CHILDREN’S AUTHOR and STORYTELLER DELIGHTS LOCAL YOUTHS DURING LIBRARY TOUR

Story and photography by Kelsey Roseth

Her arms cling to the side of her chair. She frantically kicks her feet and energetically thrashes, hard enough to move her chair from side to side. Her eyes are wide and her voice is foreboding as she tells the audience an animated tale of a greedy dog and the consequences of his actions. This is Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux doing what she does best — sharing stories through the art of acting.

Lessons Learned Through Stories

“You don’t need a stage, you don’t have to have costumes … you can do everything with your words,” said Arrowsmith DeCoux, as she described her recent tour throughout the Arrowhead Library System. For two weeks this spring, the children’s author and storyteller from Grand Marais made 24 stops throughout the system’s 27 libraries, visiting seven counties. On tour, she performed “Animal Tales of How and Why,” which are interactive folktales for families. Her act drew in crowds from a dozen to more than 170 children and was funded by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

“I like the magic of stories,” Arrowsmith DeCoux said. “It’s an ancient art form … and it’s how we communicate as human beings.” The actor performed tales she adapted to explain how the turtle gets cracks in its shell, why dogs sniff each other’s tails, and why bears hibernate, among other stories.

“I think the world is magical and beautiful,” Arrowsmith DeCoux said, describing herself as the Pied Piper leading children through the wardrobe door and into Narnia. “I feel like I want to be looking for those doorways into fantastical places.”

“My favorite story was the one where the dog was naughty,” said 5-year-old Ripley Haglund-Pagel of Duluth. His mother, Amber, said free programming at the library like “Animal Tales” is a huge help.

“Especially on nights where my husband works,” she said. “It’s something to do. It keeps them busy, it gets me out of the house, and they learn something. We love it.”

“I liked the frog one,” said 7-yearold Vanessa Pascone of Duluth. “I liked how we got to touch our knees and toes and wave our hands in the air.” She said that through the stories, she learned that “it’s not good to break promises.”

Pursuing A Lifelong Passion

Arrowsmith DeCoux’s love of performance dates to her youth. As a child, the Minnesota native loved theater and knew she wanted to write, too. “I was always one of those kids who read a lot,” the storyteller said. “I have memories of (my mom) reading us bedtime stories when I was certainly well into middle school.”

Arrowsmith DeCoux studied theater at Northern Illinois University. She met her friend’s mother, Tina Rohde, a woman who would shape her future, when Rohde came to see an end-of-semester storytelling class performance at the end of freshman year. Rohde is part of WonderWeavers, a Minnesotan storytelling duo made up of her and Colleen Shaskin. The pair provide entertainment throughout the region, and after freshman year of college, Arrowsmith DeCoux worked for Rohde. “I started out doing a lot of day cares and preschools, and I would do children’s birthday parties. I learned how to do face-painting and balloon animals and clowning,” she said.

Her background as a “Scandinavian nerd” also played an important role into shaping her into a lively storyteller and provided her inspiration for creating her own stories. She began performing at cultural heritage festivals. “I found that it really resonated with me to be telling stories, especially from Scandinavia,” she said.

A Life Lived Creatively

Today, Arrowsmith DeCoux lives in Grand Marais with her husband, Jay, the town’s mayor, and is a proud mother to 8-year-old Ennis. Her son is at an age now where she can travel for a few days at a time, she said, and she’s taking time to explore storytelling and get back to her love of performing.

Arrowsmith DeCoux is also a published author who wrote a children’s book called “The Marvelous Imagination of Katie Addams,” which was published in 2015.

This library tour is one of the myriad of gigs and pursuits in the family — she and Jay run the Art House Bed and Breakfast in Grand Marais, own Fireweed Bike Cooperative, teach pie-baking and sausagemaking at North House Folk School, and Arrowsmith DeCoux is part of a Swedish folk singing group called SVEA Singers. “We seem to be good at a lot of things, except for saying ‘no’ to new ideas,” she said, laughing when talking about the innovative vibe in her hometown. “Grand Marais is a wonderful community of artists; there is a real creative spirit.”

Not surprisingly, Arrowsmith DeCoux is also a published author who wrote a children’s book called “The Marvelous Imagination of Katie Addams,” which was published in 2015. The book’s main character witnesses her parents go through a tough divorce. To cope, she hungrily reads letters from her interesting Uncle Edmond, who is off on adventures around the world, and imagines she’s alongside him. v

To experience Arrowsmith DeCoux’s storytelling and read her writing, she has two free story downloads available on her website: rosearrowsmithdecoux.com.