the Stories She Tells

Since the beginning of time, humans have used gestures, sounds and words to communicate.

So it should not be a surprise to see children and parents enjoying stories and songs in the Deschutes Public Library system thanks to Heather McNeil, youth services manager.

McNeil and Todd Dunkelberg were both hired after passage of the 1998 bond initiative creating the Deschutes Public Library District. Dunkelberg started as a Children’s Librarian and is now the director of the district, while McNeil was hired as the youth services manager, the position she still holds today.

“Heather pretty much developed children services in Deschutes County from the ground up,” said Dunkelberg, adding that McNeil was responsible for training children’s librarians, developing the types of storytime programs the library offered, creating summer reading programs and much more.

Dunkelberg and McNeil developed story skits with voices, accents, gestures and even rhymes, and traveled throughout the county performing them.

“I got to learn from Heather and see firsthand her amazing skills,” said Dunkelberg.

Born in Germany, McNeil, who was a librarian for 21 years in Colorado, grew up on U.S. Army bases in Germany, Turkey and all around the United States.

“Looking back, it was the most wonderful opportunity because it introduced me to new cultures, stories from all types of people, and learning acceptance of different kinds of people,” said McNeil. Having to adapt quickly to new situations, then moving every two years, helped her grow and shaped her into the person she is today.

A third-generation storyteller, McNeil attributed her early fondness for storytelling to listening to her grandfather’s stories while visiting her grandparents in South Dakota.

“He was a natural storyteller and knew how to take a lie and expand upon it,” she said. “Of course, as kids, we believed every word he said.”

Her grandfather, Merle, had worked as a cowboy, circus barker and taught Shakespeare at an engineering college in South Dakota. He understood that Shakespeare was meant to be spoken and performed, not analyzed through charting and diagramming.

“As a result, I grew up hearing those kinds of quotations and bravado, and it never occurred to me that it wasn’t ordinary,” McNeil said.

The lineage continued with McNeil’s mom and aunt who both became librarians and storytellers. Wanting to follow her own path, McNeil spent two years at Coffey College in Nevada, Mo., studying theater before finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri. Concerned about employment in the arts, McNeil obtained her Master of Library Science at the University of Denver.

While working in Littleton, Colo., as a librarian, McNeil had a second career as a professional storyteller traveling to events and festivals throughout the country. Living with a childhood obsession for all things African after reading “Born Free, Living Free” and “Forever Free” by Joy Adamson when she was 10, and then telling African stories at festivals and events, she decided to go to the source.

“At one point, I figured I was telling the stories incorrectly, having never experienced the country, so I finally went in the late 1980s,” said McNeil.

She traveled throughout Kenya collecting stories with a member of the Kikuyu people who acted as her translator. From those travels, she wrote “Hyena and the Moon: Stories to Tell from Kenya.”

After that book, she wanted to delve deeper into her Scottish heritage, so McNeil traveled to Scotland after being invited to a storytelling festival in Edinburgh. She spent time in the Hebrides learning stories of the “other world” or faerie lore, then wrote “Celtic Breeze: Stories of the Otherworld from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.”

Her most recent book, “Read, Rhyme, and Romp: Early Literacy Skills and Activities for Librarians, Teachers, and Parents,” formed the foundation for an early literacy calendar distributed by the library that includes artwork from various children’s book illustrators as well as tips to have fun with reading.

A self-proclaimed “better-late-than-never parent,” McNeil adopted a daughter, Jamie, in August 1998 with whom she shares her love of books and reading. Though now in high school, daughter and mother continue the family tradition of reading aloud to each other. But in exchange for family time, McNeil cut back on traveling to storytelling festivals and focused more on her passion for early childhood literacy at the library.

In 2005, the Public Library Association and American Library Association teamed up to create “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library” (ECRR), a program focused on promoting early childhood literacy through storytime at libraries. McNeil became a certified master trainer of ECRR through Portland State University and still travels throughout the state training librarians to use playtime, songs, rhymes and stories to excite young children about books and reading.

“Heather has brought the importance of literacy and early learning to our community in a way that had not existed before she came,” said Holly Remer, executive director of Healthy Beginnings. “Since I’ve been working with Heather in the capacity of early literacy, she’s been an incredible resource not just to our program, but to every early childhood program in the community.”

In addition to training staff and caregivers about early childhood literacy, McNeil performs her Toddlin’ Tales storytime at the downtown library, created a summer reading program and oversees the Library Linx program. This program allows students to go online and request books from the library that are then sent to their schools, where they check them out.

McNeil also served on various committees including the American Library Association’s Newberry Medal Committee, Notable Recordings Committee and the Wilder Committee, selecting the best children’s book of the year, the best recording for children 14 and younger and honoring an author or illustrator for their body of work.

While on the Notable Recordings Committee, she learned to multitask.

“I’d put on my headphones and listen to recordings while staining my deck that summer,” she said.

In April 2014, at the Oregon Library Association’s annual convention, McNeil was presented with the Librarian of the Year award. Attended by several thousand librarians, the award was a complete surprise.

“I was sitting next to her as the Multnomah County librarian was reading the award recipients’ achievements, and at some point, I heard Heather say, ‘Oh, no,’” said Dunkelberg.

Nominated by staff and colleagues from across the state and within Deschutes County, this major award reflects the dedication and passion that McNeil has invested in developing youth programs not only for the Deschutes County Library system but also statewide.

This year, the Deschutes Public Library system, in partnership with numerous child services organizations, received a $50,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Education for an early literacy program called “Read It, Read It” in the tri-county area. The library will serve as the grant’s fiscal agent. The concept is that as children visit different service organizations, they’ll receive a free book, a coupon for another free book at the library, an early literacy toy, and when the parents come to the library, a chance to win $100 in groceries.

“We want them to look forward to coming to the library and making it a regular part of their family experience,” said McNeil.

Over the years, parents who read the same book over and over again to their children often ask McNeil what book to read instead. McNeil’s advice is simple.

“Read it again,” she said. “There is something about that book that just grabbed the child, and one day they’ll be reading along with you. They’ll be so excited and proud of themselves — that’s the start of the whole thing.”

But don’t be surprised if that advice is delivered with a Scottish accent or in rhyme.