Stories That Soar

Tonight we got to participate in a very cool event.  There is a non-profit organization in Tucson called Stories that Soar (read more about it here).  The purpose is to empower the voices of children through their writing.  In the fall students write stories and feed them to a large magic box that is placed in the school's office.  The stories are then read by a group of professional adult performers who select a few stories from each school to be transformed into short skits.  A few months later they return the magic box and bring the books to life for the kids in a live performance.  No one know which stories are selected until they are performed.  The whole process is crazy exciting.

Ava happened to be a character in one of her friend's stories that was picked by the actors.  When this story was performed at their school they called the characters, Ava and a few others, up on stage to be part of the play.  Tonight this play and one other from their school was chosen for the Best of Stories that Soar celebration.  Ava was invited to participate on stage once again (far right below).  The story was about Silly Bandz that come to life and try to take over the world.  Ava, Luis, Miguel and Maren fly to the White House to warn the president.

She mentioned that she was a little nervous right before it started but the energy from the actors was so amazing that she jumped right in without missing a beat.

Even though she was not an author she joined them up on stage at the end because, well she just loved the spotlight.

And performances usually end with ice cream right?  Well at least in our family they do.