Extra Reading Diary: Noah and the Ark

(Source)

For the Noah storybook I particularly liked the first three episodes about Noah and the Ark to After the Flood. As a young child I always found this story to be pretty cool. Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth found grace within the Lord, and followed the words of the Lord when he asked them to make an ark to protect themselves from the impending flood. And so they followed the Lord's instructions to build an ark strong enough to withstand the flood. When they were done, Noah was to also gather two (one male and female) of every animal and bring them onto the ark. He also brought along his wife and his sons wives, and they were to stay on the Ark for forty days and forty nights. When the forty day and night passed, Noah sent out a bird to check and see if the land was dry. It was awhile before the bird returned. However the land was not dry, for the bird could not find dry land to place its feet. From there, Noah waited another seven days and released the bird. The bird came back with leaves. At last, they were able to leave to ark because the land was dry and not flooded with water. Noah also let all the animals off the ark so they could multiply. Then the Lord said that he would not cause any more floods to smite the earth of all that is evil.

Noah and the Ark 

Reading Diary B: Bible Women

(Bathsheba, by Gerome)

The stories of women in the bible are very intriguing. The story of Bathsheba was not one that I expected. When reading a little about what it was about and how it was love at first sight, I expected a different story than what I read. The story starts off with David who sees Bathsheba while she is bathing and instantly falls in love with her. The crazy thing is she is already married, and while she is married she bears the child of David. David realizes that he is wrong and tries to convince Uriah (Bathsheba's husband) to say that the child is his own, but he will not do it. So David has him killed, and then marries the widowed Bathsheba. Because of this though, David is punished and Bathsheba loses their first child, but they have another child names Solomon. Never read a love at first sight story quite like this, but I did find it pretty interesting. 

(Susannah and the Elders, 15th-century)

Yet another good chapter in this storybook is about Susannah. Susannah was bathing while two elder were watching her. The elder then walked up to her and attempted to rape her, but she refused them. When she had her trial everyone believed the words of the elders and sentenced Susannah to death, but the Lord head her cries and Daniel rose up to prove that the elder had lied. This story kind of reminded me how everyone always says to respect your elders and that they are always right and truthful. I do agree that I should respect my elders, but I do not think they are always truthful. They can be deceitful and lie just like anyone else. This story made me think of a time I watched a show about this singers mom saying a lot of bad things about her daughters husband that were not true, but because she was the elder no one objected her opinion.  

Bible Women

Reading Diary A: Bible Women

(Delilah and Samson, by Lucas Cranach)

For the first part of the reading I was most fascinated about the story about Delilah. The story is about a woman named Delilah who falls for a man named Samson. Although, she does not really fall for him. She tricks him into falling for her just for money. When the Philistines come for Samson, she let them cut his hair while he was sleeping at her knees. Delilah then let the Philistines take Samson, and they took his eyes out and shackled him to take him to the prison house. This story was interesting because Delilah was very tricky. She used a man to get money, and Samson fell for her false affection. I feel you see that happen a lot today. People use each other for money, or they are willing to turn someone over for money. One thing that comes to mind is when people kidnap someone for ransom, and demand large amounts of money for their return. 

(Abraham and Hagar, by Guercino)

Another story in this first series of reading that I like is the story of Hagar. She was the maid of Sarah and Abram. Sarah was not able to bear a child, so she handed over Hagar to Abram to bear his child. After Hagar had Abram's child, Sarah was jealous of Hagar and dealt with her harshly. Because of this Hagar fled with her son, but eventually returned. When Sarah was finally able to bear a child, she had Abram send Hagar and her child, Ishmael away with only bread and water. When they ran out of water Hagar cried for her and her son. The Lord heard Hagar's cries and gave her water, and they made it to another city wear they settled. This story can relate to many situations today. The most obvious being the when men find themselves in a love triangle and have children from more than one woman and sometimes there is jealousy there and the father ends up abandoning one child to be with the other. 

Bible Women

MythFolklore Topics Brainstorm

Storybook Topic: Werewolves
Comments: I pretty much have always been interested in Werewolves. I watch just about every show that has them, like Teen Wolf, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Supernatural. I am interested in how Werewolves came to be and have adapted over time. Also I like that they form pacts that protect each other, much like a family.
Sample Story: When I searched for stories related to werewolves, I found a cool short story about a woman who is always has meat, but no one can understand how until she transforms into her werewolf form.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: A Women Transforms Herself into a Werewolf 
Book Title: Werewolf Legends from Germany
Book Author: F. Asmus and O. Knoop
Year: 1898

Storybook Topic: Gothic Creatures
Comments: I found this interesting by reading a storybook about a ghost. I always find interesting to watch shows or movies about ghosts. Most of the time, they are linked to some sort of object and cannot be at peace until that object is either destroyed or exorcised. I think writing a story about a possible ghost who tries to find someone to help him or her be at peace by telling their story, but first finding out how to reach out to someone who can help them.  
Sample Story: I found a Hawaiian myth story about different types of ghosts. This follows along the lines of what I want to write about. This storybook also has other stories that I can possible get information or inspiration from.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Homeless and Desolate Ghosts
Book Title: Sacred Texts
Book Author: W. D. Westervelt
Year: 1916

Storybook Topic: Vampires
Comments: Vampires have always been interesting creatures to me. As you can see from my comments about werewolves, I definitely watch a lot of television about vampires as well. Everyone likes to always think about Vampires as all bad, but I am maybe interested in writing vampires who don't kill humans, but live off of animals to survive. I am also thinking of writing a possible teenage drama about a couple of college kids who get turned into vampires (but don't realize it), and are being hunted by hunters.
Sample Story: I found a Vampire Index when searching the sacred texts. I found this very interesting and hard to just find one single story to pull from. This specific story is about the awakening of vampires or how they are born or reborn.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Awakenings
Book Title: The Vampire Codex
Book Author: Michelle Belanger
Year: 2000

Storybook Topic: Heroes
Comments: I am utterly fascinated with heroes! I watch like every superhero show and movie! Batman is my favorite hero because how awesome is that he can fight crime a villains without supernatural powers. I also love what heroes stand for, especially when they stand up for something like protecting the people of their city. Also when they don't make it their mission to kill, but fight for justice.
Sample Story: I found this storybook in the sacred texts. It is about the birth of hero Hercules. One that is told much differently than that of the Disney movie, which is pretty interesting. This version is much more fascinating and one that I could write a story about.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: The Myth and Birth of a Hero: Hercules
Book Title: Sacred Texts
Book Author: Otto Rank
Year: 1914

(Hercules fighting the Nemean lion by Peter Paul Rubens)

Reading Diary A: Adam and Eve

The Fall of Satan The storybook about Satan is pretty interesting. It may only be because one of my favorite shows is Supernatural and they put a different twist on the Fall of Satan but it still follows basically from the Bible. Basically Satan does not want to bow down to man, and he feels he is superior to man. Although, when God learns of this he is not happy with Satan. Satan feels that he should only worship God, but God told Satan that he had to pay homage to Adam (who was also created in the image of God), but he did not do that. Satan refused and he faced the wrath of God. Satan was released from Heaven and became a fallen angel and fell to earth. What was also crazy was that Satan even tried to challenge Adam by competing with him to know the names of the animals and Adam was still superior in his knowledge, but Satan still has too much pride to be gracious to Adam. Furthermore, when Satan did not take on the path of his brother Michael who was one of the first angels to bow before Adam. But I suppose it was because their were other angels who followed Satan. One question that is posed in Supernatural is weather angels prefer free will or following a leader, and many times the angels seem to prefer following, so I found that funny how Satan having his followers sort of correlated with the show.

(The Fall of Satan, by William Blake)

Eve I really liked the storybook of Eve because it follows the creation of Eve and how different she is from Adam. Eve is very different from Adam in the sense that Eve was created from the rib of Adam. Eve as a woman also has a different purpose than man. Women were created to be more mature than men, and also for childbearing. The differences between man and woman are night and day. What may placate and man will not for the woman. What also caught my attention was in the end because Eve brought sin into the world, women were garbs on their head to hide their shame, and they precede men at a funeral because Eve brought death into the world. Also another interesting part of the story is that God had created a wife for Adam well before Eve, but he was repulsed by her because of how she was created. When Eve was created, Adam immediately adored her because she was made from his bone. I found that be romantic, because you hear a lot of men today call their spouse or significant other "their rib." Lastly, the wedding of Adam and Eve made me think of traditional weddings. Their marriage was blessed by the Lord, and then after they danced to music with the angels. This is much like today's marriages where people get married in a church and then have a reception afterward to dance and enjoy family and friends.


(The Creation of Eve, by William Blake)

Table of Contents

UnTextbook options

(Creation of Adam by William Blake)

Adam and Eve

This reading refers to the story of genesis from the Bible. 

Africa

The story covers traditions and cultures that are popular in different regions of Africa. 

Alice and Wonderland

The text is a colorful spin on the traditional story of Alice and Wonderland. 

Native American Marriage

The story tells a tale from original Native American stories. The tales are different from the average stories because they talk about what seems like shifters and their human spouses. 

My Storybook Favorites

(Happily Ever After? A Prince's Perspective)

What stood out most about this storybook is this picture. I could not help but laugh at the look in the princess face holding two children, while one latches their hand on her leg. I thought "maybe this will be interesting." It would probably be a different take on the classic princess and prince charming love story and how it wasn't rainbows and unicorns afterwards. 

The funny things is when I went to browse the site and read the introduction, the story is told from the Prince's perspective. This really grabbed me because I love reading stories from an opposing perspective. This is also quite interesting because I never thought about what a story would be like after the happy ever after, or if the happy ever after never happened for that matter. 

Gossip Girl

What stood out the most about the storybook on Gossip Girl was the colorfulness of the site, and the beautiful picture of Hawaii. Another thing I liked was the name of the site. It caught my attention because one of my guilty pleasures is gossip or reading about a scandal. 

When reading the introduction, it definitely grabbed my attention and confirmed my assumptions about what the storybook was about. It basically tells a story about the the different scandals that happen around Hawaii. I would read this for sure. Two of my favorite shows are Scandal and Revenge, and from the introduction they are kind of similar to these shows which makes this even more exciting to read. This storybook also has some features I would like to use like the theme relating closely to the storybook theme.

Characters of Christmas

Who doesn't love Christmas? What immediately struck me about this storybook is the picture of a cute pink Christmas tree with cute purple ornaments! Also the fact that I love Christmas. Also the design is so pretty that I could not help but save it to my Pinterest board. In this storybook they use pictures and videos which I think is very interesting twist to writing their own version of a story because you get to see the original and then a newer perspective in the same story. Having a video is also cool because it help people know what they're reading about if they aren't sure. 

(Source)

After the reading the introduction and seeing the picture above, I was pretty thrown off. The storybook is based a disorder call Post-Christmas Stress Disorder, which I find extremely hilarious being a psychology major and learning about all kinds of disorders. The stories basically tell stories about famous characters that are associated with the wonderful holiday of Christmas. One being Rudolph. What is most interesting about this type of storybook is that these non-human characters are treated as having human everyday lives.