Matty's Portfolio Index

Susie and the Secret Garden
A children's bedtime story about always putting others before themselves. 

A Search For Love

A story about a young farmer boy who embarks on a dangerous journey to find love. 

The Starry-Eyed Lovers

A story about a young girl with a big secret.  

The Lost Princess

Not your average "Cinderella story."

The Woman and the Fox

A tiny fox forever changes the life of an elderly woman. 

A Pig's Diary

What really happened in the classic story of "The Three Little Pigs."

Reading Diary, Week 14: Russian Folktale Unit Continued

The second half of the Russian Folktale Unit was very similar to the first half. The stories were still very ere, creepy and a little disturbing (in my opinion!) Overall, the stories were very unique and made you feel like you were in a scary movie while you were reading them. I would highly suggest these stories for anyone who enjoys books about death, ghosts or vampires.

One story from the second half of the readings that caught my attention was called The Witch Girl. This story is about death. In this certain story, "death" goes around and kills people at night. This story also included a witch that was dressed in all white. In my opinion, I think this character was supposed to resemble death. The idea of this was kind of strange to me because usually death is portrayed as the color black. For my story this week, I think it would be neat to write a story from the point of view of the "white witch."

Another story that was very interesting to me was called The Headless Princess. In this story, there was a princess who could take off her head. This made me laugh because most princesses are very beautiful and elegant. I chuckled at the thought of one of my favorite Disney princesses having this as her special power. At the end of the story, the King ordered that his daughter (the princess) should be killed and thrown into a hole in the ground.

The stories in this unit were very different and disturbing. Although these stories were entertaining, I do not think they were my favorite.

Russian Church

Reading Diary, Week 14: Russian Folktale Unit

For this week's readings I decided to explore the Russian Folktale Unit. This unit included many spooky, supernatural characters.

One story I found very interesting was called The Dead Mother. In this story, the mother died after giving birth to her son. Every night, the dead  mother would visit her baby son and give him milk. In the end of the story, the "kinsfolk" saw the mother and realized that the baby boy was dead too! This story was very ere and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed this story because it was completely different than anything else I have read this semester!

Another story I thought was interesting was called The Bad Wife. This story was about a husband and wife who hated each other. This story was very strange and sad. In the story, the husband killed his wife in a pit. At the end of the story it said "and the wife still sits in the pit to this day." The ending of this story was very creepy for me. It was scary to imagine a lady sitting in a pit waiting for her husband.

The Russian Folktale Unit readings were a lot different than I had expected them to be. For my story this week, I would like to take a twist on one of these tales. I think it would be fun to take a scary story and to make it happy and/or funny at the end! Overall, this unit was interesting to read... but I wouldn't suggest it for anyone who gets scared easily!

Russian Peasants

Portfolio: A Pig's Diary

Monday:
Today is the best day ever!!! A little old lady named Miss Henny purchased Betty, Curly and me today from the market. Now we no longer have to worry about being turning into someone’s breakfast. Miss Henny is coming to pick us up tomorrow. I am so excited to see what our new farm looks like (I really hope we have a mud Jacuzzi or a big patch of hay to sunbathe on). It is going to be hard to get sleep tonight with all of this excitement!

Three Little Pigs

Tuesday:
Today was the first day on the farm for Curly, Betty and me. Although it is cute, I will admit that it’s a little different then how I expected it to be. There is one medium-sized barn at the very back of the land. It has old red shutters and a navy blue door. Curly, Betty and I have a small haystack near the chicken coops. There isn’t much room to roam, but at least the cows don’t seem to be as annoying as the last ones we lived with. I am excited to make new friends and to pull more pranks on the other animals.

Wednesday:
Oh! Miss Henny went to the store yesterday to buy materials to make us houses. I don’t know if she has ever owned pigs before… because we are perfectly fine with sleeping on our haystack (or even the dirt.) Anyways, I am so excited to have my own house. I hope mine is painted pink… that’s always been my favorite color. I am going to go search the chicken coop to find some loose feathers for decorations. Maybe the sheep will even loan me some fur for a warm blanket…. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough!

Thursday:
I think I am Miss Henny’s favorite because she gave me the house made of brick! Curly’s house is made of straw and Betty’s is made of furze. I might be a little biased… but I think mine is the best! I can’t write long today because I have to go tidy up my brand new place. 

Pig's Brick House

Friday:
THE WORST THING HAPPENED YESTERDAY! I was minding my own business in my beautiful new home and all of a sudden I hear squealing coming from Curly’s house. I jumped on my haystack and peered out my window to see a massive, ugly wolf eating Curly!!! He must have come from the other side of the woods. The cows warned us to stay far away from there, but of course I thought they were just being dramatic. Anyways, the wolf blew down the house of straw and treated my friend as if he were a piece of bacon!

Saturday:
THE WOLF ATTACKED AGAIN! I tried to warn Betty last night, but she being the stubborn ham she is, she would not listen. The wolf blew down Betty’s house and ate her too. Miss Henny and her husband are on a vacation. They are going to be so devastated to see what happened to Betty and Curly when they return. I must stand my ground and survive. Miss Henny would be devastated if she lost all three of her new pigs!

Sunday:
Guess what I had for dinner tonight? Wolf meat! Yeah that’s right… I defeated the wolf. He tried to pull his stunt on me but I outsmarted him! The bricks were too strong for him to blow down. When he tried to climb down my chimney, there was a nice big pot of boiling hot water waiting for his arrival. Oh, Miss Henny will be so happy to see that I am okay! I miss Curly and Betty so much already. I guess I will have to make a trip down to the “meet market” soon to make some new friends.

Bibliography: The original story comes from "The Three Little Pigs" in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890. 

Author's Note: I got my idea from the classic story of "The Three Little Pigs." I decided to write my version in a "diary format" to show my audience the scene from the pig's perspective. The original story is about a wolf that blows down pigs' houses and eats them for dinner. In the original story, the three pigs either have a straw house, a furze house or a brick house. The wolf blows down the straw and furze house, but cannot blow down the brick one. At the end, one brave pig survives and kills the wolf by putting a pot of hot water under his chimney. I wanted to keep most of the same elements from the original source because it is so wonderful and classic. I wanted my audience to see the story in a new light and give background details that they have never thought about. I had so much fun getting to put myself in the pig’s perspective. I wanted my audience to escape reality and put themselves “behind the scenes “of their favorite childhood story. I have never written a story in this format before, but I think I will write another one like this in the future. Overall, I had a blast coming up with this week’s story!

Storytelling, Week 13: The Gift

There once was lived a King who had three daughters. The two oldest daughters loved living in the castle, but the youngest daughter desired to live a different life.

When the King’s daughters turned eighteen, a wizard granted them a special power.

The first daughter to turn 18 was named Lilly. On Lilly’s eighteenth birthday, she was given the power of beauty. All of the boys in the kingdom loved Lilly and wished to marry her.

The second daughter to turn eighteen was named Rose. Rose was granted the gift of wisdom. She was without a doubt the smartest daughter out of the three. Rose helped the King solve the town’s problems and hardships.

The youngest of the three daughters was named Daisy. Daisy turned 18 in exactly one week. The kingdom was preparing the town for the King's last daughter’s birthday celebration.

The King's Daughters

The King ordered that the town was sparkling clean for the wizard’s arrival. Hundreds of cakes, flowers and balloons had been delivered to the castle throughout the week. Although Daisy knew she should be excited for her party, she couldn’t help but feel nervous for some reason.

The day had finally come and it was time to reveal Daisy’s birthday gift. Daisy and her two sisters put on their most beautiful dresses and headed to the ballroom. The entire town was eagerly waiting for the news of Daisy's gift outside the castle.

The three daughters entered the massive ballroom and immediately saw the wizard. Daisy approached the wizard very slowly.

“Why do you look so nervous,” asked the wizard.

“I am not nervous,” lied Daisy. “I am just excited.”

“Ah, maybe I should grant you the gift of telling the truth,” smirked the wizard.

No one could hear what was being said between the two. 

After a few long moments of silence the wizard raised his wand and a huge green flash threw Daisy to the ground.

The Magical Wizard

The two sisters ran to pick Daisy's side and to help pick her up. In the next instant, the wizard lifted his hands and proclaimed, “I present to you the new Daisy! I have given her the gift of talking to animals!”
Smoked filled the entire room and the wizard vanished.

“Destroy her!” demanded the King. 

The king did not approve of his daughter's new gift and declared that she should be killed.

The two sisters grabbed Daisy and fled to the nearest forest. They could not let her sister die so they took a knife and killed a squirrel. They spread the squirrel’s blood on Daisy’s beautiful gown and brought it to the King.

The King knew he could trust his two daughters and went to bed peacefully that night.

Daisy was now stuck in the forest forever. 

The wizard knew her gift of talking to animals would come in handy and that she could finally start the life she had always dreamt of.

 

Author's Note: My story is a mixture between Water and Salt and The Language of Animals. I got the idea of a "King and his three daughters" from the story Water and Salt. In this story, the King orders that one of his daughters needs to be killed after she said he loved him as much as "water and salt." The other two daughters hid their sister and killed their dog in order to trick the King. I got the idea of "being able to talk to animals" from the story The Language of Animals. In this story, a father was very upset that his son had the gift of talking to animals. For my story, I thought it would be fun to combine these two topics and create them into one!

Bibliography: The stories "Water and Salt" and "The Language of Animals" came from the Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane. 

Week 13, Reading Diary: Italian Popular Tales Unit

The second half of the Italian Popular Tales Unit by Thomas Crane was just as exciting as the first half!

Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane

One story I liked was called The Language of Animals. This story reminded me a lot of the story "Water and Salt" from the first half. In this story, a father was upset by his son so he told his servants to kill him. The servants could not complete this request so they killed a dog instead to trick the father. The son ended up living in a castle far away and becoming the next Pope because he could talk to animals. In the end, the father asked for forgiveness and the son granted it to him.

I loved how this story had a happy ending (even though the father was not deserving of it). I think the underlying message in this story was the importance of forgiveness. For my story this week I would love to have a character that could talk to animals and/or read their thoughts!

Another story that caught my eye was called An Incident in Rome. In this story, a man goes into a dark hole and hears someone talking to him. The unknown character would not reveal his identity. Instead, the character wrote his name on the man's back and made him show it to the Pope. The man visited the Pope and lifted up his shirt immediately. On the man's back, it read "I AM PILATE" and the Pope instantly turned into a statue.

This story was so different than the others and kept me on the edge of my seat. For this week, I want to create a story similar to this one! Overall, I really enjoyed this unit (I think it was one of my favorite units from this semester).

Week 13, Reading Diary: Italian Popular Tales Unit

This week I decided to read the Indian Popular Tales Unit by Thomas Crane. I really enjoyed reading these tales because they were similar to the ones I grew up reading, just with slightly different characters!

One of my favorite stories from the first section was called Water and Salt. This story was about a King who had three daughters. One of his daughters said she loved him as much as "water and salt." The King was offended by this statement and demanded his daughter was killed. The other two daughters hid their sister in the forest and killed their dog instead to bring to the King. The two daughters tricked him and made him think the dog's blood was their sisters. In the end, the King attended a wedding and was not given water nor salt at dinner. The long lost daughter entered the room and he wept. He realized how important these small things were and loved his daughter again!

I loved this story because it had a moral lesson of "appreciate the small things." I would love to write a story where this was the main message to my audience.

Another story I found very interesting was called Sir Fiorante, Magician. This story also involved a father with three daughters. In this story a snake asked the man to marry one of his daughters. The youngest daughter agreed and the snake turned into a handsome man with "red and white stockings." In the end, the youngest daughter ended up dying and the snake lived happily ever after with his second wife. It was not your typical "happily ever after" that I am used to.

For my story this week I want to include three daughters. I think it would be fun to write about a daughter that everyone thought was "dead" but was actually living somewhere with a handsome Prince. Overall, I enjoyed this unit and I am excited to read the second half later this week.

Italian Popular Tales