Showing results by publisher "Round River Productions" in Entertainment & Performing Arts

A Grammy-nominated recording artist, Bill Harley - songwriter, storyteller, author, playwright - is known as one of the finest family performers in the United States. His unique combination of song and story, silly and serious, has entertained families for 20 years, and led him to be called "the Mark Twain of contemporary children's music" by Entertainment Weekly.

These wacky, but true, stories from growing up are about trying to figure out how the adult world works, and about having fun no matter how old you are. In this collection, Bill Harley, one of the most prolific and celebrated storytellers of our time, performs "Grownups Are Strange" (and, yes, kids are too!).

Remember 6th grade, where the question, "Are you cool?" takes on cosmic proportions? Acclaimed storyteller Bill Harley revisits the excitement (or was it torture?) in these hilarious true (or at least real!) stories. His wacky tales capture the essence of what it feels like to be a kid, and will delight and engage children and parents alike.

In Lunchroom Tales, Bill Harley and his band - the Troublemakers - return to the Delaware Trails Elementary School where Bill once roamed the halls as a student. They kick off their show with the song "Everyone's a Little Bit Different" - but soon, memories get the best of Bill, and he begins to recount adventures and disasters from his former days of glory (or was it torture?). Meet Mr. Hambleman, the custodian (not janitor!) and Mrs. Nottingham, the terrifying 3rd grade teacher (are teachers human, or are they a different species?), explore super cool places like the back of the bus, and enjoy Harley's engaging recreation - through song and story - of what it feels like to be a kid in school.

The Teachers' Lounge is Bill Harley's newest spoken word recording: a collection of hilarious and dead-on observations about life in elementary school. On this latest recording, two richly detailed and plotted stories of his school experiences ("The Teachers' Lounge" and "The Science Fair") are coupled with three poems.

Whether performing his original tales or retelling an old classic, Bill Harley is one of the liveliest acts going in storytelling for kids. You'll hear a story about a little girl named Sarah as well as Harley's take on what might happen if a kid stayed up all night (something he never got to do as a child) and his version of the old English folktale "Fox's Sack."

Everybody knows an Aunt Edith - picky, disagreeable, animal-hating, who couldn't possibly ever have been a kid herself. Well, if you know that Tricky is Jack's escape-artist hamster, you can just imagine the fun in the story "Aunt Edith Meets Tricky." This is just one example of the potential for silliness loaded in this engaging collection, in which master storyteller and songster Bill Harley presents originals, as well as his own, unique takes on old favorites. Others include "Wacka Wacka Woo," "Soap Soap," "Is Not, Is Too," "Tara and the Magic Sack," and "Aiken Drum."