Week Twelve: Storytelling

Tom had always lived in his brother's shadow. Being the second born cat to a king and queen cat, Tom was always compared to his brother Tim. Tim was the older, bigger cat. He was in line to become king soon and everyone loved him. First in school, athletic and popular, Tim was the perfect child. Their parents fawned over Tim, destined to take the cat crown and carry on their father's legacy.

Tommy on the other hand was the opposite. Not a bad cat, but not as perfectly rounded as Tim. Tom loved his brother, obviously, but was secretly very jealous of all his status and position. When their father died, Tim became King of all the Cats. And Tom was still nothing. Bitter and jealous, Tom ran away a week later. He found a nice home in the woods and a older couple to take care of him. He caught mice in their barn and napped on their rug by the fire. At his nice home he was no longer "Tim's kid brother," here he was a beloved part of the family.

He spent many years with the older couple. During this time he never went back to his home or checked on his family members. Sometimes he'd hear some news: Tim got married, visited a neighboring cat society, blah blah. Tom never told any cats he met that he was Tim's brother. He didn't want to be in Tim's shadow any more.

One day, as Tom was falling asleep on the warm rug after having a delicious can of Fancy Feast and a dish of milk, his owner barged in. He was sweaty like he had just gone for a run and was frantically yelling Tom's name. Why is he calling for me? Tommy wondered. He doesn't know my real name.

The older woman calmed her husband and asked him what in the world was going on. As Tommy's master retold the story, Tommy was in shock. Apparently, his master was at a graveyard and had witnessed a traditional cat death processional. Nine black cats with white spots on their chests, like Tommy, were carrying a cat coffin to a new grave. They came and stared at the old man and then one stepped forward and told him to tell Tommy that Tim is dead.

By the time his master had gotten through the story, Tommy knew what it meant. He kept meowing as he got more and more excited. Tim had gotten married but he had never had kittens. That meant that Tommy was now the King of the Cats! He could barely believe it! He meowed loudly and then rushed out the door, never looking back.

Author's Note. This story is based off of The King o' The Cats. I kept most of the original plot line and the same story theme. The only thing I changed was the point of view. The original was told from a third person point of view, focusing on the human couple. The husband walks in and retells the story and when he finishes their cat, Tommy, runs away saying he will be king. I took that idea but told the story from the cat's point of view. I thought it would make an interesting twist.

Bibliography. The King o' The Cats by John D. Batten (1894) English Fairytales Unit (2). Picture Source.

Week Twelve: Essay

First Memories of Writing

I remember when I started first grade and started to learn cursive, we always used "inventive spelling." This meant that if we didn't know how to spell something we had to write it the way we thought it should be spelled first. It taught us to sound out the word and piece together words based on our previous knowledge. Of course, I didn't always get it right. What I found most frustrating at the time was that fact that I didn't get an eraser on the end of my pencil. We had creative writing portion of school and we always had to use our "inventive spelling" without any erasers. I remember being frustrated by this and that I couldn't change what I wrote down after I wrote it. They wanted us to mark it out but still be able to draw on our changes if we wanted. I understand the idea, but when I was in second grade I didn't like the way it looked on my paper. I couldn't understand why I couldn't just erase my mistakes and re write them.

Even before that, I remember we used to retell what we learned and other stories to a teacher who would write down our ideas for us. We got to do the drawings, but the writing was physically done by someone else. That was when I was really small, maybe in kindergarden. As I moved up, we wrote down our own stories. I've read some of them and it's pretty funny to see the way I wrote and the way I spelled when I was younger.

When we learned cursive we had an outline to follow that showed us where all the letters were supposed to go, like the image below. For a long time I just had to write in cursive and even today many of my letters are still connected and curly like cursive is. I actually enjoyed cursive once I got the hang of it. It was a little difficult, but I liked it when I learned. These are my first memories of writing.

(Source)

Week Twelve

Part A: I read the More English Fairytales unit. I really enjoyed the stories, they were sometimes silly and sometimes serious, but had interesting plot lines. I didn't really recognize any of them from my childhood either. I vaguely know of Pied Piper, but I didn't remember what exactly happened. In the  unit story The Pied Piper, a town is filled with rats and a man with a pipe comes and says if he gets paid he will get rid of all of the rats. For fifty pounds, he plays his pipe and leads all the rats into the ocean where they drown. The mayor then refuses to pay and he plays his pipe again, this time enticing the children. From my understanding, I think the children followed the Pied Piper into the woods and they were never seen again. A pretty sad ending. In the first part, I also thought The Three Wishes was interesting. A man goes into the forest to cut down a tree and a fairy pleads that he spare the tree. Because he listened, she granted him three wishes. In the end he wishes for black pudding, his wife wishes the pudding was on his nose (not sure why) and then he finally wishes for the pudding to get off his nose. In the end, they stayed just as they were with the exception of some nice pudding.

Part B: I really enjoyed reading The King o' the Cats. The story was about a man who comes home to his cat and his wife and tells the strange events he encountered that evening. He said he witnessed a cat death processional. He said that the cats spoke to him and told him to find his cat and tell him that Tim Toldrum had died. His cat, apparently Tom Toldrum, said he was the King of the Cats and scurried off.

Week Eleven: Storytelling

Amanda was 17 and bored. It was the summer after her junior year in high school and while all her friends were camp counselors or snow cone operators she had no job and no plans. Her parents spent their days at work and she sat by the pool in the backyard imagining her day away. All she wanted was some excitement and adventure. She wanted something different and new.

One day, after hours by herself, she thought she was half dreaming when she thought she saw a cat scamper across her yard. Now this was no ordinary cat. He looked like he was wearing a long yellow coat, complete with gold buttons and a red collar. He was hurrying through the yard, his tail moving high above grass. Squinting and looking closely at him, Amanda swore that she saw him check a pocket watch from his coat. But in a flash he disappeared through a hole in the ground and he was gone.

Curious, Amanda stood up and inspected where the cat had disappeared. She bent over and stuck her head near the hole in the ground, peering into the darkness. Then she fell over, tumbling into the hole and into a large tunnel that seemed to never end. It was dark and long and Amanda fell further and further. She wondered where in the world she was going and how she got there. There is a tunnel beneath my backyard? Maybe it's sewage? Oh that would be gross… She thought to herself as the tunnel kept going.

Finally she fell with a heavy thump on the ground of a dark room. Around her were several doors of all shapes, sizes and colors. She stood up, brushed herself off and tried all the doors. To her disappointment they were all locked. Even more confused, she looked again to the center of the room only to see a glass table (which she was sure hadn't been there before). She carefully walked to the table and found a large golden key. She excitedly tried the key on every door in the room but found it didn't fit any of the key holes. Hmmm… She thought. How interesting. Then she noticed a curtain near one of the doors and beneath it another door, much smaller than the rest.

The door was blue and about a foot and a half high. Bending over she found that the key fit into the door perfectly. She slowly opened the door and inside it, to her delight, was a beautiful garden. Full of flowers, mushrooms, green grass and clear blue sky, she tried desperately to get through the door. But it was too small. She couldn't fit herself no matter how hard she tried.

She turned again to the room and this time noticed a small bottle on the glass table (that was definitely not there before). After drinking the contents she felt herself shrink impossibly small. She looked up to see the now giant glass table above her and realized that the golden key to the small door was still sitting on the table while she sat on the ground.

(Disney Alice in Wonderland Clipart page 1 - Disney Clipart Galore (clipped to polyvore.com))

She began to cry, but after she started again she noticed a small box with a piece of cake inside. With a sign that read, "eat me," she ate the cake and found herself grow taller and taller with every moment. Soon she was nearly nine feet tall and she towered above the glass table. This time she picked up the golden key and returned to the small door, determined to get through this time.

However, now that she was tall she still couldn't get through the door. Sitting down she began to cry again. Her tears, now giant because of her size, filled the room and pooled like a pond in the room. As it filled the water carried her, and her sadness, through the tiny door and into the beautiful garden.

Author's Note. This is based off of Down the Rabbit-Hole from the Alice in Wonderland unit. I changed the characters to a more modern setting, but kept the original plot almost exactly the same. I thought it might be more realistic for her to see a cat in her backyard and liked the idea of it being some high schooler that is bored during the summer (because I know I used to be). The tunnel, the rooms and everything else that happens follows pretty much the original story.

Bibliography. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland unit by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Week Eleven: Essay

Alice in Wonderland: Role of Other Characters

One of the more interesting stories within the Alice in Wonderland unit was the Advice from a Caterpillar story. In the story, Alice is lost and happens upon a caterpillar smoking a hookah (age appropriate?) who questions her, "Who are YOU?" She is confused and said she doesn't remember who she is or what was going on because she had been so many sizes within a short period of time. He confuses her further by his questions and mysterious, vague phrases. He made her angry and frustrated because he was confusing and made zero sense.

In my opinion, the conversation itself was completely random and deviated completely from the original question. In the middle of the conversation he tells an even more random story about an old man and a younger man asking him questions. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the point of the story was because it just abruptly ends and the story reverts back to Alice and the caterpillar.

All of the animals she encounters are strange in their own ways. By the end Alice is pretty confused by where she is and what she was doing there. I think that Alice herself is pretty strange and unusual, but that may be from being in the strange world she falls into. Or a result of the animals she encounters. She meets a pigeon and the conversation changes morphs even more. As I was reading it was actually hard to follow along because the plot doesn't seem to follow any direction. I'm not sure what the point of talking to the caterpillar and the pigeon was. I think that maybe the characters give a view into the different lifestyle and world that is present in Alice in Wonderland. Overall, I think the characters, however strange or unusual, are important in portraying the weird world that makes up her experiences. It builds the world and characters that carry on throughout the rest of the unit.

(Illustrated by Sir John Tenniel)

Week Eleven: Reading Diary

Part A: This week I read Alice in Wonderland unit. It was really fun and entertaining to read. I have seen the Disney version many many years ago so I don't really remember much. This unit was interesting because it was very similar to what I remember of the movie and it really struck me how weird the plot is. Basically, Alice is a young girl who is bored and then follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole. The rabbit had a watch and a waistcoat, which struck her as odd. She followed the tunnel down the rabbit hole and came upon a room. There, by magically growing and shrinking with food or drinks she fits into a small door that leads to a garden. This is the basis of Down the Rabbit Hole parts one through three. After reading all the other children's fairytales, what strikes me about these stories is the lack of defined moral or even real plot. The story just goes in all different directions and doesn't have an end theme. What is the point of the story telling? Is it all supposed to mean something?

Part B: The most interesting part of this section for me was Who Stole The Tarts? story. It just seemed so random and confusing. I don't exactly remember if the movie follows the storyline, but I do vaguely remember the characters. The events that happened seemed so strange. The witnesses were all unique in their own ways. The Hatter wore a hat he sold and got so nervous he got on the ground and begged. Random descriptions of jurors and other members attending were injected into the story and I'm not sure what the point was. The Duchess snuck out and then Alice was called up. The whole chain of events was really pretty strange to me.

Week Ten: Storytelling

"Have a good day at school, sweetie!" his mother yelled out the window as her car drove out of the school circle drive. Timothy smiled in response but in reality he wished he was still sitting in the car with his mom.

It was the first day of third grade and Timothy's backpack filled with books, school supplies and lunch money. He swung the straps onto his back as he ran to catch up with his friends. As they waited for the bell to ring the group of boy sat on the ground to catch up. Most of them spent part of their summer at a camp and told stories of kayaking, campfires and picking on girls.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over them. Timothy turned around and his stomach dropped. Fifth grader, Aaron Crawley towered over them. He was big for his age and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He was the student every teacher dreaded having because he didn't pay attention, follow the rules or have any manners.

"Hey, little boys," he growled, "Hope you like the sight of dirt in your face because you'll be seeing a lot of it this year!" He cackled at his own joke with two of his fifth grade friends.

Timothy and his friends quickly stood up and walked away. Nobody wanted to mess with Aaron. Days passed and it got worse and worse to be around Aaron. He took lunch money, pushed people into lockers and made jokes about everyone. Timothy was sick and tired of putting up with it and he had an idea.

(Picture Source)

One day, while Aaron was skipping class to sleep on a bench in the hallway Timothy crept quietly with a cup of warm water. He carefully placed Aaron's hand into the warm cup of water. Everyone knows what happens when you place someone's hand in warm water while they're sleeping. He then took the cup and ran away so Aaron wouldn't see him.

When Aaron woke up and realized what happened he was extremely embarrassed. Being 11, he knew he was much too old to pee in his sleep and everyone who got out of class saw him on the bench. The whispers started and they turned into laughs. People pointed and talked behind their hands as he shamefully walked down the hall. He had to finish the entire school day before he could go home and change.

From that day on Aaron left the third graders alone. He ended up transferring schools while Timothy was treated as a hero among his classmates. Timothy was glad to teach Aaron a lesson.

Bibliography. Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind from American Indian Fairytales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).

Author's Note. This story was loosely based on Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind. I changed pretty much everything except the theme of standing up to a bully. In the original, the North Wind bullies a group of people while they're fishing so all the fishermen decide to go home. One stays and proves that the North Wind can't hurt him. He fights the North Wind and eventually the North Wind runs away. I changed everything to be about some boys and bully to keep the same general idea. In then end I wanted the bully to leave, just like the North Wind, so I had him transfer. Even though in the end Timothy bullies the bully, he deserved it.

Week Ten: Essay

Children's Stories

What I think was the most interesting part of this collection of stories was that there was no overarching moral or lesson. Many of the children's fairytales or folktales I've read have clear lines of right and wrong. All the "bad" characters are punished while the "good" ones live happily ever after. I think this has to do with the content of these stories as well. Not all of them featured people as main characters or they weren't based around the theme of good and evil.

For example, in Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind, the two main characters (a man and the wind) fight over what seems to be territory. The North Wind wishes to scare off the man and make it cold everywhere and the man defeats him through heat and warmth. I wouldn't say the Wind was necessarily evil, but the South (or warm) Wind was more pleasant. Additionally, in The Boy Who Snared The Sun, the young boy kills birds and is a bit stubborn, but is not reprimanded. The Sun is freed, but the boy doesn't get any punishment for lassoing the Sun. This is interesting, because when many stories are told to children they hold a moral to somehow scare the children into being good or inspire them to be good. All the likable characters get their dreams and wishes, while the mean-spirited ones end up dead or with nothing.

(Source)

However, these set of stories are far less gruesome than some I've read. I think in terms of content, they are appropriate for children's stories. The animation of animals, inanimate objects and other magical creatures is more child-friendly. Not every story is centered around a young woman getting married, as many fairytales are, so I think that aspect is good. Personally, I think children's fairytales should be fun and entertaining to hear. I don't necessarily thing they all need a moral or overarching theme, but if they do it should be encouraging and warm. Young minds are easily shaped by all sorts of experiences, so it's important to be careful with everything a child is exposed to.

Week Ten: Reading Diary

Part A: I read American Indian Fairytales. What I noticed about this reading unit is that many of the stories started out though storytelling. A wise, old member was sharing his wisdom and knowledge through stories with younger children. In the stories, he is always referred to as Iagoo. He starts with Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind, which tells the story of how the North Wind was scared away. In the story, the Diver, Shin-ge-bis, scares away the North Wind with heat. The North Wind can't harm him inside his wigwam because of the heat (he melted) or outside, because he grew weak from body heat. In the end, the North Wind goes far away and now only yells, "Whoo!" at night. I thought this was interesting, because the story gives inanimate objects a personality and large part. It's common in fairytales to give animals or even magical creatures full personas, but the wind? It was something I hadn't seen before in my other units. In The Child of The Evening Star, characters lose youth and gain it, sisters and their husbands get turned into birds and then drawfs, and the main characters live among the stars. The story is pretty long, but basically, out of 10 sisters only the modest, shy and honest sister gets the handsome husband who is actually the son of the Evening Star. The others are turned into birds and eventually into drawfs.

Part B: Another thing I noticed about this unit was that there were no morals. In general, not all of the bad or good characters were punished for their actions. Most of them just discussed how today's phenomenons came about. For example, The Boy Who Snared The Son told the story of a young boy and girl who lived in a much different time. Back when animals out populated humans and humans didn't eat animals, the boy used a bow and arrow to kill birds for a coat. As punishment, the Sun shrank the coat, so the boy sought revenge. He lassoed the Sun and only the Dormouse could eat away the lasso, but in the process burned half his body. In the end, the Sun was free and the boy faced no reprecussions. The Dormouse however, was reduced to the size of a moose today.

Week Eight: Reading Diary

When doing the weekly reading diaries I've created a pretty good routine. I read through the entire reading unit and take notes on each story. In the beginning I was probably spending way too much time taking notes. It was taking me a few hours just to get through this single assignment and writing the reading diary was the easiest part. Taking notes was really helpful for me, because then I could refer to those notes when I was writing not only my reading diary but also my essay and my storytelling posts. However, as the semester went on, I became more and more pressed for time. I found that shorter notes still served the same purpose and I wasn't spending hours trying to get through a single unit. Now, I can write a few bulleted points about the plot and still remember what the story was about. I usually do the reading post, essay and storytelling post all in one sitting. That way, the stories are fresh on my mind and I can get it all done in one day. It makes me feel better to have most of my week done in this class early, because I work, have other classes and other commitments that take up most of my time.

In general, I would say I remember almost everything I've read in this class. I think that's because we have so many assignments over each unit. I have to write about what I liked or didn't in the unit, draw connections and then create my own story from one in the original unit. All of these posts mean that I can remember many of the stories I read throughout this course.

I noticed that throughout my reading diaries I pretty much talk about similar topics. Since I focused mainly on folktales and fairytales from each culture, I could draw connections and overarching themes between them. I discussed my favorite stories, what shocked me, what I noticed and what differed between them. I also noticed that sometimes my reading diaries and my essays overlapped. I would briefly talk about something in my reading diary and then discuss it further in my essay. I think that's my high school writing coming into play. I have never just said, "I like this because..." or "I don't like this because..." since I was expected to analyze why I thought these things or why they were important. I think this training shows through as I talk about each week's unit. I focus a lot on the big picture, which is a produce of the International Baccalaureate Program.