Reading Diary B: Alice in Wonderland

Reading Diary B: Alice In Wonderland

A Mad Tea Party: Isn’t Alice a kid? Shouldn’t she not accept wine so readily? I love the conversations in this story.

A Mad Tea Party (cont.): The song is the best part! I love the Hatter’s take on it. It would be so weird to live in a world where it’s always 6 o’clock.  Maybe I could write my storytelling over a modern day version of this.  

I could write a story based on the way Alice asks questions during the other story. Like, curiosity killed the cat!

Who Stole the Tarts: I like that the verdict is given in poem form.  That’s pretty fabulous.  “Take off your hat.” “It isn’t mine.”  That’s awesome.  Question everything!

Who Stole the Tarts (cont): “You may stand down.” “I can go no lower, I’m already on the floor” I like how realistically he’s taking everything.  

I know this reading diary isn’t very long.  Honestly, I like the story a little bit, but it’s not one of my favorites.  And it’s hard for me to construct a story-telling from this story.  It’s definitely different, if anything.  

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Reading Diary A: Alice in Wonderland

Reading Diary A: Alice In Wonderland

Down The Rabbit Hole: Shouldn’t the fact that the rabbit is wearing a waistcoat in the first place be alarming?? Of course the rabbit seemed extraordinary - it had a waistcoat on!   

It’s weird how she isn’t even afraid of dying or getting hurt! I don’t know what kind of feelings I would have if I was falling for that period of time, but I’m almost positive terror would be one of them!

Down The Rabbit Hole (cont.):  I can relate to her missing her cat and wish her cat was with her! if anything I’m glad I read this story just for that part. :)

Advice From a Caterpillar: Bahah, this is a great conversation.  Also, I think it’s awesome that instead of causing more of a fight, Alice realized he was in a bad mood and began to walk away.  That takes a lot of maturity!

Pig and Pepper:  It’s kind of funny how they have this whole argument, and all Alice had to do was turn the door knob.

Pig and Pepper (cont.): The Duchess sounds awful!  Also, this is the strangest story.

Pig and Pepper (end):

“we’re all mad here” I really like that quote.  I love the cat’s explanation for why he’s mad.  That was fantastic.

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Extra Reading Diary: American Indian Folk Tales

Extra Reading Diary: American Indian Fairy Tales

How the Summer Came: I love how wise he is.  Iagoo knows everything! And he’s so patient, which is an awesome quality. I like how the stories are informative AND interesting. Another example of how important nature was to them.  He could change into an animal! So, is he actually human?  

How the Summer Came (cont.): That boy put a lot of trust into a talking squirrel.  I’m not sure I could have done the same. It’s weird to me that the squirrel knew he had to go through Manito’s boy to get what he wanted.  If there’s so little to eat how have squirrels been surviving so far? Surely they would have died out or adapted a new eating habit by then.  

How the Summer Came (end): It’s been a long time since I’ve read a story with a wolverine in it! and the fact that he’s the one that made the first dent is awesome! And he was the first to make it through the sky, whaaaat.  That was a sad ending!

The Fairy Bride: Evil fairies… how terrifying.  It sounds pretty typical that they play tricks, though.

The Fairy Bride (cont.): This story says that she went to the forest, and disappeared before a wedding she didn’t want to have.  But then she was seen as a fairy bride.  I will probably write my story over what happened in between, and how exactly she became a fairy bride.

(Enchanted Forest)

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, The Story-Teller:

I wish I knew the secrets of the woods and fields.  That sounds amazing. “There was magic in almost everything.” I LOVE that so much.  I do hate the fact that boys get bows and weapons and girls get necklaces… I want a bow.

I love how this is the start of the stories.  This was a really creative way to start the series of stories.  

The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds:

I love that the children are happy and they aren’t in danger, but where the heck are their parents? Though, I’m pretty sure that would be the best childhood ever. Just being able to run around in the fields and stuff.  Jealous. Honestly, I think this place is my personal heaven.  

Part 2:

Ohhhh, so they DO have parents.  Awesome! “...my brains were given to me to think with.”  I love that quote! Baha, I love that the coyote said they asked the wrong question.  The worm was the hero! That’s fantastic! It kind of reminds me of the tortoise and the hare story.

(Children Playing)

The Child of the Evening Star:

I like that all of the stories put the most emphasis on the outdoors.  I wish the world now was a little more like that. I love that she says it’s the heart of men that matters, not their looks.  How wise!

The Child of the Evening Star Cont.: This is seriously a beautiful story.  

The Child of the Evening Star Cont,. Again: Eating food to undo a spell sounds great! but maybe that’s because I’m really hungry right now…

The Child of the Evening Star End: This was a really beautiful story.  I liked it so much that I don’t even know what I would do make a storytelling from it. I don’t think I could.

Extra Reading Diary: Pacific Northwest

Extra Reading Diary: Pacific Northwest

How Silver Fox Created the World:  I love creation stories! It’s interesting that a silver fox and a coyote are the ones to create things. Silver-Fox is such a sly guy.  

Dang.  Silver-Fox is assertive! But the ending wasn’t a very good one.  It left things way too up in the air.

How Kemush Created the World: Another creation story! Nice! maybe they made another one because they didn’t like how Silver-Fox created it either.  This was a pretty good one in comparison to the others.

How Old Man Above Created the World: The title alone makes me think of the christianity creation story.  I’m loving all these creation stories, though! Apparently I picked the right section to read.  I like how this one deals with creating a hole as well. I think it’s funny that the earth started out as flat when that’s what it was believed to be for so long. The ending was weird, but so far I like this creation story the best.

How Dog Stole Fire:  It took forever for the story to actually involve a dog.  I was almost worried. I don’t understand how the dog could have hidden fire in his ear, but I suppose it’s not too far off from his ability to talk, so I can’t judge.  Also, dogs can’t sweat.  Plot hole.  

The First Totem Pole:  I would be unhappy too if I didn’t get a dance.  Poor guy.  All the animals joining in kind of reminds me of cinderella.  How sweet of them! I like how the totem pole is known as the pole that holds up the sky.  Super cool.

(Kwakiutl dance)

Reading Diary B: Eskimo Folk Tales

Reading Diary B: Eskimo Folk Tales

Papik, Who Killed His Wife’s Brother:  Gotta love the eskimo gossip.  Dang! Called out by his mom! That’s intense.  I don’t think I could lie to my momma.

Ohhh, the monster attacked him.  Justice is served.

Oof, the description of what the monster did to him is morbid.

I like the meaning of the story, though.  Any man who kills his fellow without good cause will be attacked by a monster.

Maybe I can write a story of how Papik killed his wife’s brother.

The Wife Who Lied: Why would you visit your own people if they ate people?? That sounds kind of sketchy to me.

Why does she want to make war against her husband’s tribe??

Damn.  They killed her dead, that’s for sure.  If you ever want your kids to be afraid of lying, tell them this story!

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton: I don’t think it’s fair to call him a glutton when he was forced to eat with a threat of death if he didn’t.   

How has he not died from ingesting this much food?  Also, this sounds like the most intense eating contest ever.  Also also, they must be really well off to be able to feed this guy so much food, considering food wasn’t the most prevalent for eskimos.

This story has a weird ending, too. what.

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq: They were wizards?? That’s awesome! I don’t know which I’d rather be, a bear or a walrus. Hmmm.

Why didn’t he just kill him instead of holding back?

These stories are so different.  

Mostly, I LOVE the artwork. The stories are okay.

(Inuit man in kayak)

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Folk Tales

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Folk Tales

The Coming of Men: I kind of hate that it’s titled, “The Coming of Men” and not “The Coming of Mankind”

But I love origin stories!

I love that it said, “they did not know how to store their thoughts into little black marks”  That’s a fantastic way to explain that they were oral storytellers.

“Old age does not lie.”  So much respect for their elders.  I love that.

“Let us have both light and death.” Dang.

I like that when people die they become stars.  This was definitely an interesting origin theory story.

The Woman Who Had a Bear Foster Son: Well, if this isn’t an example of accepting diversity, then I don’t know what is.

This story seems pointless.  I guess it could be about how bears aren’t meant to live in human society and shouldn’t try to do so.  Or something.  Maybe I’m not deep enough to understand.

The Insects That Wooed a Wifeless Man: I can’t believe the man still chose to be with one of the girls who had made fun of him so much before he became successful.  How are you supposed to have a happy and successful marriage when it’s based off of greed? That’s terrible.  Of course she ran away!  And why would he tell her? They always end up blabbing!

The ending was so...weird.  

The Giant Dog: The owner cut holes into the dog’s jaws? What the heck! I think that’s so unnecessary

If I was the dog I would be strong and fierce as well! Especially if someone cut freaking holes in my jaw!

I like that this story ends up being about why inland dwellers hate all dogs.  This was interesting! I could possibly write a story about the dog attacking an inland dweller and bringing a leg back to his owner, or something.

(Greenland Man)