Extra Reading Diary: Hans Christian Andersen

Extra Reading Diary: Hans Christian Andersen

I have heard of Hans Christian Anderson, but I don't actually know much about him. It looks like I've read or been read some of his stories before, but it's been a long time. I look forward to getting reacquainted with his work.

The Princess and the Pea: I read this story when I was younger. I remember it fairly well, but this might be a different version. I'm excited to find out. This wasn't the version that I read. This one was much more direct and simple. There wasn't a lot to the story, but it obviously provided a good base for people to write from.

Princess On Her Bed
(illustration by Dulac)

The Wicked Prince: Wow, I've never read anything quite like this story. In the beginning the story had a very realistic feel to it, until the Prince decided to try and kill God. It's a very interesting concept. The story didn't proceed or end like I thought it would. How the mighty was brought down by a single sting.

Week 14 Review

My favorite thing on the announcements this week was the Phonetic Etymology section. I thought the graphic was funny and clever. My favorite one was the pylon!

Phonetic Etymology
By John Atkinson, at his Wrong Hands blog

To look at more of these, go to John Atkinson's blog, Wrong Hands. 

Famous Last Word: Week 14

This week I reached the 44,000 mark on my novel! I only have 6,000 words left! It's going to be such a relief to have my story done. I like my story, but I feel like I've had to rush each week. Once I'm done I'm going to have to go back and make a lot of edits and improvements. There are a few scenes that I want to make longer and a couple that probably need to be trimmed down. There's also a lot more description of the setting that I'd like to add to make the world come to life more.

There is already one girl in my class who has finished her novel, made her edits, and self-published on Kindle. I'm happy for her but it makes me feel really behind. But most people in class are where I'm at, so we can commiserate with each other.

I plan on editing during Christmas break. I hope to have mine published before I graduate in May. I'll send it off to a few places, but if it doesn't get picked up by any publishers, I'll put it on Kindle too. I like the idea of self-publishing. It gives the author a lot more control.

I'm also going to work on my cover for my book. I have an idea of what I want, but I'm not the best artist. I'm currently trying to decide if I'd like to take a picture and manipulate it in Photoshop or if I should just pay someone to draw it for me. The name of my book (right now, it's subject to change) is Spark. My idea is to have two hands facing each other with a flame between them. It symbolizes an important part of my story.

Watch out for my book, (hopefully) coming Spring 2016!

Reading Diary B: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

Reading Diary A: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

I'm excited about reading the second part of this unit. There are quite a few stories that I haven't heard of and just from the title they seem very interesting. I'm expecting some great stories!

Eve's Unequal Children: I read the Adam and Eve unit early on in the semester so it's nice to come full circle and find out a little bit more about their story. I think this story is an interesting take on people's destiny. Not everyone can be the king or president, but there have to be the lower-class workers. Although it seems unfair to me that it is that way, there is no changing it. I enjoyed this story and it had an outcome that I did not expect. I thought that the Lord would be angry with Eve for hiding away her ugly children.

Eve and Her Unequal Children
(illustration by Otto Ubbelohde)

The Peasant and the Devil:  I really enjoyed this story. It's not often that you hear of the devil being tricked. It's usually the other way around. I like that the roles of trickster were switched in this story. And since the peasant is an underdog, the reader will immediately be rooting for him, even if he is a clever trickster.

Reading Diary A: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

Reading Diary A: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

I've heard of the Brothers Grimm, but haven't actually read any of their stories. There are some obvious stories in this unit that I've already read, but I think I'd like to focus on the ones that are unfamiliar to me.

The Wolf and Seven Young Kids: I honestly thought it was going to be about human children, not goats, but really that's my bad. As always I'm tempted to read anything that has the mention of wolves and this story was no exception. Besides the mention of the wolf, the number of goats also immediately got me interested. I like stories that deal with important numbers, like three or seven. The seven dwarfs and the three beds that Goldilocks tries out are two examples of this. I first of all liked how the wolf was able to disguise his voice. I'd be interested to see if eating chalk is an old-wives tale for softening your voice. My favorite sentence of the story was: "'If you will not do it, I will eat you up.' That frightened the miller, and he made his paw white for him. Yes, that is the way people are." I like that the author is telling a story but also making a comment on society at the same time. I liked how the story ended, really I liked the story from beginning to end.

The Wolf and Seven Young Kids
Source: Wikipedia Commons

 Little Red Cap: I know I said I wanted to concentrate on newer stories, to me at least, but I have a soft spot for Little Red Riding Hood. I love that there are so many different variations to the story and each one has something special about it. This story was very similar to the first story I wrote about. It seems that everyone that's eaten by a wolf can but cut out and saved!

I enjoyed this unit and I look forward to reading the second half in my next Reading Diary post!

Extra Reading Diary: Europa's Fairy Book

Extra Reading Diary: Europa's Fairy Book

I love fairy tales so I'm looking forward to reading half of this unit. It sounds like the author mix and matched different stories and made them his own. It sounds exactly like what we do in this class so I think it'll be cool to see the differences and his techniques.

Beauty and the Beast: I've seen Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but I had never read the story before. This story was a bit less dramatic than Disney's. The way that Belle ended up with the Beast was interesting, but not that great. I did like how Belle found Beast in his garden at the end. This story makes much more sense with the rose, because it's explained in the beginning.

Beauty and the Beast
Source: Europa's Fairy Book by Joseph Jacobs and illustrated by John Batten (1916)

The Language of Animals: I love reading stories about talking animals so I'm very excited to read this story. Ah, I loved this story. I think it's so cool that Jack could understand animals. It made for a very great power since it didn't seem that anyone else could tell what they were saying. I like how the beginning of the story tied perfectly into the end. I also liked that there was a happy ending for Jack and his family.

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno

I've enjoyed this unit so far and I'm looking to see the rest of Dante's journey. His interpretations have been interesting and I'm expecting more of the same.

Jason and the Demons: I found it interesting how Dante incorporated mythology into what mainly seems to be a Christianized story.  I really liked the exchange that Virgil had with the demons. It was cool to see the demons have some actually dialogue because I feel they are often depicted as mindless evil doers. I hope the story goes into more detail about the hierarchy of demons in Hell.

Structure of Hell
Source: (illustration by di Fruosino)

Satan: I loved the author's description of seeing Lucifer. It was such a striking image. The imagery reminded me of the book of Revelation. There are so many different ways to interpret the symbols. I also liked the Judas was depicted in this story. I think he's an interesting character to explore. In this story it wasn't going too well for him in Hell with Satan.