by Elizabeth Harper
(Hotel Foyer Design from 3dhousedownload.com)
The afterlife, for some, is a terrifying thought. The rest of your immortal soul's life spent either in lavish comfort or in some fiery pit you-know-where. Or, perhaps, some third option? In "Hero Visa Pending," Elizabeth Harper writes from the point-of-view of Kyle, a man who is living in the underworld under Hades' rule. Kyle was originally a working in the "pits," but for the week Harper writes about, has taken on the roll of Hades' receptionist. The four short stories in this storybook follow Kyle through some less than ideal situations, and I had a blast reading them. Since elementary school I have always gone out of my way to learn about mythologies, specifically Greek myths, so hearing a story about a Greek god was familiar. What I like about these stories were that they were in a setting I've never seen before when in regards in Greek myths. It was something new and funny. I was drawn in by the introduction where one meets Kyle and I knew I has to keep reading after finding out the setting. Overall, I liked how one story played into the next and the overall set up of the storybook was very clean, easy to navigate, and nice to look at. This was by far my favorite storybook of the ones I read.
by Amanda
(Humpback Whale Tail by 12019 on Pixabay)
My second storybook choice is "The Differentiation Between" which follows two twin sisters from a coastal town as they turn seventeen. In this community, seventeen signifies a change that happens between a person and the ocean. One either becomes a mermaid: sweet, jovial, and kind, or a siren: evil, murderous, and cold. Twin sisters Laeli and Mirren escape their hometown to try to avoid their change, but meet it head on anyway. I liked this story because of the idea of a sort of choice happening that can lead one to either become a mermaid or a siren. It was an interesting story to read, and I'ma sucker for sibling relationships. Some of the writing could have been a litter more clear, but the story line was intriguing.
by Jennifer Nygren
(Persephone by Dante Gabriel Rossetti found on wikimedia)
Another story about Persephone! The pattern here is Greek mythology holds a special place in my heart, and Persephone is right up at the top of my favorites list. This story is much more focused on Persephone, unlike the first storybook, which I enjoyed! "Queen of the Underworld" told the stories of Psyche (another favorite of mine), Orpheus, and Pirithous and Thesus, kings of Lapiths and Athens respectively. I enjoyed the first two stories and the introduction because they showed Persephone as having a role in what happens in the underworld instead of just being a captive. I didn't enjoy the last story too much because of content, but it was written well.
Oh, this is super, Oliver: you picked some of the Storybooks have have story arcs of their own, which makes them very memorable. There are also Storybooks that are more like an anthology, but you can really go wild if there is some kind of overarching frametale that comes from your own imagination (and that is even more the case in the Japanese Storybook you wrote me about: Of Monsters and Myths... it is one of the most novelistic-type Storybooks anybody has done for this class). And yes, Greek mythology is usually very well represented in the projects each semester, which is great: it gives people who are really into Greek myth a chance to work on Greek myth every week, in addition to whatever the changing readings are over the semester, plus it gives other people in class even more opportunities to learn about Greek myth. In that sense, EVERY Storybook topic is very welcome because it adds to the class as a whole, contributing to what everybody is learning (including me!).
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