Extra Reading Diary: Alice in Wonderland

Alice falling down the rabbit hole in the 1951 Disney adaptation

I love Alice and Wonderland! I remember reading the book as a kid and thinking it was so magical! I watched the Disney movie all of the time with my sisters, and when the live action movie directed by Tim Burton came out my little sister (a giant Tim Burton fan) and I were so excited! I was really excited to read this unit, and it didn't let me down. It was a great short version of the story, and all of my favorite scenes were in it!

I really love the first part of the story Down the Rabbit Hole (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). I love reading about Alice's first moments seeing the White Rabbit, and falling down the hole. The beginning of the story is so fun because it's her very first delve into the world of Wonderland, and she is just so filled with wonder and curiosity. I love the description of her falling through the rabbit hole. It is so dreamlike and slow placed, and really sets the tone for the rest of the story.

I also just really love the way that Lewis Carroll uses so many parentheses. His writing style is very casual, and the parenthetical phrases feel like he is speaking to you directly, giving funny little side remarks or letting you in on little secrets. It makes the story so much more personable and fun to read. His writing is just so incredible. He does such a great job of creating this wonderfully curious and whimsical character of Alice. She is so instantly likable and embodies the wonder and imagination of childhood. I think his writing style and characterization is what absolutely makes the story of Alice and Wonderland so completely wonderful. I am so glad I decided to read this unit because it's been years since I've read the book and I had forgotten how magical and whimsical the story was.

Reading Diary B: Celtic Fairy Tales

This has been one of my favorite units so far. The stories are so fun to read. Every single one is different, and each has an element of magic, mystery, or a lesson to be learned. I have loved these stories.

Ivan and the Farmer

From the second half of the unit, one of my favorite stories was The Tale of Ivan. In it a man leaves his wife so that he may make wages for them. He works for a farmer, and for three years he sacrifices his wages for a piece of good advice. During this story, each time he received a piece of advice, I tucked it into my mind knowing that they would come into play later in the story. When he finally leaves to go back home to his wife, he follows those pieces of advice so well that it ends up saving his and his friends' lives. This story was so fun to read and I loved how the advice that was given was applicable later in the story and we were able to see how it changed the outcome. The final piece of advice is something that I believe is very applicable always "Honesty is the best policy." I find that being honest results in more rewards and better outcomes than lying ever does, and this sentiment is even shown in the story. I think this story would have been a good story to tell to children in order to show them the importance of listening to and heeding good advice.

I also really liked the story Beth Gellert, mostly because I really love dogs. This story shows how faithful and loyal dogs are, and it made me really happy to read a story about a dog protecting its owner's child. Although it was really sad that the dog was killed, I still thought the entire sentiment behind it was so sweet.

Reading Diary A: Celtic Fairy Tales

I love this unit so much! The stories are so magical and fun! I love that these stories are so easily recognizable as fairy tales. Many of them have all of the same components as a modern day fairy tale. These are especially exciting to me though because I am a fan of Celtic history and culture.

The first story Connla and the Fairy Maiden, was one of my favorites. I really liked the bones of the story and I could see myself writing a more detailed and slightly different story based off of the original. I really liked the dynamic between Conn the King and Connla, his son. I almost wish that this story would be turned into a novel that I could read. I would love to know more about the fairy maiden and her Plain of Pleasure. I think adding more detail about life there and who she is as a person/fairy would add even more to the story.

I also really liked the story The Shepherd of Myddvai. It also had really interesting elements. It was quite funny in a way because when she said not to hit her meaninglessly she had meant that he could not even tap her on the back or anything, and he had not known that. Because I love for my fairy tales to have a happy ending, I would have liked for the lake lady to have come back instead of leaving forever with all of her marriage offerings, but either way the story was really cool!

Silver-Tree asking the trout who the most beautiful queen inin the world is

I absolutely loved the story Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. It was so reminiscent of Snow White and I loved getting to see a story that may have inspired one of my favorite fairy tales. It was such an interesting story and while very similar to Snow White, a lot of the details were so different and new and I really loved that about it. I could easily see myself writing my story this week over this story.