My Storybook Favorites

"The Pleiades"

Elihu Vedder (1836-1923). Web Source: Wikimedia

The first storybook that I chose to read is "Adventures in the Underworld", which details the story of Hades and his lot in life. My favorite element of this story was the "choose your own adventure" style. It made me feel more like an active character who was relevant to the plot, rather than a passive reader. This was furthered in the final part of the story, where we as readers get to become judges in the Underworld. I was so interested in the different outcomes that I went through and clicked all of them, and I love that the author had a certain amount of openness that allowed for differing opinions. Finally, as the story of Hades and Persephone is one of my favorites, it was refreshing to see it told in a way that showed how much love Hades had for Persephone, exemplified in the way he let her tell her own story and actively encouraged the reader to listen to her perspective.

The second storybook I read is "Applying to College: Greek Mythology." If there's a theme emerging in the storybooks that I read, it's that I really love Greek mythology. I was a part of the age group who grew up on Percy Jackson, and I love that this student took the same idea and modified it for our current age. Instead of telling the gods' stories from the perspective of a middle schooler, we get to see the gods' experiences as a high school senior would. If there's one thing that I vividly remember from filling out the common app, it was learning how to put into words the meanings I derived from my experiences. It was neat to see these stories from the human perspective of how we can learn from what has happened to us.

"University of Oklahoma-1"

Pioneer Library System. Web Source: flickr

The last storybook I read is called "Boo-mer Sooner: Freshman Year." The reason I chose to read it is that I'm a tour guide, so I basically get paid for how much I love OU, but I've always shied away from the ghost stories in our campus history. I don't believe in ghosts, but also don't like playing with the supernatural, so I really related to the "Sam" character in this story. The student did such an amazing job making it an immersive experience that I found myself getting spooked at the very thought of being in the decks at night, or staying in the Biz past 12.