barr gave his take to CBS reporter Catherine Herridge about  the “historical perspective” of his dismissal of all charges against former national security advisor Michael Flynn.  Barr responded, “Well, history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.” Florida Ruffin Ridley is an “obscure” name to us because our history has been written by the “winners.” What we are witnessing is a long overdue change in “the game” and I for one think it is a change for the better of us all.

What we name things is historically quirky and definitely lopsided. We have tended to name things after rich and white men.  Let’s looks at the non-controversial naming of the Tobin Bridge so named for Maurice Joseph Tobin who was a Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, the Governor of Massachusetts, and United States Secretary of Labor. He was a Democrat and a liberal who supported the New Deal and Fair Deal programs, and was outspoken in his support for labor unions.  How about the Callahan Tunnel, named for the son of Mass Pike chairman William F. Callahan, who was killed in Italy days before the end of World War II?  Compare these norms with the more recent brouhaha over the Zakim Bridge. The bridge's full name commemorates Boston area leader and civil rights activist Leonard P. Zakim who championed "building bridges between peoples." But my Irish co-ethnics and some neo-Nazis in Charlestown pitched a fit over the name. Why? Indeed. One wonders. I think it is called anti-Semitism. Yet there was nary a peep over the Tip O’Neill Tunnel or the tunnel named after the former Red Sox legend Ted Williams. I detect a pattern…

My Devo friends argue that my lack of feeling about tradition comes from the fact that I went to the Lawrence School, one of the other 8 Brookline elementary schools. And no one is calling for it to be renamed. Fair enough. So, who is the Lawrence School named after ? Amos Adams Lawrence (July 31, 1814 – August 22, 1886) an American businessman, philanthropist, and social activist. He was a key figure in the United States abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War and the growth of the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. He was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Kansas and Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Well, I didn't know much about Amos Lawrence except I like his bio quite a bit better than Edward "Devo's."  Especially his part in Abolitionism and the Civil War according to Wikipedia"

Amos Adams Lawrence

Lawrence credited the Anthony Burns affair in the spring of 1854 with radicalizing him and other cotton merchants on the issue of slavery: "[W]e went to bed one night old fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs & waked up stark mad Abolitionists." Lawrence contributed large amounts of capital to the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and funds for the colonization of free negroes in Liberia. He donated guns, specifically Sharps rifles, which were shipped to Jayhawkers and abolitionists in Kansas as "books" and "primers." During the bloodshed in Kansas, Lawrence wrote frequently to his cousin President Franklin Pierce on behalf of the free-state settlers. He also provided funds for the activism and legal defense of John Brown, though he deplored Brown's fanaticism and urged against violent resistance to the federal government. When Brown was arrested at Harpers Ferry, Lawrence appealed to the Governor of Virginia to secure a lawful trial.In 1862, he raised a battalion of cavalry which became the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, of which Charles Russell Lowell was colonel.

But let's not devolve into a "Our dead white guy was more woke than your dead white guy" battle. Let's stay focused and simply compare Ms. Ruffin Ridley and Edward Devotion.

ICYMI

Florida Ruffin Ridley (born Florida Yates Ruffin; January 29, 1861 – February 25, 1943) was an African-American civil rights activist, suffragist, teacher, writer, and editor from Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of the first black public school teachers in Boston, and edited the Woman's Era, the country's first newspaper published by and for African-American women. With her husband she moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1896, where they may have been the town's first African-American homeowners. Ridley was one of the founders of the Second Unitarian Church in Brookline which since 1944 has been home to Temple Sinai at Charles and Sewall Ave.

Edward Devotion (1621-85) settled in Brookline around 1645. At that time, Brookline was a farming community known as Muddy River. Devotion's acreage along Harvard Street included apple orchards and pastureland for sheep and cattle. His grandson,* also Edward Devotion, left a bequest to the town for public schooling in his 1744 will. (This second Edward Devotion was a slave-owner; an accounting of his possessions at his death included “one Negrow” valued at £30.) The Edward Devotion School, which today surrounds the house on three sides, was named for him in 1892 in recognition of his earlier bequest for a school.

There are 11 public schools in Brookline and now 2 are named after a woman. One is the Edith C. Baker school. Try as I might, and I am a prodigious googler, I can find zero biographical material about Edith C. Baker online.  The one citation and siting online is the  http://brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/history/proceedings/1927/1927.html “We welcome the new members of 1926. Our member, Mrs. Edith C. Baker, has become a life member this year…”  Is Edith Baker another woman who has been erased from history? That is quite likely. But Baker's relative “obscurity” hasn’t caused any stirs that I have heard.   

Now, 100 years after women "won" the right to vote, progressive Brookline has two schools honoring women in their names. Again, I offer a slow clap for that.  One was an accomplished African-American who lived and contributed to civic life in Brookline and Greater Boston. She did all this at a time when Black people were excluded from opportunity and under attack in every realm. She is certainly worthy of honor.  This mother of 4 daughters, granddaughter of immigrants can’t help but notice and call attention to a clear pattern of exclusion and lack of diversity in our naming norms. So, I am delighted to honor people like Florida Ruffin Ridley, who, with energy and personal sacrifice, started the movements that made it possible for me, my beloved colleagues of color and our daughters to enjoy greater equity, dignity and inclusion.

Reviving a dormant blog...

This is embarrassing. No posts since 2021? Well, I am starting to write again and intend to produce a weekly post. Meanwhile? I will repost some Notes from my Facebook page and reblog ( it is a verb, no?) from my Blogger site which I started in 2007. Whew.

A lot was happening everywhere in the last 13 years ! Some of my perspectives from 2007 -2021 are here: http://norahdooley.blogspot.com/ More to come…