Reading Diary A: African Stories (Lang)

This week, I chose African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books. This unit is comprised of longer stories from Africa. I like that the stories were easy to read and were a little longer. Length isn't an issue when the writing is easy to read.

One thing I noticed was that the jackal was used throughout the unit. The jackal was the trickster, which kind of made me think of Loki. In Jackal and Spring, the jackal was the one that didn't want to work for the water and tried tricking animals into letting him drink from the well that they worked so hard to dig. I liked that the antagonist was so clever, because it made the story more interesting than stories where the bad guy is just dumb and easy to beat.

Another story that used the jackal was Adventures of a Jackal. This story was longer and more intricate than the previous one, which made it more detailed, I thought. I got confused on some of the details throughout the story, but overall I really enjoyed the plot. I didn't really understand why the hedgehog betrayed the jackal in the end. I also thought it was sad that the panther didn't get the happy ending he deserved and that the shepherd got it instead. I guess what matters in the end is that the jackal got what he deserved.

(Jackal)

I like how animals are the primary characters in this unit, and I look forward to reading the second half of this unit. I'm especially excited about any story involving monkeys.