Although I am clearly delayed in posting this list, we read these stories while watching the 2018 Winter Olympics. We used the stuffies pictured above to represent the mascots for the Olympics and Paralympics. The Opening Ceremonies and events took place in and around Pyeongchang, South Korea, and these stories gave us a little bit of context for the Games. As always when we study a place, I tried to balance past and present, so some stories are myth, folklore, history, and legend, while others discuss the more contemporary elements of Korean culture. We even got to try a lot of Korean food at our Girl Scout Service Unit’s World Thinking Day event; the cookies we made for the event, and the stories we read at home, were gold-medal worthy.
This list is our longest one to date, because every time I thought I’d requested all the library materials we’d need, I discovered another avenue we wanted to explore. These are stories of faith, wisdom, and wit. We read about the history of Judaism from ancient days to contemporary times, covering folktales and fairytales along with Holocaust accounts and high holy days. From the revitalization of Hebrew and the modern state of Israel, to influential Jewish-Americans, to tales contemplating the nature of God, these stories introduced us to the beauty of Judaism.
Our unit study of Greece turned out to be a long one because there are so many great stories out there. While I started with and wanted to include some contemporary stories about Greece, my children were enthralled by the mythological tales. This list is a mix of modern and mythological, with more emphasis on the latter, though there’s a bit of science, math, and geography in here too. I always feel that a list has been successful when my children incorporate it into their play, and even after finishing this one, my younger daughter still runs around the yard shouting “I have the strength of Hercules!” Our captivation with these stories from a place rich in history and culture speaks to the enduring strength of Greece.
In our latest literary journey, we traveled to Egypt, where we explored stories both ancient and modern. I wanted to show the nation’s rich history without crystalizing it in the past, so we combined stories of mythology with tales from the present. This list shows a similar geographic setting for both old and new, illustrating the way past, present, and future converse through stories.
My elder daughter and I have a pact to visit the Eiffel Tower together some day, so it’s no surprise that she chose France for our country-a-month study. We previously did a unit study called “Paris in the Springtime,” so I’ve tried to expand to France more broadly here, and I’ve avoided duplications from that list. During our study, we discovered that we wanted to explore two artists in greater depth, so I made separate lists for Edgar Degas (“Delighted by Degas”) and Henri Matisse (“Mad about Matisse”). My daughter is still delighted by the Eiffel Tower, but one of our favorite parts of studying France is, of course, the food. Bon appétit!
Anatole by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone (part of a series)
My elder daughter has been going through something of a Cinderella phase, originating with a viewing of the 1950 Disney film (of course, right?). Her grandparents gave her a book derived from the movie, and then she chose another, nearly identical book version as a prize for the library’s summer reading program. Before we knew it, my husband and I were reading multiple versions of the same story every night at bedtime, so I decided to see how deeply we could immerse ourselves in Cinderella tales. The following list comprises the results of this experiment, divided into three categories: Cinderella-type stories from countries and cultures around the world to show its universal themes and particular variations; adaptations of the Perrault version that originated in 17th-century France and inspires the most popular retellings in this country (including Disney’s); and spoofs or spinoffs that change and challenge the perspective of the story or reinterpret its key characters and plot points. I think I could keep building this list ad infinitum, and while we still enjoy Disney’s Cinderella, these books have expanded and enhanced our understanding of a timeless tale that enchants us in all of its manifestations.
