Extra Reading Diary: West African Unit

For this week, I finished the West African unit, and I found the rest of the stories to be a lot of fun to read. They communicate morals and lessons about the world in a way that's really fun and memorable. I really enjoyed reading about how they explain phenomena in the world around them.

One story that I really enjoyed was How the Tortoise Got Its Shell. I just felt so badly for the tortoise after he was left outside. It was nice that they were able to bring him back to life, but I imagine his quality of life greatly decreased after he had to carry the shell around with him all the time. I imagine that would be very frustrating.

Another story that I really liked from this unit was King Chameleon and the Animals, which shows the chameleon to be a very clever animal, so much so that he tricks everyone into making him king, when it should have been the hare. I think that it's nice to have a new animal play the trickster, as so many cultures use very similar characters in their stories. The chameleon fits the role very well, as his ability to change colors makes him suited to all kinds of tricks.

The Chameleon

Week 6 Reading Diary A: West African Folktales

For this week, I read the West African Folktales Unit, which I found to be very fun and entertaining.

One story that I really liked was Thunder and Anansi, which tells the story of how Anansi's selfishness caused his family to starve, while he gorged himself. I thought this story showed the hazards of being selfish. Anansi had the ability to feed his family, but his greed caused him to lose that. I think this story demonstrates really well how selfishness comes back to impact you and others around you.

Another story that I really liked was Anansi and Nothing, which tells the story of why children seem to cry "for nothing." I thought that this story was a very clever way to explain something everyone tries to understand to no avail: why children seem to cry for no reason. I thought the story was really funny, and at first, I had no idea where the story was going. The ending was a great surprise and definitely made me laugh.