Storybook Topics

Gods of Nature in Roman Mythology: I got so excited when I saw “Gods of Nature” on the Romans mythology topic list. I absolutely love learning about nature and the different view points on how it evolved. I have always enjoyed ancient mythological stories about different types of Gods and Goddesses. I feel like my past knowledge on this specefic area could help me come up with some exciting new ideas for my storybook!
Research: On the website theoi.com, I found a list of the different Gods and Goddesses of Greek mythology. The pictures and stories behind these fascinating beings captured my attention. I especially enjoyed reading about “Dionysus” the God of nature. I feel that I could come up with a fun and informational story about these ancient characters!


Animals in Fairytales: First, I absolutely love animals. Growing up, some of my favorite stories had animals as their main characters. I would enjoy writing a story about animals because there is such a wide variety to choose from! I feel like I could let my imagination soar in this specific area.
Research: After conducting research, I found a lot of fairytales that had animals as the main characters. On the website surlalunefairytales.com, I found a lot of interesting fairytales that I could use to help guide my storybook. The stories “The Three Little Pigs, Mouse and Mouser and The Fish and the Ring” really stuck out to me. I think it would be fun to take a small animal, such as a mouse, and make it into a hero!


Lady Pirates: As a little girl, I was captivated by pirates and living life at sea. Every Halloween I would ask to be a lady pirate. In addition to my childhood dreams, Pirates of the Caribbean was one of my all time favorite movies (and still is). In my opinion, there aren’t many things that are much more exciting than hidden treasures and talking parrots!
Research: While reading about lady pirates, I saw that they have always been considered a “minority.” I think it would be fun to create a story where male pirates were less common. On Wikipedia.org, I found a list of different lady pirates and their crazy adventures. I think it would be fun to explore the pirates in both literature and video games. Writing a storybook about lady pirates would let me relive some of my most cherished childhood dreams.

Lady Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean

Supernatural Creatures: Werewolves, vampires, sea creatures, and fairies…. The list could go on and on! I feel like all of the best stories I read as a child had some sort of supernatural creature involved. Some of my favorite books include “The lion, the witch and the wardrobe” and “Twilight.” After reading these books (many times), I feel like I could come up with some exciting ideas in this subject!
Research: After conducting research, I found myself drawn to stories about werewolves and mermaids. On sacred-texts.com, I found stories that had to do with werewolf origins and ancient history. On pitt.edu, I found stories about mermaids being wives. I never would have thought of a mermaid as wife, so I think that could be a fun story to read and/or create for my project!

Week 2: Susie and the Secret Garden

A long long time ago, there once lived a girl named Susanna. Susanna went by the name of “Susie” in the tiny town that she grew up in.

Susie had long, beautiful brown hair and piercing blue eyes. All of the boys in the town were secretly jealous of her husband, who happened to be the king of the tiny town.

Susie was very gentle and loved to surround herself in nature. Everyday, she would take a walk through her secret garden and sing with the birds. Susie loved to plant wild flowers and swim with the pond fish.

Susie's Secret Garden

One day, Susie decided to wake up early to watch the sunrise. She walked out of her castle and found a beautiful, stone path in her secret garden. While Susie was waiting for the beautiful colors of red and orange to light the sky, she heard a strange noise in the near distance.

Thinking it could have been an injured animal; she got up and went searching for the strange noise.

Suddenly, two BIG wolves jumped on the path in front of her and started chasing after her. In order to save herself, Susie tried to run away as fast as she could. The wolves were getting closer and closer and Susie was running out of time to escape!

The Two Wolves

Out of nowhere, a man with an arrow swung from a branch and shot both of the wolves with only one arrow!

Susie ran to the man and gave him a huge hug! She asked who he was and he told her that he was a good friend of the king. 

Susie and her hero went back to the castle to tell the king what had happened. After their return, the king granted his friend with a crown and let him live in his castle.

The whole town woke up and heard the news of what had happened.

To celebrate his friends victory over the wolves, the king decided to through a huge party.

Later that evening, the entire town came to the castle and celebrated together.  The castle was decorated with huge balloons and colorful lights. The party had every type of food and dessert that you could imagine. The whole town joined together to celebrate the king's friend and Susie’s life.

Ever since that day, the King holds a party every year to remember the day his friend saved his wife.

The King reminds his town to always put others before themselves and to always help a friend in a time of trouble.  

Author's Note: 

My story was based off the story of "Susanna" in the Bible. The original story is about the Kings wife (Susanna) who was bathing in her garden. One day, two elders forced Susanna to lay with them. Later in the story, the two elders tried to put the blame on Susanna and make her look guilty in front of the whole town. Before Susanna was put to death, a man named Daniel stood up for her and explained that the men were the ones at fault. The two men were eventually put to death and the Lord found favor in both Daniel and Susanna. The story was about saving "an innocent life." 

After reading this story, I was inspired to create my own version of Susanna’s story for children. I wanted my story to be read in a "bedtime story" point of view. I want children to be able to understand this story in an appropriate manner and learn to always do the right thing, even when it seems hard. 

I decided to make Susanna’s story more relatable to kids by using wolves as the two elders. I wanted children to understand that these two elders were not good people and that they were out to get Susanna. I decided to not give the hero a name because I wanted the story to focus on “doing the right thing no matter who is watching.” By not giving the hero a name, it can show children that they do not need to boast about doing good acts. Overall, I wanted my story to focus on the heart and to show children a beautiful story in an easy, yet entertaining way.  

Bibliography: The King James Bible Online, Daniel Chapter 13 

Week 2 Reading Diary (Continued): Bible Women

The second half of the “Bible Women” readings in the UN-Textbook was just as exciting as the first half! The original Bible stories come from the King James version of the Bible.

In the second half of my readings, I noticed a lot of similar patterns and symbols in these specific biblical stories. Some of the main subjects I kept seeing throughout these stories include:

-Wine

-Food

-War

-Virgins

-Royal Apparel

-Hangings/Death

-Angels

-Forgiveness

One of the most interesting Bible stories to me was about a woman named Susanna. Susanna was very beautiful and was married to the King. One day, she was bathing in her garden and two elders of the city forced her to lay with them. The elders then tried to frame Susanna and make it look like she was being unfaithful to her husband. Before Susanna was about to be put to death in front of the whole city, a man named Daniel stood up for her. He questioned the elders and saw that they were lying. God saved Susanna and the two elders were put to death. This story was very interesting and it was about an innocent life being saved.

Another favorite story of mine was about a woman named Mary. An angel spoke to Mary and told her that she was to become pregnant (as a virgin) and give birth to the savior of the world. I cannot even imagine how scared and confused Mary must have been! Mary was faithful and trusted in the Lord’s plan. Mary gave birth in a manger and raised the future savior of earth.

I enjoyed reading these stories because it showed women trusting in the Lord and sticking up to what they believed in. This is incredibly important because they lived in an era where men were the dominant sex.

These stories were eye opening and fascinating. I loved learning about how these women saw/heard God in their daily lives.

I am excited to try to write my own story of what I learned from these incredible women!

Mary and the Nativity Scene by Guido of Siena

Week Two Reading Diary: Women in the Bible

This week, I chose to read the "Women in the Bible" on the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook. These stories originated from the King James Bible.

Reading about the women in the bible was very fascinating! Throughout the first half of the women I read, I noticed that a lot of their stories had to do with becoming pregnant.

I noted that women who could not bear children were jealous of women that could. In many stories, God would do the impossible and grant the barren women with a child.

I also noticed that many of these women heard God when they were near water and/or in the nature.

There were many symbols throughout these stories as well. Some of the symbols included:

Serpent- Evil

Samson’s Hair- Strength

Children- God’s promises

Woman- “Made from man”

Eve- Mother of all living

I found these very interesting! Throughout the stories, I saw that many of the women were jealous and/or would try to seduce their way into something. When a woman had a problem, she would usually leave her town and seek to hear God in the wilderness.

It was apparent that men had much of the authority at this time. In almost every story, the women had to serve the men. Many of the women were chosen as wives… they did not have much of a choice.

Overall, I really enjoyed learning about these women in the Bible. The stories showed that the women were very strong and chased after what they waned. Although men ruled at the time, these women did not give up on their dreams easily and relied on God with everything that they did (well most of them). I am excited to see what the next half of these stories hold!

Adam And Eve

My Thoughts on Learning Challenges

WOW! After looking through the “Learning by HEART” page, I found myself getting very excited to start these activities! I noticed myself spending a lot of time looking at the happiness and health sections. I think that I will enjoy focusing on these two elements of HEART because both happiness and health are areas that I find very important in my life.

I also enjoyed looking at the reading section. I love to read, but sometimes never allow myself enough time to actually do it. I think reading is extremely important and allows us to escape reality for the time being. I am excited to set aside time in my busy schedule, make a cup of hot coffee and pick up a "feel good" book.

Last semester, I tried to set aside one hour everyday to do something that I loved. I feel that the HEART activities will inspire this time and make it even more meaningful and enjoyable. I am thrilled to have new ideas for my “hour power” this semester. I feel that I will explore every section of HEART and see which ones I find myself finding enjoying the most.

Overall, I am very excited for this semester. I think the learning by HEART activities will help me grow as an individual and will force me to set aside time to do the things I love to do!

(HEART meme posted by Laura Gibbs)

Growth Mindset: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve

I was so excited when I saw that we got to watch a TED talk for our assignment this week! I think TED talks are both extremely fascinating and educational. I thought that “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve” by Carol Dweck was very interesting as well as eye opening. Dweck discussed the “power of yet” and children’s “growth mindset.”

After watching this TED talk, I started thinking about modern day education. I 100 percent agree with Dweck when she discusses how kids want the “tyranny of now.” I believe that our society has made kids dislike challenges and problems.

I loved how Dweck described struggling as “your brain getting smarter.” I think that our schools today need to push this concept and show kids that it is good to work hard! I think this concept needs to be pushed in all levels of school (even in college).

After looking through some of the Growth Mindset Challenges, I found myself getting really excited to start these activities! Last semester, I tried to set aside one hour everyday to try something new or different in my life. I feel that our Growth Mindset Challenges can help me continue my “hour power” and challenge myself on a whole new level!

Growth Mindset Meme by Laura Gibbs