My Storybook Favorites

I Know What Eos, Selene, and Helios Did Last Night

The storybook, I Know What Eos, Selene, and Helios Did Last Night, is a retelling of multiple Greek myths. I knew the story of Selene and Endymion before I read the storybook, but I hadn't heard of the others. The title sounds much like the storybook's format, about the antics of the Greek deity siblings Eos, Selene, and Helios. The introduction sets up the reader's part in listening to a habitual brunch that these siblings set up, with Greek myths playing as a way for these siblings to brag about their lives.

The introduction's formal tone didn't fit some of the lines, such as, "[My godly sibling and I] fight about dumb things, like whose turn it is to control the sky...," which, by showcasing the supernatural and relatability of these characters, created a comedic effect that better suited the storybook's overall mood.

For the design of the storybook, I liked how each myth is separated into different sections as the siblings take turns telling their stories, with a different header to represent the narrator of that section. I also liked how there was a separate notes section which showed the sources and ideas behind the storybook as it allowed me to be immersed in the book all the way through.

Fairytale Case Files

The storybook Fairytale Case Files is a mysterious twist on many fairy tales I was already familiar with, such as Hansel and Gretel. The mood of the stories is darker to match a detective novel, which made me curious. One of the sections, "A Study in Footwear," is even an allusion to the famous detective case "A Study in Scarlet," which later became the Sherlock Holmes Series. 

The 1888 Cover of "A Study in Scarlet" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

One creative aspect of this storybook was how Detective Wolfgang discovers the aftermath of the original Hansel and Gretel, the dead witch, and investigates to find the truth of the murder.

Another aspect I enjoyed was how Wolfgang discovered Rumplestilkskin's name, which the Queen asked many to do in the original story.

The images used in this storybook were simple and were well-suited to the storybook.

Peter Pan: Revisited

The storybook Peter Pan: Revisited comes from the stories by J. M. Barrie. Before I read the storybook, I was already familiar with Peter Pan, both from the book and from many movies. The title, while it shows that we take an altered look at Peter Pan, is not particularly attention-grabbing. Another name to show how this storybook is different from the original might be something like The Heroic Captain Hook. This type of title would grab the reader's attention by creating an association that our minds automatically think off as wrong. Captain Hook is a notorious villain, so for him to be called heroic would create an attention-grabbing oxymoron.

The introduction is in second-person point of view where the reader interviews James Hook about the truth of Neverland, while the later sections read like a novel, where the next section takes off where the last part left off. I wasn't as much a fan of this, compared to other storybooks where each section was its separate adventure. However, the contrast of James Hook as an older man with child-like traits versus the young Peter Pan who lost his innocence to ambition showed me how I can change an original story but still keep the first themes, which in this case was childhood versus adulthood.

For the look of the project, I enjoyed how a new picture would be added in with every scenery change.