MythFolklore Storybook Topics Brainstorm

MythFolklore Storybook Topics Brainstorm

Juno's Wrath
Comments: In my readings this week from Ovid's Metamorphoses, I noticed how often Jupiter sleeps around on Earth and also how often Juno's rage causes her to punish those he has slept with. I think it would be really cool to do a set of stories on her inner monologue of what she is thinking and feeling as she learns that Jupiter has cheated again and as she decides to punish the girls. Maybe it could be a concept of an Autobiography by Juno to explain herself since she sometimes get a bad name.
Possible stories: There are several stories on the Untextbook about Juno's wrath, or at least contain elements of Juno's wrath in them. In my first reading unit, I read three already! I searched online and there are also several sources with both Greek and Roman mythology to browse through and I found a couple more stories about Juno and her punishments.
Sample Story: I would like to use the story of Castillo if I were to use this topic for my storybook! I think Juno's punishment for Castillo is very unique and the story mostly focuses on Castillo rather than Juno, so I think it would be cool to flip that around and show Juno's side of things!
Bibliography Info:
Sample story: Castillo
Book Title: Ovid's Metamorphoses
Book Author: Translated by Tony Kline
Year: 2000

Fast Forward to Fairy Tales
Comments: I like the concept of using Fairy Tales and giving them a new spin. For this I could take the Fairy tales, not the disney versions, from the Europa's Fairy Book Unit and write them as if they had been propelled into the 21st century, complete with technology and language from today. I like the idea of making the fairy tales really relatable, but still keep with the real versions, not the watered down versions that Disney sells. I do want to work on a better title though, something more creative!
Possible stories: There are several stories from Europa's Fairy Book Unit, like The Cinder-Maid and Beauty and the Beast, that I would be able to readapt into modern times. I also like the idea of telling a lesser known fairy tale in modern times; I think it would be cool because there are less preconceptions in readers minds if the fairy tale isn't famous. I was also able to search online to find Brother's Grimm versions of several fairy tales, which are very very different from the Disney versions, that I could use!
Sample Story: I would like to start with the story of The Cinder-Maid because it is the most famous and well known fairytale. I think this would make a great start to a Storybook because the reader would start by reading a topic that they are comfortable with. I could start the story as a modern fairytale with a tweet as the invite to the Royal Ball, rather than the announcement in the square!
Bibliography Info:
Sample Story: The Cinder-Maid
Book Title: Europa's Fairy Book
Book Author: Joseph Jacobs, Illustrated by: John Batten
Year: 1916

Dateline: Understanding the Circles of Hell
Comments: The poem of Dante's Inferno definitely intrigues me and I think it would be cool to do a storybook on what its like to be stuck in different circles of hell. I thought it would be interesting to do a TV interview format, much like the investigative TV show Dateline, and interview different sets of people stuck in the different levels of hell and why they are there.
Possible Stories: The unit Dante's Inferno contains the entire poem, from which I could pull stories from. Also, Wikepedia's page on Inferno (Dante) is also very helpful in explaining the back stories of the people met in each level of hell and that could help me form the stories (sometimes it can be hard to understand exactly what happened or what is going on because of the language of the poem).
Sample Story: The first story that stood out to me to use was the story of Paolo and Francesca in the second circle of hell, Lust. I thought it would be cool to "interview" them to have them describe why they did what they did and if they think they deserve the punishment that they received. Their story is described well in the poem and I think it would be fun to "get to the bottom" of why they are there.
Bibliography Info:
Sample Story: Paolo and Francesca
Book Title: Dante's Divine Comedy
Book Author: Translated by Tony Kline
Year: 2002

Being Human in an Aesop Fable
Comments: Most of Aesop's fables use animals to demonstrate the moral of each story, however, I thought it would be really cool to take those animal fables and create a human story! Take the animals in the story and make them human characters and make the basis of the story, like what the conflict is over, human based! I think this concept would take a lot of creativity and it would deviate from the original stories quite a bit.
Possible Stories: Looking at the Index of Aesop's Fables is almost overwhelming as there are so many to choose from! It would take awhile to pick just four, but I like that I have a large enough selection to pick four perfect stories for my storybook. There are also a lot of analysis's of Aesop fables available online to make sure I am not changing the moral basis of the fable!
Sample Story: The Ant and the Dove comes with the moral of "a kindness is never wasted" which I thought really could be applied to a human situation. I immediately thought of one kid saving another from being bullied, and then the bullied kid showing kindness back to the kid who saved him. 
Bibliography Info:
Sample Story: The Ant and the Dove
Book Title: The Aesop for Children
Book Author: Illustrations by Milo Winter
Year: 1919