Topic Brainstorm

Africa Storybook

• I noticed a general theme between units of stories about animals, so it would be fun to travel throughout Africa as my storybook, using stories about animals - maybe they travel with the reader. However, I looked at the Africa unit and found that the Nigeria and Congo units had stories about human adventures that I would be interested in reading. My mother is from Zimbabwe, and I have visited a couple countries in Africa, so I think it would be fun to take a literary trip through Africa as well. 

Native American Storybook

• When I was younger, my school would host a day, in which people from the community would come to share Native American culture and history with elementary and middle school kids. I always loved when storytellers would come to share a Native American legend. I specifically remember being enchanted when a man with a deep, rich voice told us an origin story. I think I could do a storybook based off of this feeling. Maybe, the readers will follow a little girl or boy as he/she explores Native American mythology. I like creation stories, so I will probably use a creation story to start the storybook off, and then move into stories about animals (trickster coyote?) or humans. The Cherokee creation stories sound interesting, and I want to read more of the Hero Tales.

Middle Eastern Storybook: 

• One of my friends is Turkish, so I decided to look at the Middle Eastern unit. I would be interested in creating a storybook over a topic that I haven't explored before; everything will be new. I also thought that I could connect Africa and the Middle East through Egypt, but I'm not quite sure how I would do that beyond traveling from Africa to the Middle East. I could use a narrator or traveler to bring the reader to new places, starting in Africa probably. 

Greek/Roman Storybook:

• When I was a freshman at OU, I took Gods and Heroes in Art. It has been one of my favorite classes. I enjoyed reading how ridiculous the gods and heroes were, especially the tales of vengeance and jealousy. I just went through the Classical unit, and the Metamorphoses (5-7) caught my attention, because it has stories that I have not hear of before and focuses on women characters. I could follow their stories, possibly focusing on one of the women like Medea. Another idea I have is explore the similarities and differences of Roman and Greek mythology. The Roman and Greek gods were mixed and adapted after the Romans conquered the Greeks. 

Here is a photograph of my favorite art piece from Gods and Heroes in Art. It depicts Daphne turning into a laurel tree to avoid the love of Apollo. 

Image information: Photograph of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne sculpture by Alvesgaspare. Source: WikimediaCommons.