
DATE: Monday, May 12, 1997                  TAG: 9705100076

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  127 lines

SHE SPINS TALES IN SPEECH AND PRINT

CAROLYN PRATTS, her opaque blue eyes rimmed by glasses, looks around at the two dozen earnest fifth-graders sitting on the floor in front of her.

On this warm Thursday afternoon she and Doris Mace, both members of the Norfolk Story League, are teaching students at Carver Intermediate School in Chesapeake how to tell a story to their classmates.

``It's important to project your voice,'' the grandmotherly Pratts says with authority. ``If you're talking to a group, you have to talk to the last person in the back of the room.

``And only choose stories that you like to tell.''

Pratts, a nationally known storyteller for decades, has no trouble following her own advice. Her expertise at weaving a tale by mouth, in fact, has quite naturally spilled over to the printed page.

Last year, Pratts wrote a children's book, ``The Sad Tale of Chippy Chipmunk,'' in her Virginia Beach studio apartment at Brighton Gardens by Marriott. She sent the manuscript to several publishers. All rejected the story of the little chipmunk who stowed away in a fisherman's basket and ate so much that he couldn't get out.

But this year help came from an unlikely source - Marriott International. The general manager of Brighton Gardens, Jane Kelly Donohue, was so impressed with the story and illustrations (sketched by activities director Kerry Jones) that she vowed to see the book in print. Within months, 125 spiral-bound copies of the book were in print.

Although the book can be purchased only at Brighton Gardens for $8.50, Donohue is still trying to get it published nationally.

``The story was so sweet that I thought we had to do something,'' says Donohue. ``Carolyn gives so much to our community - she leads choir practice and Bible study, plays the piano at church services and is on the residents council.

``This was so important for her. Carolyn was really discouraged after she tried so hard to get it published. It was like making a wish come true for her.''

At 85, Pratts can finally call herself an author. It's even more meaningful to her now because Pratts is almost legally blind. More than two years ago, Pratts was diagnosed with macular degeneration. In the past six months her vision has deteriorated to where Pratts can only see shapes peripherally.

She walks with the aid of a weathered scotch briar cane handed down to her by her mother. Pratts, a retired teacher and principal at the Easton School in Norfolk, has given up playing bridge and filling in crossword puzzles.

And writing. That hurts the most. The only regret that Pratts has is that she waited too long to start writing children's stories. Pratts has written seven other stories, but none has been published.

``Six months ago I was having the best time writing all these stories,'' says Pratts, holding the book in her lap. ``All of a sudden I couldn't see what I had written.''

Her voice wavering, Pratts blinks away tears.

``When you can't see to read it, it's not the same,'' she says. ``I'm not going to learn Braille at 85. I've shed many a tear, but I'm learning to adjust.''

Never one to sit around and brood, Pratts has refocused her energies. Every other week she spins tales to the residents of Brighton Gardens and every month travels to a school or library to share her creative skills with children.

At Heritage United Methodist Church, Pratts has been teaching the adult Bible class for 51 years and has no plans to stop. She also loves spending time with her nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, some of whom live in the area.

Blessed with the memory of an elephant, Pratts plays the piano by ear and knows about 50 stories by heart.

``I have all my stories on my computer,'' she says, pointing to her head. ``Thank goodness I have a good memory.''

Vision isn't needed to make a story come alive for Pratts. A master at facial expressions, voice inflections and hand gestures, Pratts knows how to snare an audience and keep them hooked throughout a tale.

At Carver Intermediate it's no different. Pratts recites poetry like a Shakespearan actress one minute and launches into a rollicking ``Amelia Bedelia'' story the next that makes the students laugh with delight.

``I'm a ham,'' she says. ``I love telling stories as much as they enjoy hearing them.''

Her favorite tale is ``The Warm Fuzzy.'' Pratts starts the story in a lilting, musical voice that the children can't help but listen to.

``There once was a happiest town in the whole wide world,'' Pratts began. ``The secret to the townspeople's happiness was warm fuzzies. Anytime a little child skinned his knee, an adult would give him a warm fuzzy and say `I love you and I care about you. Here is a warm fuzzy.'

``The same thing happened if two people were about to fight. Or anytime something bad happened.

`` `I love you and I care about you. Here is a warm fuzzy.' ''

As Pratts unravels the tale, her voice becomes even more lyrical. An evil man rode into town one day and told an ugly lie to the townspeople, she says, a scowl marking her face. He said there would be a shortage of warm fuzzies so they better not use them up.

The townspeople believed him and put the warm fuzzies in shoeboxes in their closets, Pratts continues. Little children were fighting with each other. No one said, ``I love you and I care about you. Here is a warm fuzzy.''

The students, enchanted by Pratts, sit wide-eyed on the thin carpeting.

``Then one day a handsome prince rode in on a white horse with pockets full of warm fuzzies,'' she says with a broad smile. ``He told the townspeople that as long as people love and care about each other there will be no shortage of warm fuzzies.''

Pratts stops and looks at the children. She's holding a burlap bag containing warm fuzzies (squares of gray fake fur).

``I think I have enough warm fuzzies to go around,'' she says. ``When you go home, if there's someone you'd like to give this to, what are you going to say?''

``I love you and I care about you! Here is a warm fuzzy!'' they answer.

After the workshop, several students take turns giving Pratts hugs and sitting on her lap. That kind of response is all Pratts needs to keep going.

``I recently listened to a tape called Moments of Gladness,'' she says. ``It said to enjoy right now, whatever you're doing. That's what I'm trying to do. I have a lot to be thankful for.'' MEMO: Carolyn Pratts will sign copies of her book from 2 to 3 p.m. May

19 at Brighton Gardens, 5620 Wesleyan Drive in Virginia Beach. Call

499-4800 for more information. ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Carolyn Pratts, 85, talks to fifth-graders during a storytelling

workshop she conducted at Carver Intermediate School in Chesapeake.

``If you're talking to a group, you have to talk to the last person

in the back of the room,'' she told them. ``And only choose stories

that you like to tell.''

Pratts wrote a children's book, ``The Sad Tale of Chippy Chipmunk,''

which was published with the help of Jane Kelly Donohue, left.

Donohue is general manager of Brighton Gardens by Marriott, the

Virginia Beach complex where Pratts lives.