Possible Topics for a Storybook

I'm leaning towards doing a portfolio instead of a storybook, but I've really enjoyed looking into possible topics for storybooks, if I choose to do one after all! Most of my ideas stem from my interest in Native American studies. I'm familiar with a lot of Native American themes and characters, so it would be very cool to be able to delve deeper.

1. Native American Traditions. I have looked at some past Storybooks on Native American topics, and I think they're really interesting. I've also taken a few classes over Native American Culture, so that's why this topic sparked my interest. I would love to learn more about tribes that I haven't studied before, and this could be a great opportunity.

(Winter Awakening of the O-khoo-wah,

by Helen Hardin [1943-1984];University of Oklahoma FJJMA

2. Animal Stories. There are many Native American animal stories, so that aspect of it really interests me. I like that I would have flexibility to mix some Native American stories that I know with other stories that I might not know. I found past Storybooks about animals to be some of my favorite storybooks. I also hope to learn more about the similarities and differences on how various animals are viewed in stories around the world.

3. Creation Stories. Creation stories have the same flexibility with mixing and matching Native American stories that I know with stories that are new to me. I've done some prior research when I wrote a research paper over an Aluet creation myth in a Native American philosophy class. This List of Creation Myths was really interesting to me, so I will definitely want to look into this list more. I know a few specific tribes' creation stories, but I would love to learn many more and pick my favorites to retell.

4. Ballads: Stories in Song. I was really interested in the complete Francis Child Ballads, and I think it could be interesting to try and retell songs. This would be the most challenging idea, I believe. I like music, so I would be interested to see what stories used to be told through songs. When I retell stories I usually try to keep the theme or general sentiment of the story the same. It seems like with ballads the parts of the story are harder to isolate from the theme. This is why I think it would be harder to retell songs.

Storytelling for Week 2: Home Sweet Muffin

Muffins with Tunnels

As any good baker knows, a good muffin must have tunnels. That's why we here at Framuel's Pan Jewels live and breath the muffin method. You may not remember it, but you've definitely heard of (and probably used) the muffin method. First you mix the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, and finally add the wet to the dry all at once and fold together. It's that simple.

One day, I was just admiring my handiwork and checking out some of the deep and complicated tunnels inside my muffins, when I saw two ants. Obviously bugs in a restaurant can cause some real problems, but I wasn't worried about that at the time. I was just amazed that the tunnels that I created were solid enough to house two little insects!

Things got a little crazier when the larger of the two ants called out. He wasn't calling out to me, it seemed like he was praying or chanting or something. But I could hear him very clearly.

"I'm so grateful that we have been able to live within these wonderful tunnels for so many months, just by moving from muffin to muffin. However, it is becoming increasingly hard to leave a muffin tunnel once we feel that it is served to a human customer. I wish there was some way my student and I could enjoy the wonderful smells and tastes of these muffin tunnels without putting our lives and the reputation of this bakery in danger."

Once I got over the initial shock of hearing an ant pray, I thought about what my next action could be. I could tell the boss, Framuel, that there was an ant problem, but that seemed like an overstatement since there appeared to be only two ants. But I couldn't keep serving muffins that had previously served as ant habitats! It seemed like the ants really like the tunnels within the muffins, and who could blame them? Muffin tunnels are the most under appreciated art within the baking world, after all.

The ants just needed a place to live, and the place had to be a muffin. I decided to help the little guys out; we did seem to have at least one great common interest. I came up with a plan. Every day, with the first batch of muffins of the day, I would take out all of the muffins from the pan except one, which I would leave in the oven for a little extra time. Then, this slightly burnt muffin could become a home for the ants. Framuel's Pan Jewels would never serve a burnt muffin to a customer; we had a reputation to uphold! I would start by just setting their current muffin home next to the burnt one, and I would leave it up to the ants to move themselves into the new tunnel.

Luckily, my plan worked. So far, none of the other bakers have noticed the ants. And the burnt muffins go unnoticed because with so many muffins every day, and the sacred muffin method to keep up, all of us bakers keep pretty busy. I even heard a prayer of thanks from the big ant a few days ago!



Author's Note: I chose to change the setting of the story from the original, which was a small island described as being similar to a frosted cake with many tunnels and caves. As soon as I read the rich imagery about the island being a frosted cake, I knew exactly how I could incorporate that into my own story. The original story is about Saint Gudwall who lives with his pupil in a small cave. Eventually, there are major storms that threaten their cave, so fish answer the saint's prayers and build a sandbar to protect the cave. I liked how in the original story, the saint obviously wasn't praying to the fish, but they are the ones who saved him. In my story I wanted to have a similar situation where the prayer worked, but it wasn't necessarily answered by who the ants expected. The reason that I chose to name the bakery Framuel's Pan Jewels is because my brother, Samuel, and I always joked growing up that that's what we would name a bakery if we ever opened one since my nickname for him is Framuel. My biggest struggle with this story was making sure that the ants in the bakery were acknowledged as a possible problem because I wanted this story to seem realistic (even if the ants are talking).

Bibliography: The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall; source: The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900).

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall

storm off the coast of Wales

I really liked the story of The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). I liked that the story was bogged down in details. We don't know exactly why Saint Gudwall wanted to live on this island with only his pupil. We don't even know what they eat or drink! All we need to know for the purposes of this story are that Saint Gudwall just wants to live with his pupil on this weird little island and that the fish eventually help him out so he can keep living just like he wants to.

My favorite thing about this whole story is the description of the island.

"The island was one of those high mountains poking up out of the sea, with green grass on top, like colored frosting to a cake; and gray rocks below, all hollowed out into deep caves and crannies, as if mice had been nibbling at the cake."

This description is something that I would definitely want to use in a storytelling post. I can perfectly imagine the island because of the rich and detailed description. Saint Gudwall and his pupil seem to just love to sit in their cave and watch the water, they don't really have a lot going on. Maybe life is just perfect to them living in their little frosted cake island.

It's great that the fish help out the saint and his friend, and I still really like that not a whole lot of context is given. The fish just hear the prayers and decide to help the guys out. I'm sure in the full story of Saint Gudwall there are tons of details that explain why he's a saint and why the fish decided to help him, but this little story seemed like it had all the details necessary.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Saint Kentigern and the Robin

Saint Kentigern / Mungo

For this week, the reading that stood out to me the most was Saint Kentigern and the Robin from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). I thought that Kentigern wasn't a very likable character. He reminded me of the teachers' pet, but I think that in a retelling I could show off his good character more often. It was strange to me that he seemed to have no friends at all besides his teacher, and eventually the robin.

I also thought that beheading the robin was a little bit violent, and I was surprised that the teacher was so willing to suspect Kentigern with no evidence whatsoever. It seems like Kentigern would be at least safe from suspicion since he spent so much time with the teacher and seemed to be his favorite.

I thought the part of the story where the other boys put out the fire in the hearth made Kentigern seem more like a good person because he didn't feel the need to tell someone in charge that the boys had played a trick on him. Instead, he just acted like everything was normal.

I feel like the aspect of all the boys hating Kentigern just because he was smart is a really modern and understandable theme. It's too easy to be jealous of someone who is perceived as being the best or smartest. I'm glad that in the end of the story, the boys decided to be kind to Kentigern since he had done nothing to them.