By Christine C. Rivero
With a special report from Iggy Ipis

IGGY Ipis crawled up our face one Saturday morning.

EEEEEAAAIIIIGGHHH!!! "Hey, watch it! You nearly squished me!" he cried. Recovering our wits but still shuddering at the crawled-upon feeling he left prickling our nose, we admonished Iggy, "Well, you should know better than to walk on people's faces. Your legs are . . . hairy, you know."

"My legs are NOT hairy, thank you very much," our book-loving roach protested, stamping two of his indignant (we still say hairy) legs. Then adjusting his glasses, Iggy informed us in his most grave voice that "while you're snoozing away over here, the kids are already storytelling away at the Salaysayan Regional Finals."

"Ngek!" we stammer, "That's today??? Wait, Iggy! Wait for us!"

Due to our staffer's oversleeping, we interrupt this article to bring you . . . The Roach Report.

Sheesh, these JI staffers, what will they do without me? Of course, it was still two hours before the storytelling contest was supposed to start so I had enough time to fly over to Museo Pambata where the competition was going to be held. When I got there, I saw nine kids happily chatting away. 'Turns out they were the contestants but instead of looking nervous, they all looked so . . . happy. He-he, nothing like a good book to cheer anyone up, I always say.

Then one by one the contestants were called on-stage. Taking my place on the ceiling, I had a real swell time watching the kids bring their audience to far-away lands or some place deep within the earth and even up in outer space to the moon. They did this through storytelling alone since they didn't have any props or costumes. All they had were their books, their strong voices and their funny-looking faces. Er, that's funny-looking facial expressions. Ahem, anyway . . . Three kids stood out, making their audience guffaw or listen in awe. Being the first up on-stage, 15-year-old Emmalyn Trinidad of Ramon Magsaysay High School-Manila should have been a quivering bundle of nerves. But Emma just smiled and had everyone leaning forward to listen the moment she spoke. She chose the story "Nemo, Ang Batang Papel" because she says it's her favorite "and it tells the story of street children who would like to be as happy as other kids." The audience loved her heartfelt portrayal of a simple kid's wishes and dreams. I nearly sniffled watching her and I thought, "What a great way to start the contest!"

Emma's schoolmate, 13-year-old Lawrence Papa, had an entirely different effect on the audience. Reading the story of "Si Dilat, Si Kirat, Si Kurap, at si Pikit"--four brothers with very obvious eye problems--Lawrence had those watching in stitches. I had to cling very tightly to the ceiling (with my NON-HAIRY legs) to keep from falling as I laughed at Lawrence's googly eye acrobatics. This kid even has a smile that just makes you smile back even if you don't know why.

Another belly-clutching laugh-a-minute story was delivered by 15-year-old Conrad Raquel from Arellano High School Manila-North.

Hee-hee, I can still hear him going "Kokwak-akakakakakakak! Kokwek-ekekekekekek! Kokwik-ikikikikikik!" as he told the story of three frogs trying to find the right family for a lost baby in the book "Ang Bata sa Basket." He moved around the stage and did other animal sound effects that were so good, I thought I could actually see him turn into a goat, a lion and even a ssslithering sssnake. People loved him so much, they congratulated him "Kokak! Kokak!" as he walked off the stage.