I grew up appreciating origami. Every summer I attended Japanese summer school and it was there that I was introduced to my first origami story. One of my teachers used origami, rather than pictures from a book, to illustrate an old Japanese folktale, The Peach Boy. This skilled teacher only needed her voice and her wonderful origami creations to transport the class to the far regions of Japan. We were amazed to see the story come to life right before our eyes and it was then that I truly fell in love with the art of storytelling.

Later, as an early educator, I was excited to discover a local librarian who performed origami stories. We invited this skilled librarian to our class and instantly fell in love with one particular story, The Paper Hat. It has been retold by many, sometimes under a different title, but the story always has the same theme. It is a story about a curious child with a vivid imagination who is able to become anything and travel anywhere with just a piece of paper.

It is a story for the kid in all of us.