Rafe Martin: Awards

Hi Rafe -- ...I hope you remember visiting us at Gallup Catholic this winter. I had to pass this on to you. One of my eighth graders...is one of the most severe cases of dyslexia I've ever seen. When I first met him three years ago, it was almost impossible to get him to write anything -- but what I have been saying is that the spelling is just something to clear up at the end, and the most important thing is to get the story down. Gradually, he's become more and more fluent, and his voice as a writer has developed. They had a huge project due at the end of the year -- publishing a story into a hardbound book. This student's story was sixteen single spaced pages. It took him a long time to get it typed, and his father helped him edit and correct it. They did a great job. But this is his "About the Author." You will see why I'm sending it on: "I am the author of this book, Chronicles of the Fire Riders. The inspiration for this story was when Rafe Martin came to our school and did a presentation on writing. He said that writing was a way for us to experience something we could not experience ourselves. I wanted to experience the sensation of flying on a dragon through the world of my own creation. A world where I can do anything I wish. To all who read my story, I hope you enjoy. To the author, Rafe Martin, I want to say thank you."

Hi Rafe.
We are still on a high here from your storytelling. We sold many more books after your visit and so we need quite a few name plates. Here is my list. Thank you in advance.

Thanks again so much.
Julie Rapp, School Library Media Specialist
Northwood Elementary School
Hilton, NY 14468

Dear Rafe,
On behalf of the Spring into Reading Committee for Clarkston Community Schools, this note is filled with deep gratitude and appreciation for you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your passion of reading and writing with al of us in Clarkston. We cannot begin to express how much our students, staff and parents enjoyed your visit to our school district in April. Your warm and friendly personality and sense of humor captured the hearts of everyone - students, as well as adults! It is very exciting to still hear the teachers and students talk about your visit and your books weeks after the special event. You definitely left a lasting impression on our community - thank you! We wish you nothing but continued success in the years to come.

Sharon Crain
Spring into Reading Committee
Author Procurement Chairperson
Clarkston, MI

Dear Rafe,
I just wanted to thank you again for your part in making this one of the best Sierra Storytelling Festivals ever! You were great! Your stories were captivating - I only wish I got to hear more! Thank you for your professionalism, too - that helped to make the festival run smoothly. I look forward to working with you again!

Marilyn Mociun
Director, Sierra Storytelling Festival

Dear Mr. Martin,
I wanted to let you know how much my students appreciated your coming to West Point. Your performance was great. The children learned a lot about the writing process and how you go through to get a finished product. Your message was very important. Of course, I have told the children this a hundred times, but hearing it from a real author makes a big difference. Again, thank you.

Sincerely,

Belva Serio,Third Grande Teacher
West Point Elementary School, United States Military Academy
West Point, NY

Here is a scan of an evaluation form from Putman / Northern Westchester BOCES, Yorktown Heights, NY. We received this in the Summer of 2002 from BOCES Arts Coordinator, Michelle Sherer.

"Thank you so very much for such an outstanding performance!"
Paul Nelson, Director, The Joseph Campbell Foundation
Festival of Myth, Folklore, and Story

"A renowned oral storyteller."
Publishers Weekly

"We send a big Nebraska THANK YOU for coming to speak with us! The audience raved over your storytelling as well as what you had to say about language and stories and their importance today."
Sylvia Yoder, Eastern Nebraska Reading Council

" What a super afternoon you gave us! Everyone left with uplifted spirits and a burning desire to keep the imaginations of children alive and challenged. We will remember your storytelling and inpiring words for a long time."
Herbert H. Sandberg, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Toledo

"What a wonderfully terrific Storytelling Institute you led! Thanks for sharing your brilliance with us. I will savor it for years to come."
Dr. Flora Joy, Director, International Storytelling Institute, East Tennesee State University

"Movies and modern technology too often produce minds that are dying of imaginative malnutruition. I checked out one of Rafe Martin's tapes at the library. I listened to it in the car as I drove home, and I was scared. It seemed so real. His voice is profound; it is a voice that has power."
Student, Appalachian Literature and World Classics, East Tennessee State University

"I wanted to thank you for your gift of storytelling -- both the generous gift you gave with your telling and the wider gift you are giving with your books. There are values and ways that are so deeply humam, yet terribly endangered by our own foolish habits of denial, selfish individualism and the seductive power of technology. Your stories stand against that by standing for our true nature -- wild, compassionate, funny, sad, whole. I hope in the days to come we can continue to work with you and forge closer ties."
Alan Senuake, National Coordinator. Buddhist Peace Fellowship

"On behalf of the staff, students, parents, and grandparents of A:Shiwi Elementary School in Zuni Pueblo I want to thank you. Your three days of presentations -- to staff as well as to parents and children -- were positively inspiring. Many also commented that they felt honored by your sensitive portrayals of Native American legends. Our students have started writing their own versions of traditional stories as well as writing original stories as a result of your visit. You have become an important member of the A:Shiwi family!"
Charley Bullock, Reading Teacher, A:Shiwi Elementary School, Zuni, NM

"Thanks for an outstanding day at Penn State. You should know too that your performance drew the largest crowd of our whole summer series. Some storytellers are technically superb yet leave their audiences with little when all is finished. I was struck by how much your storytelling was NOT like that. You have a keen sense of your art and of how to make your telling focus on your story, not on yourself. When you are finished deep images remain. It was an empowering experience. Your combination of artistry and scholarship is truly unique and inspiring. Many thanks."
Dan Hade, College of Education, Pennsylvania State University

"Your visit to the summer workshop in Appalachian Literature and World Classics at East Tennessee State University was the highlight of the term. The students were most enthusiastic about your lecture and I am still awed by your ability to handle 300 children in one hot room."
Roberta T. Herrin, Dept of English ETSU College of Arts and Sciences

"Our heartiest thank you for a job well done. The Fourth Mazza Summer Institute was a huge success by any measure due, in no small measure, to your wonderful presentations. There were so many favorable - no, make that ecstatic comments about your visit . . . that we wish we had been able to tape them so you might bask in their glow."
Jerry Mallett, Ed. D., Director, Mazza Collection Galleria, The University of Findlay

"We are still basking in the warmth of the world you created for us - what a wonderful experience that was for teachers as well as children. You certainly set a standard that will be hard for anyone else to meet. As I looked around at the teachers in that after school workshop I recognized some who were not easily impressed. Yet there was unanimous praise for you - no mean accomplishment. I think what reached them was the intellectual steps you went through and took us through in arriving at your passionate and total commitment to storytelling. There is no jargon, no theatrics in your presentation; just disarming simplicity honed to poetic purity."
Marjorie Schlosberg, librarian, Heathcote Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY

"I'm getting many positive strokes from teachers whose students were at Young Authors and came back today all enthused about their experience. THANKS again for being such a wonderful inspiration."
Joyce Hinman, Conference Chair, 23rd Plains Regional Conference, International Reading Association

"Thank you for making our 1999 Mariposa Storytelling Festival a truly memorable event!! Everyone's still talking about the festival and your stories."
Marilyn Rudzik, Mariposa Storytelling Festival

"Making 1,000 strangers in a Las Vegas ballroom feel as though they were in an intimate setting is no small feat. Not only was your presentation entertaining, you provided jus the right tone for the closing of a long afternoon of programming on an important theme."
Joint Committee of the American Booksellers Association and the Children's Book Council

"You did a brilliant job on our parenting show. We've never heard anyone so clearly explain the difference between storytelling and reading aloud."
KidWaves Radio, Philadelphia, PA

"Your name was mentioned over and over again on the conference evaluation sheets. I think you should be declared a national treasure."
Dr. Janelle Paris, Coordinator, Sam Houston State University Book Festival, Huntsville, Texas

"You've given us a new perspective on the power of stories and the imagination."
Elizabeth L. Dodd, Department of Early Childhood and Reading Education, Valdosta State College, Valdosta, GA.

"Rafe Martin is a genuine contemporary traditional storyteller. His voice is incantatory, his choice of story impeccable."
Laura Simms

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