Shelby's Stories
The cold ocean water washed over his feet. The Old Man scanned the beach slowly. Hundreds of starfish littered the sand. He bent over another sea star, lifted it up, waited for a wave to come in and gently tossed it out to sea. He stooped again, straightened and pitched another one, darker and heavier this time. Often he imagined their life in the ocean, crawling across the watery sand in the rolling surf, operating solely on instinct.
A young man sat on an overlook, the wind and sea spray playing havoc with his hair and clothes. He studied the Old Man as he carried out his tedious endeavor. What a foolish undertaking! What a misguided old-timer! After scrutinizing his actions for a while, the Young Man clambered off the overlook and carefully picked his way around the craggy rocks, down to the beach.
Strolling over to the Old Man with a contemptuous smile, he said, " You silly Old Man, what do you think you are doing? Look at the all those starfish ahead of you, and then look at the ones that have snuck up behind you. Your work will never be done. What difference do you think you can make?"
The Old Man looked the Young One straight in the eye, carefully scooped up 
still another starfish in his weather-beaten hand and threw it into the sea. He glanced at his challenger and said, "It made a difference to that one."
Story List
Lizard and Fireflies
Lazy Jack
The Singing Pine Tree
Blue Corn Girl
Starfish
Student Work
Check out the results of Storytelling with Shelby shown in the students' great work!