What\u27s New in Children\u27s Books: Sizzling Summer Reading

It\u27s almost summer time, and the living seems so much easier than it does during the rest of the year. The pace changes, and so do our reading tastes. Summer is the time for refueling our engines, reaching for inspiration, and exploring the splendor of the wide world around us. In this column we offer a collection of books that seem perfectly suited to summer\u27s schedule of traveling, spending time with family and friends, and honing our talents. The following books were reviewed: Taj Mahal by Caroline Arnold and Madeleine Comora, Ill. Rahal Bhaghan An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Aston, Ill. Sylvia Long Vive La Paris by Esme Raji Codell Julia\u27s Kitchen by Brenda A. Ferber Owen & Mzee: The true story of a remarkable friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, & Paula KahumbuWriting magic. Creating stories that fly by Gail Carson Levine Wings by William Loizeaux. Ill. Leslie Bowman Porch lies: Tales of slicksters, tricksters, and other wily characters by Patricia C. McKissack, Ill. Andre Carrilho Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of these Amazing Amphibians by Joanne Ryder, Ill. Maggie Kneen Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa That Brought them Together by Herb Shoveller Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh My Friend Is Sad and Today I Will Fly! by M. Willems The Titan\u27s Curse by Rick Riorda

World reclamation in Shelley's Prometheus Unbound

Myth has a fluid function within culture, literature, and time. How myth is interpreted depends upon which element of it inspires or interests a person. The mythical figure of Prometheus has become embedded in the cultural consciousness since Ancient Greece in part because of how his changing role in myth speaks to both the individual and the world. Prometheus plays many parts-trickster, creator, benefactor of mankind, symbol of the suffering artist -- and perhaps the most famous of all-fire-bringer. Each interpretation builds upon one of these roles as well as thematic elements, the relationship between the Titan and the gods, as well as the relationship between Prometheus and mankind. This work seeks to first explore the various iterations of Prometheus and his myth to determine the major characteristics he is associated with in order to trace his arc from Classical literature to Percy Bysshe Shelley's groundbreaking work, Prometheus Unbound. Shelley's work is Promethean in its vision of how the Titan's act of rebellion and subsequent punishment actually incite an act of world reclamation. Earlier interpretations of the myth tend to individualize the Titan's acts or embed them within a single culture. By promoting an idealized vision of world change, Shelley shapes Prometheus into a figure of change -- a benefactor of mankind who replaces the tyranny of the gods with a new order of love and freedom. However, there is a dark underpinning to this vision -- one that will be explored in film.Includes bibliographical reference

Improving Reading Acquisition in Elementary Boys

The purpose of this project was to develop a guide for teachers and parents to improve reading acquisition in elementary-aged boys. The project will summarize current research and a brochure gives practical solutions for education professionals and parents to help increase the interest and acquisition of elementary boys in reading. Current literature and research shows an alarming problem in elementary boys\u27 reading acquisition. This project analyzes best practices, brain research, and parent involvement that lead to improved literacy acquisition in elementary-age boys

Gifts and Curses: Prometheus\u27 Theft of Fire in the Works of Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron

The myth of Prometheus and his theft of fire is a popular theme in Romantic literature; however, each Romantic author has a different story to tell about the ancient Titan. This thesis examines three Romantic authors and their distinct approaches to the Promethean myth. Percy Shelley portrays Prometheus as a hero worthy of adoration, Mary Shelley depicts him as inconsiderate and power hungry, and Lord Byron paints the picture of a noble—yet troubled—figure. The diverse ideologies and personal experiences of these three writers cause them to view the motives and consequences of Prometheus in drastically different lights

Playing with fire : Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the rewriting of the Prometheus myth

Bibliography: pages xiv-xx.According to Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals, either in the form of culture, or by using it to bring to life the clay people he had made. Margaret Homans distinguishes between what she calls literal and figurative creativity (1980:223). The woman who is a mother, creating literally and naturally with her body, and who writes, creating figurative offspring, cultural texts, makes use of the Promethean fire in both of its possible senses. Only the literal, however, is seen by patriarchal culture as her rightful realm. Myth dictates that only men received from Prometheus the fire of figurative creativity, of language. The "woman writer," then, as a kind of contradiction in terms, is forced to suffer the conflict imposed by her choice to create, within the dictates of culture, with both forms of "fire." In the face of this conflict, Alicia Ostriker suggests that the project of women writers should be to rewrite the mythology of patriarchy and, in doing so, take from men their sole possession of the fire of culture, an ownership which empowers them in the same way as it did Zeus, the tyrannical father-god. In her words, women writers should become "thieves of language, female Prometheuses" (1986:211). Women who re-write the Prometheus myth may then be seen as both figuratively revising the theft by re-telling its story, and as literally re-enacting the myth itself by rebelling against the limitations of androcentrism. The "female Prometheus" re-creates the myth, bringing together the definitions of herself as woman and writer in what I argue is a disruptive and positive form of hybridism. Chapter One examines the mythic complex which surrounds the figure of Prometheus, concentrating on the versions by Hesjod, Aeschylus and Ovid, and considers the implications of its appropriation and revision by women writers. Chapters Two and Three analyse the way in which two nineteenth century women, Mary Shelley and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, rewrote the myth. Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, presents two Promethean figures - the scientist and the monster - and so embodies the ambivalence of its author. Barrett Browning translated Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound twice, and then wrote Aurora Leigh, a hybrid novel-poem in which the central character is female, a writer and Promethean. I argue that both succeeded, in different ways, in liberating language from the limitations of the patriarchal symbolic, so carrying out a theft of linguistic "fire," the act recognised by Shaftesbury as a ''Breach of Omnipotence.

The inward turn of consciousness : gods, metaphors, necessity, and the continued relevance of Greek tragedy

This paper was written to examine Greek Tragedy in its entirety, specifically through the playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. We focused on the inward turn of consciousness, or the movement from the great gods of Olympus authorizing actions through supra-human forces informing character, to conflicting psychic drives that condition human lives and motivate actions. We looked at the backgrounds of all three playwrights, analyzed each play, and ultimately concluded that Greek Tragedy is still important today. Greek Tragedy remains profoundly relevant today because it tries to explain ourselves, our relationship to others, our relationship to the world, and our relationship to the divine.B.A. (Bachelor of Arts

Transforming a Legend: Significance of the Wandering Jew in Shelley\u27s Work

Although Percy Bysshe Shelley has been recognized for his use of the Wandering Jew, critics have failed to produce a definitive work examining how this biblical legend figures into an understanding of the poet\u27s changing world views. Since a comprehensive analysis was lacking, I studied Shelley\u27s treatment of the Wandering Jew in each work that included the character to determine whether or not a relationship existed between Shelley\u27s management of the figure and the poet\u27s world beliefs. This thesis records the results of that study. In his earliest works involving the Wandering Jew--those written between 1810-1812--Shelley\u27s treatment of the Wandering Jew suggests that he was not only uncertain about how this strange biblical and literary figure fit into his works, but also that the Wandering was symptomatic of his own changing, unconventional convictions at this time. Later works including the Wandering Jew--those composed between 1813-1814--depict Ahasuerus as an impious and irreverent rebel, one battling organized religion and political despotism. However, the Wandering Jew appearing in Shelley\u27s final works--those produced between 1819-1821--suggest the poet\u27s contempt of religious institutions and political systems has once again changed. In light of the Wandering Jew\u27s transformation over the span of Shelley\u27s literary career, I have concluded that the Wandering Jew embodies Shelley\u27s religious, political and social views and that by tracing the Wandering Jew\u27s transformation in Shelley\u27s works, readers are better able to trace his development as poet and thinker