Big Fairy Tales...

The Girl does not want to do the Big History Project with her brother this upcoming year (see this post for more details on that course of study). She wants a study of her own, so based on her interests, I am creating a "Big Fairy Tale Project".

I was originally inspired by this gorgeous chart, which links YA versions of books together...

Everything from fairy tales, to classics, to Shakespeare and mythology, but we've decided on a primary focus on the fairy tales this year. I then researched and found this book, which will help expand on several key themes/story styles...

The Classic Fairy Tales: Norton Critical Edition

The book above explores six "tale types": "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Bluebeard," and "Hansel and Gretel". We've decided to skip the "Bluebeard" section, and substitute in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", or doing a focus on The Little Mermaid/Hans Christian Andersen. What I've come up with so far is to read a beautifully illustrated classic version, then explore other versions (ethnic, cultural, twisted), and then either longer YA versions of each, OR, we'll simply read through The Sisters Grimm series in 2015-2016, as I am not sure I like some of the YA versions of stories for The Girl... at least not yet.

As far as history, I am not worrying about it with her for the upcoming year, though we may or may not read something like Our Island Story. And for science, maybe TOPS Science, or GEMS Guides or continuing with the Prentice Hall Science Explorers or ??? I'll get it figured out soon enough!