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My Storybook: Why Redbirds aren't Yellow
It's still in progress, of course, but I hope to make it's fun and interesting way to learn about Native American culture and how they believe animals got certain characteristics.  One of the main stories I want to focus on is "Why is the Redbird red?".

I know, it's a cardinal, but we're going to pretend it's an unnamed redbird. Image: Pixabay

Topic Research: Why Animals are the Way They Are

So, one of my ideas was to a project about creation stories, but then I realized that the ones about animals are even more interesting. I think it would be cool to look into Native-Amerian stories about how animals came to be with their distinctive features and characteristics. Here are a few that I would like to build upon. Sacred Texts is a great site to find some of these stories.
1. How the Redbird Got His Color. This story says the redbird became red because of a deal he made with a brown bird who wanted to change his color. It would be cool to expand upon the story and add more details, like why the brown bird was so unhappy with his color or why he would trust an animal who could eat him.

 How did this bird come upon the color red? Image: Flickr

2. Why the Bear Has a Short Tail. I like this story for the wittiness of the fox. He tricks the bear into freezing his tail off (literally) and because of that, all future bears were doomed to have a short tail. Unlike the first story, this one has more dialogue and is longer. I would want to develop the characters more, maybe give the fox and bear a backstory so his trickery has more meaning.
3.Why the Mole Lives Underground. In this story, the mole lives underground because he was hiding from people who were angry with him. He helps a man who is in love with a woman who does not return his feelings. The man had tried several ways to win her love but was unsuccessful. I would make the mole friends with either the man or woman so he has a personal connection to both of them. Either he works for the woman and wants her to find someone so she'll be happier or he's friends with the man and wishes to fulfill his wishes.

Topic Brainstorm

1. In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned how much I liked fables, and I used one of Aesop's for my post. I think I would enjoy working with those. Specifically, I like the creation stories. I was in a Native American Studies class last year, and we spent a lot of time on the stories people told to illustrate how the earth came to be. It's fascinating to see the similarities and differences in creation stories as you look at different cultures. If I went with this idea, I would like to research these stories and see how they show a common ending in different ways. The Four Creations is one of many examples I could use.

The Pillars of Creation. Image: Wikipedia

2. A big part of my life is my heritage, which stems from India. I've read a few stories from India, including the Mahabharata in high school, but it would be cool to delve more into the legends and fairy tales that the country has. I used an Indian fairy tale for my Storytelling post, and I liked it a lot. I'm not sure if I would focus on one specific aspect yet or be more general, but I know I want to draw from a variety of stories. The UnTextbook has a ton of stories that would be helpful.

3. Growing up, I heard a lot of nursery rhymes as I'm sure a lot of us did. So I really liked the Nursery Rhymes unit in the UnTextbook. I would like to read them all and try to recreate some of the ones that aren't as well known. It would also be a challenge to keep the plot of the story, but try to find new words to rhyme and go with each other. If I do this one, I know I would have fun with this one. Sometimes, these rhymes don't make sense, so it'd also be cool to try to rewrite them in a more understandable way.

4. Another big part of my life is my faith. I'm Christian, so I was drawn to the Bible Women unit. It's interesting to see how many women are in the Bible, because we only hear about a few, like Esther or Ruth. I would like to research women like the Witch of Endor and Susannah, whose names are less-known, but still played a vital role in the Bible. It's important to remember them and their stories.