Folk and fairy tales presented at the Bartlett Library

Children and caregivers were able to enjoy their time at the Bartlett Library's "International Film Festival" program on Saturday, Jan. 14. Those in attendance viewed European folk and fairy tale stories that were made into short movies.

The program started out with a video version of "Strega Nona," a book written by Tomie dePaola. Strega Nona is the name for a village doctor, curing people through using her various home concoctions. One day, she looks for help around her house as she has grown older. A young man named Big Anthony gets the job, and he's to look after her goat, tend to her garden, sweep her house, etc. However, he is to never touch her pasta pot; she doesn't allow anyone to touch it.

Time passes and Big Anthony does all his chores, but one day he watched Strega Nona use her pasta pot, which magically sprouted pasta out of thin air! Unfortunately, he turned around before he saw her blow three kisses at the pot to get the pasta to stop appearing.

Big Anthony vows to use it, runs and tells the villagers of his find only to get laughed at because no one believes there's a magic pasta pot. Eventually, Strega Nona has to leave for the day, giving Big Anthony the opportunity to use the pasta pot. He does so, and all the villagers eat the pasta, but it soon grows out of control - covering the entire village. Strega Nona comes home, blows three kisses to the pasta pot and stops the pasta from appearing. She then hands Big Anthony a fork and tells him that his punishment is to eat up all the pasta before the end of the day because she wants to be able to sleep in her bed that night.

After watching "Strega Nona," the children watched "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat," a video version that's based on the book by Simms Taback.

This is a story about a farmer who has a long, striped overcoat. Instead of throwing it away when it gets all tattered and worn, he makes it into a little jacket. Once his little jacket is in disarray, he fashions it into a vest, and then so on and so on. The last thing he turns the coat into is a small button to hold his suspenders. However, the button pops off one day, lost forever.

After he loses the button, it would appear that he has nothing. However, he doesn't have nothing, he has a story to tell! So, he makes a book all about his overcoat and how he turned it into multiple things. The moral of the story is that you can always make something out of nothing.

Once the story was done, it started all over again, but this time to the beat of catchy foot-tapping music. The children were able to shout out the items that the overcoat turned into because of watching the story the first time, showing off their attentiveness.

The last of the folk tales to be shown was "Stone Soup," which is an old tale about three soldiers walking into a town and asking the villagers for food or a place to sleep at night. No one was willing to help the soldiers, so they announced that since no one had any food for them, they had no choice but to make some delicious stone soup. Hearing the name of the soup the soldiers intended to make, the villagers grew curious.

As the soldiers brought water to a boil, they asked for three stones to be put in. Then they told the villagers that it would be much better if they had carrots, but it was too bad that the villagers had none. One villager said she had some, went to her house and came back with her whole apron full of carrots. This pattern continued: Cabbage, potatoes, beef, milk, etc. At the end, they had a delicious soup which all the villagers contributed in making.

After hearing the three folk tales, the children got to watch the fairy tale called "The Ugly Duckling," based on the book of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen.

The classic tale unfolded on the TV monitor for the children, which consisted of a mother duck lying atop her eggs, but the biggest one took the longest to hatch. When it did hatch, it looked nothing like the other ducklings, so it was teased constantly. One day, the duckling leaves, and he sees these swans. He doesn't want to be alone anymore, so he joins them. Lo and behold, he sees his reflection and realizes that he is also a swan, not an ugly duckling. He gets his happily ever after with the other swans.

What was different about this story was that the children were able to read along as the words appeared on the screen.

Because the Bartlett Library is celebrating cultures this winter, the children in attendance were given lanyards and buttons because they were at the program. In order to collect all the buttons, patrons were instructed to look at the newsletter as the selected programs where buttons will be available are marked with globes next to them.

If you missed this program, an upcoming Youth & Teen Services program at the Bartlett Library is the "Passport to Adventure: France" program on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. Bonjour! Come and learn about the amazing country of France. Explore French culture through hearing a French story, playing a French game and creating your own "Monet" painting. Registration required, and attendees must be in third through fifth grade.

For more information and a complete listing of scheduled programs, call 630.837.2855 or visit www.bartlettlibrary.org.