I think the UnTextbook will be part of the most difficult aspect of this course: deciding which (awesome!) units we'll be reading this semester. More specifically, the difficulty will come from deciding which units you won't be reading because you can only choose 2 units each week. Of course, you could always do extra reading if you'd like, but when the semester gets really busy you just won't have time to cover some units that you're very interested in. Here is a rough outline of how I think my semester readings will work out:
Weeks 2 and 3: The dilemma starts already! I'm having a hard time deciding between Aesop's fables, Greek mythology, or somehow doing a combination of the two. I'm very interested in reading stories from both units, but I can't decide which great stories I'll get to miss out on. Perhaps I'll find some theme that can connect an Aesop unit to a mythology unit and making that connection will make up for any wonderful stories I might miss out on.
Weeks 4 and 5: I'm excited to read stories from the India unit after having read about (but not having actually read) the Panchatantra, Jatakas, and Ramayana in the children's literature course that I took last semester. If I remember correctly, Panchatantra and Jataka stories are meant to teach lessons or impart wisdom and this could fit well with the Aesop and mythology units that I hope to read since some of these stories also teach a lesson or have important morals. (I think I might be onto a theme for my study of these readings: lessons from literature!).
Weeks 6 and 7: This time I'm interested in reading stories which with I am both familiar and unfamiliar. I don't know much about Japanese mythology, but I've always been interested in Japan and Japanese culture, so I look forward to learning something new about these subjects. A little more familiar to me are the African tales and Brer Rabbit stories, some of which I read or heard as a child and some of which I only heard about in my children's literature class but that I am interested in learning more about.
Weeks 9 and 10: These weeks will be no-brainers in terms of choosing which units I will read. My boyfriend is Native Alaskan (Haidi-Tlingit) and, while he isn't very involved in the culture of his nations, I'd love to read stories from the Alaskan unit that I might share with him. Also, I'm (a very very tiny) part Cherokee, so I'd like to read the Cherokee stories unit and learn a little bit more about a part (albeit very small) of my heritage. However, I do regret missing out on the marriage and hero stories, but maybe I can scrounge up a bit of time over spring break to read some of these stories, too.
Weeks 11 and 12: This will be another tough decision week. I'd love to read one or both units over Alice in Wonderland, but I'd also like to do the English Aesop unit and read some more fables. Also, I'm a huge fan of fairy tales so it's hard to pass up reading the English fairy tale units. Additionally, both my boyfriend and myself are part Irish, so I'm also drawn to the Celtic tales. It's so hard to choose just two!
Weeks 13 and 14: The reading choices for this week will be pretty simple. As I've already said, I love fairy tales so the easy choices are Grimm and the general European fairy tales. The difficult part will be deciding which of the three Grimm units and two European fairy tale units I'll be missing out on. By this time, I will hopefully have some kind of unifying theme for all my readings making tough weeks like this a little easier by selecting units with stories that fit that theme. Below is a picture of the cover for an English translation of a collection of stories by the brothers Grimm. I decided to go with this picture because I've always enjoyed the Grimm fairy tales (I actually own a book that is a collection of most of their stories).
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| Cover of an English translation of stories by the brothers Grimm (Wikimedia Commons) |
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