Storyteller Eshu Bumpus visited with students at Reed Intermediate School on Monday, May 4, sharing stories and storytelling advice.

During one of his presentations of the day, Mr Bumpus was introduced by Reed media specialist Pia Ledina to students gathered in the school’s Library Media Center.

Ms Ledina told the students that Mr Bumpus is a professional storyteller who performs at festivals and more and he was there to work with the students during a workshop about storytelling.

The students, as Mr Bumpus said, would finish the workshop with writing their own stories.

After sharing a story about the Three Little Pigs, while playing on a guitar, Mr Bumpus said, “Always tell a story your own way.”

His version of the Three Little Pigs taught the students a different perspective of looking at the story, with the wolf being unfairly portrayed.

Another story shared by Mr Bumpus, about the Greek god Hermes and a woodcutter, demonstrated for students how stories can teach different values to the reader.

Mr Bumpus played a game with students before the students worked on their own stories. The game had students come up with different ways for Cinderella to make or acquire a dress and to find her way to her infamous ball. The students were challenged to work within different parameters, like only having Cinderella only use her own skills or involving one other character that could help her.

After multiple rounds of the game, Mr Bumpus invited students to share their own versions of the Cinderella story.