Storybook Favorites

The Story of Golden Apples


Fruit on Table by Lucas Luce. Wiki Commons.


       I had heard of certain aspects from The Story of Golden Apples before. I recognized the story of Aphrodite, Paris, and the war they caused because I read La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) for my Capstone, which dealt with mythology. I had also heard of King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold. I think the title for this short story went along well with the plot. Although I had never heard of the golden apples in Greek mythology before, I thought the concept of giving inanimate objects the ability to think, feel, and communicate with one another an interesting concept.
       The design of the page was well-organized and separated into appropriate chapters. There were a few pictures of apples, but it would have been nice to see paintings about the Greek mythology, too.
       There are a couple qualities from this piece that I could apply to my own storybook. The chapters were given interesting and appropriate titles that intrigue the reader. Also, The Story of Golden Apples encourages looking at different perspectives for a different storytelling angle.


Creation and Myth


Image Source (The Earth Flooding)

       Creation and Myth has been the most detailed reading I have come across so far between Epics of India and Mythology and Folklore. The story can be summed up best as science fiction. The author goes into detail about the chemical composition of the planets he has created and their atmospheres, their resources, and how they compare to one another. The narrator, a God-like figure, explains in the beginning that only one of the four planets he has created has managed to survive on its own. One of the planets is Earth, and the other four are made up. This story went a completely different direction than I originally thought it would. I assumed that all of the other planets would die out first, and Earth would be the last one. Since there are many concerns today such as pollution and global warming, I believed the narrator would offer a solution and use his Earth as an example on how to overcome these problems. However, the author chose Earth to die out first, perhaps as a realistic example of where our planet is heading in real life today.
       The setup of this storybook was nice in that the four chapters each went with a specific planet, so the separation between them felt well-placed. The title of the piece is also appropriate for the plot.
       This composition used several resources, including books, a television show, and the Bible. Creation and Myth is definitely a good example of a well-thought-out story. The author uses the names of popular scientists and pulls inspiration from sources that the reader can easily identify with.

Stories of Joan



"Joan of Arc with Angels", Source: povcrystal

       I chose Stories of Joan because I assumed it would be about Joan of Arc, which it is. I have learned about Jean d’Arc in various French courses at OU. The author did well in choosing important aspects of her life, but did not go into much detail overall about her journey and battling the English to kick them out of France.
       For me, this was a good refresher, but I cannot say how the author changed her story. It honestly seems like the author read the story and reworded it. Also, this story is extremely repetitive in how it opens and ends every chapter, which got extremely irritating. Some variation of “Guard, are you listening? I must make sure you are listening as this is God’s will,” was played out about five times, as well as “I’m running out of time and must tell you my next story.” Overall, the writing seemed hurried. Since the dialogue was more precise than any of the storybooks I have read, however, I would assume that the author was in copy and paste mode.
       The title, page design, pictures used, and chapter divisions were all fitting to Joan of Arc. My concern is that the author was not creative and simply wanted to recap Joan’s story as simply as possible.