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Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Dante's Inferno

Week 4: Ovid I

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Sindbad

Week 6: Ramayana

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales

Week 9: Japanese Myth

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Native American Heroes

Week 11: Cherokee Myths

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Celtic Fairy Tales I

Week 13: Celtic Fairy Tales II

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Beowulf

Week 15: Italian Tales

Beowulf, one of many heroes whose stories I will learn of this semester
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Like many readers, it is clearly shown in my reading interests that I'm drawn to tales of heroes. I'm excited about a quite a few of these stories, as there are many that I have always wanted to read about but have never had the chance to (Dante's Inferno, Beowulf, Sindbad, etc.). I'm also especially excited to read Native American myths as well.

However, I did find it interesting that there's no real westernized American folktales included in the UnTextbook outside of Brer Rabbit. While it can be argued that these stories have been in the spotlight for much too long due to the invasive nature of Western settlers and that it might be time to focus more on indigenous stories which haven't had as much of a chance to be written about (which is an entirely fair argument), I think that it would be very interesting to explore these folk legends.

Heroes like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan, and legendary creatures like Bigfoot and Mothman are ingrained in the culture of our country, and arose from the "tall tale" storytelling style of the American frontier that still has a major influence today. Longer stories like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Wizard of Oz have also had immense impact on American culture as well. 

I think it would be fun to dive into these stories that we may otherwise overlook due to them being very close to home. It might provide an insightful look at how these early legends have influenced modern American storytelling and culture.
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  1. Laura GibbsJanuary 21, 2020 at 9:15 AM

    Hi Brett! Just a quick note to say YES YES YES to stories about American heroes (although Paul Bunyan, sad to say, was invented as part of a marketing campaign for a lumber company... but the stories about him are fun ones!); there was a fantastic Pecos Bill page in a Storybook last semester: Pecos Bill ... and there's usually at least one Oz project every semester too. There is actually a whole huge series of Oz books, beyond even just the Wizard too! So, keep all that in mind when you think about a project. The extra credit reading is also there to be used to basically swap out the reading and create whatever kind of reading schedule you want to do. Basically: no limits... and there are over 1500 books in our Freebookapalooza Library free to read online too! :-)

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