A Donsy of Gnomes & more {giveaway}!!!!

And the lucky winner of A Donsy of Gnomes and a Kit N Tale is...

Emily, who said, "The Gnome Stories look great as do Lucy Littles, but I couldn't look through every thing yet!"  I will be contacting you Emily!  Congratulations and thank you to everyone who entered!

So here is the long awaited giveaway of A Donsy of Gnomes- Seven Gentle Gnome Stories and another special prize!  What an awesome prize it will be for one lucky winner!  I've had the pleasure of getting to know a little more about the author, Sieglinde De Francesca,  through an interview that I'd like to share with you.  

  

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When did your Waldorf journey begin?  How did you find Waldorf education?  

In the early 1950’s my mother was introduced to Anthroposophy and Waldorf and I went briefly to a Waldorf school in New York. Then, when Frances Edmunds, a dear family friend, started Emerson College in Great Britain he invited my mother to enroll there, so I attended Wynstones Waldorf School, also in the UK, graduating from high school there. Only after having a career in the theatre and becoming disenchanted with it, did I remember my wonderful experiences at Waldorf and decided to become a Waldorf teacher myself.

What are your storytelling roots?  Was storytelling a part of your childhood? 

I had had a childhood that was rich with imaginative play. But, I actually think that I got into storytelling through my work in the theater; through children’s theater and puppetry. When I became a Waldorf teacher the stories flowed.

"A Donsy of Gnome"s has become my new favorite story book.  How did this world of Limindoor Woods and the gnomes come to you?

As a young child I lived in a true colonial house in Westport, Connecticut, the house where Leon and Lucy, the children in the book, live. There was a hill there and a stream and meadow and woods, the same as in the book. Curiously, the area of my childhood world that is designated in the book as Limindoor Woods was blank in my memory. Yet, when the stories came to me, those woods came into focus.

The woods name is interesting. Limin, or liminal, has to do with a threshold between two different existential planes. That world of gnome is only accessible by passing through a limin door, thus the name.

Actually, I had originally started writing a totally different book, a curriculum book, but these gnomes would not let me be. When I relented and finally let them tell their stories I came to understand that this book was to be a portal into their world. I went to great length to write about gnomes as elementals in the introduction of my book. The elementals are expressions of the forces, the energies, of nature. Perhaps my “pen” was used as a tool to bring forth some of those energies in order to counteract what is happening in the world today. To remind us not to lose touch with the purity of nature.

Do you play favorites?  Is there any one gnome from your book that you are most fond of?  

That’s a difficult one. I think Pebble was the first one to come to me well over 20 years ago … and then Mossy. But each of the gnomes in the book has qualities that I love and that teach me at any time, depending on what is going on in my life.

Do you have any tips or advice for those of us who are new to storytelling?  Or perhaps struggle (and now I speak for myself) with storytelling? 

Ah! Let me tell you a story about storytelling. When I was interviewing for my first kindergarten class 35 years ago, I had to tell a story. I memorized Rumpelstiltskin word for word. I was terrified on the train ride to Boston. How would I do? Would the children like it? Then, there I was in front of a class of 4 year olds looking at me expectantly. The memorized story went right out of my brain. Zip! What was I to do? I asked myself, “What would these children like to hear?” What story can I “give” them? What do I love?

So I started telling them about when I was a little girl and I lived on a farm. I told of waking up when the stars were still twinkling, putting on my rubber boots and walking through the dew wet grass, squeak, squeak, out to the barn where my uncle was milking the cows. I told about the sounds and smells, about what the cow’s round warm side felt like when I sat down to learn to milk her… about the cats waiting for a creamy spray. It was something I was familiar with. Something a child would love to hear. It was a “gift” to them. For I believe our stories are gifts, carefully chosen, lovingly given. I got the job! ;-)

What do you want to tell my readers about your shop and products?

Please visit my site http://teachwonderment.com/ and shop http://shop.teachwonderment.com/ to explore some of the ways you can access your own awe and wonder… so that you can then teach wonderment to the children in your life.

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Thank you Sieglinde, for giving us a little window into your world! I love the story about your interview and how you describe stories as gifts, "carefully chosen, lovingly given". Beautiful. It's so good to remember that we all have stories to tell.  

• To enter this giveaway of "A Donsy of Gnomes" AND a "Kit N Tales" please go to Sieglinde's shop and tell me which product you would most love to have! You might also want to take a moment to look at her Kit N Tales and think about which one you might choose if you won. These adorable kits include a story and a craft instruction! I want to get "Pebble and the Tumbling Gnome" or the Star Child's Birthday!

• For a second chance to win, facebook or tweet this giveaway and come back and leave a comment saying you did.

• For a third chance to win blog about this giveaway and leave another comment with a link to your post.  

I will announce the winner Saturday, November 19th, 2011 by 8:00pm Mountain time.  Please leave me a way to contact you if you win.  Either by leaving your email address or making sure your blogger account will allow me to contact you.  

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Thank you to all who enter and thank you Sieglinde De Francesca for your time & generosity!