Storybook Favorites

Thoughts on Three Storybooks

I have had almost no exposure to the stories of India prior to this class, so all of the storybooks contained mostly new information for me.

Krishna: Lord of Infinity

This is Krishna with the Cowherds

I thought this storybook was insightful - it is my favorite of the three I chose. The storytelling is interesting, with a good balance of dialogue and actual background. I like that the style of images they chose is pretty consistent throughout the whole thing. Their introduction was fascinating and made me want to continue exploring the storybook. They had a good amount of text in between their images, whereas some of the storybooks had mostly text, and did not have breaks between their expository and creative writing, which sometimes made them confusing. I like the way they formatted their bibliography - it was helpful to have the links next to the description in a bulleted list like that. 

To Love and to Lose: Hidimbi's Story

I really liked the way this story was introduced, with the old man telling the story and being doubtful of anyone's knowledge of the myths, as though they were long lost wisdom. I also liked the design choice of having the moving image with the sparks from a campfire - it really enhanced the effect of the introduction with the old man telling the story. His dialogue was sometimes a little wordy and thus harder to follow, but overall, really great. I also liked the way they organized the tabs for the different stories in a consistent way to the introduction - the entire website is formatted so that you're a guest on someone's hearth and they're telling you the myths of old. It's a cool vibe. 

Ganesha: How it All Began

I enjoyed the way the tone of this storytelling was reflective of the character - putting it in the first person in a way that stays consistent with the character is difficult but they did it pretty well. It was a great idea to have an actual diagram of the different characteristics of the character and what they all mean. From my sparse exposure to Indian myths and stories, many of the characters have different origin stories and names, as well as significances, so I think having that diagram was a good way of acknowledging that and providing the background for what you are writing. I plan to try and find something similar for my storybook. It was also helpful that they broke up their texts in different formats, with some lists, some paragraphs, etc.