Storybook Favorites
Alexa, How do I Get to Canterbury?
Having read selections of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in high school, my interest was immediately piqued by the unique title. I enjoyed how the author made a genuine effort to stick to Chaucer's narration; the characters meet on a journey and decide to tell stories to pass time. In particular, I enjoyed the fact that one of the characters, having disliked a story, stepped in to narrate his own in a scene which parallels one in the original tale. As soon as I began to read, the rhyme scheme and poetic format captured my attention. The author's inclusion of an image at the end of each story was a helpful way to visualize the primary setting in the introduction and the stories. I also liked the fact that the ending was left open to interpretation much like the original Canterbury Tales because Chaucer never finished it.
Camp Olympus
One of my favorite book series as a child was Percy Jackson and the Olympians so I could not resist clicking on this storybook. Much like I expected, this story was a variation of Camp Half-Blood in the Percy Jackson books where children of godly parentage attend camp in the summer. My favorite aspect of this storybook was the narrative style. The author chose to tell the story through the perspective of a camper's diary entries which made it more fun to read. The brief "about me" posts about the campers in the introduction made me curious about the roles they would play at camp.
I occasionally enjoy watching reality TV and am fascinated by Greek mythology so this storybook was the perfect intersection of both these interests. What made this storybook stand out in my eyes was the effort put into writing and formatting the entire story like a TV show script. This gave an emphasis to the dialogue between the characters while also allowing the reader to get a glimpse into each character's thoughts in the "talking head" sections. The back and forth between the characters and casual banter had me thoroughly entertained. If I choose to do a TV show inspired storybook, I might try the unique formatting the author used.
Having read selections of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in high school, my interest was immediately piqued by the unique title. I enjoyed how the author made a genuine effort to stick to Chaucer's narration; the characters meet on a journey and decide to tell stories to pass time. In particular, I enjoyed the fact that one of the characters, having disliked a story, stepped in to narrate his own in a scene which parallels one in the original tale. As soon as I began to read, the rhyme scheme and poetic format captured my attention. The author's inclusion of an image at the end of each story was a helpful way to visualize the primary setting in the introduction and the stories. I also liked the fact that the ending was left open to interpretation much like the original Canterbury Tales because Chaucer never finished it.
Camp Olympus
One of my favorite book series as a child was Percy Jackson and the Olympians so I could not resist clicking on this storybook. Much like I expected, this story was a variation of Camp Half-Blood in the Percy Jackson books where children of godly parentage attend camp in the summer. My favorite aspect of this storybook was the narrative style. The author chose to tell the story through the perspective of a camper's diary entries which made it more fun to read. The brief "about me" posts about the campers in the introduction made me curious about the roles they would play at camp.
I occasionally enjoy watching reality TV and am fascinated by Greek mythology so this storybook was the perfect intersection of both these interests. What made this storybook stand out in my eyes was the effort put into writing and formatting the entire story like a TV show script. This gave an emphasis to the dialogue between the characters while also allowing the reader to get a glimpse into each character's thoughts in the "talking head" sections. The back and forth between the characters and casual banter had me thoroughly entertained. If I choose to do a TV show inspired storybook, I might try the unique formatting the author used.
(Hera and Zeus: Image by Egisto Sani on Flickr)
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