Morton Grove, IL 60053 • 847.967.2361 • ashimojima@comcast.net
Anne has delighted youth and adult audiences of all sizes with her graceful and spirited tellings of folktales from her Asian heritage and around the world. Her thirty-plus years as a school library media specialist have given her a rich knowledge of story and a keen ear for performance. Anne has also taught graduate courses in storytelling and for seven years was on the Board of Directors of the Wild Onion Storytelling Celebration in Chicago.
Storytelling Goes To School
Looking for a way to get your students’ attention, have fun, and meet the educational standards? Anne’s workshop for teachers, librarians, and anyone interested in using stories with children is a highly practical session that describes activities that extend the storytelling experience through creative drama, drawing, rewriting stories, charts, story maps, creating picture books and videos, listening activities, and teaching students to tell stories. A handout includes lists of tried and true stories for each activity. Telling stories to your students will impact powerfully on your relationship with them – Anne guarantees it!
Selected Performances:
The Exchange Place at the National Storytelling Festival
National Storytelling Conference
Illinois Showcase Teller at the Illinois Storytelling Festival
Wild Onion Storytelling Celebration
Keepers of the Word Storytelling Festival, Massachusetts
Three Rivers Storytelling Festival, Pennsylvania
Canton City Storytelling Festival, Michigan
A Tale for Two Cities, Whitehall-Montague, Michigan
Storytelling at the Prairie Center
JustStories Storytelling Festival
Art Institute of Chicago
Detroit Institute of Arts
Museum of Science and Industry
Chicago Historical Society
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago Botanic Garden
Evanston Lake Shore Art Festival
Children’s Humanities Festival
57th Street Children’s Book Fair
Printer’s Row Book Fair
America Library Association National Conference
Selected Workshop Presentations:
American Association of School Librarians - 7th National Conference
Betty Weeks Storytelling Conference, National-Louis University
Chicago Area School Library Network
Chicago Teachers Advocating Ways to Literacy
Illinois School Library Media Association Conference
Illinois State Kindergarten Conference
Northlands Storytelling Network Conference
University of Wisconsin – Madison, School of Library and Information Studies
Publications:
“From the Library Media Center: Storytelling Through the Grades”
The Storytelling Classroom; Applications Across the Curriculum
by Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams, Libraries Unlimited, 2006.
“Storytelling Goes to School”
Storytelling Magazine. Vol. 16, Issue 1. January/February 2004
“Anne Shimojima – The Magic of a Storyteller”
ISLMA News. Vol. 15, No. 3. January/February 2003.
Newsletter of the Illinois School Library Media Association
“Storytelling in the School Library Media Center”
Story: From Fireplace to Cyberspace; Connecting Children and Narrative.
By Betsy Hearne, Janice M. Del Negro, Christine Jenkins, and Deborah Stevenson, editors
The University of Illinois, 1998.
What other have said:
One of the most compelling storytellers to be heard anywhere, Anne Shimojima is mesmerizing! Like a gifted sculptor, Anne has a talent for cutting away all that is extraneous, leaving only the essential story in all its glistening beauty behind.
Rives Collins, McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence
Dept. of Theatre, Northwestern University
Anne Shimojima is an eloquent and elegant story weaver. When she tells stories, her words shimmer in the air and fall gently into the listeners’ ears. You can’t help but feel inspired and alive when she spins her story magic.
Dianne de Las Casas, Author and Award-winning Storyteller
When I first heard you tell at ALA in Chicago, I thought, “I have to bring her to Pittsburgh. They’d love her!” I was right! Your name is frequently mentioned by people calling, writing and filling out feedback forms as a highlight of the festival. You are as wonderful at telling to seniors as to children – a rare combination.
Mary Morgan Smith Director
Three Rivers Storytelling Festival
We all admire your beautifully polished stories. A pleasure to listen! Thank you for taking part in our first festival. Your professionalism made us shine.
Helen Fink, Director
A Tale for Two Cities
Your story for the Sunday morning finale was beautiful. As I watched the audience, I could tell that you had captured them and then you took them safely back in time to “be in the moment” of the story with you. That’s magic!
Linda Gorham, Storyteller
Who would have thought that members of the video generation could sit and listen so attentively? (Of course, it helps when the person you’re listening to is as gifted as you are.)
Jean M. Fujiu, Executive Director
Japanese American Service Committee
Anne has presented workshops in Baton Rouge to enable educators to use storytelling with their students. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her experiences working with students and adults. Her professional presentations are rich and expressive and are filled with enthusiasm. They evoke high standards for storytelling.
Evelyn Conerly, Director, Library Power
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
I never knew a story could have so much impact on me.
Eighth grader, Bell School, Chicago
When I told my mom the story about the crane, she had watery eyes. If you could have told it instead of me, she would have used a whole box of tissue.
Seventh grader, Bell School, Chicago