The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
The community-wide NEA Big Read Lakeshore and Little Read Lakeshore organized by Hope College have received grants from both the nationwide NEA Big Read and the statewide Michigan Humanities in support of this coming fall’s programming, which will explore Greek mythology, the Hero’s Journey and untold hero stories through the lives of characters ranging from …
Continue reading “2022 Big Read and Little Read Book Announcements!”
The Hero’s Journey is one of the most popular ways to structure a story. There are oftentimes slight variations to the stories, but they have similar trends. Heroes and their feats have been used in storytelling since The Epic of Gilgamesh in the 12th century. Many of these older pieces of literature inspired popular books …
Continue reading “Why we should all read the Percy Jackson series”
The Big Read is a literacy program, so one would assume that our program only works within the English discipline. I learned in one of my classes this spring that was taught by Deb Van Duinen, our program’s director, that literacy is important in all of our disciplines. It means something different to be literate …
Gaining knowledge is one important reason why people read literature. Students (and some teachers and parents) often ask why school curriculum requires them to read things like Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare or epic poems like Beowulf. While this could lead to a much larger discussion, one reason for reading “classic” literature is that books …
The Greek gods and goddesses from our past few blog posts are important since they are characters in various Greek myths. These myths explain how the world came to be or explain natural phenomena. Here are some popular stories related to Greek mythology that you may wish to explore in more depth. Scylla and Charybdis: …
Last week we shared information about the Greek gods since they are characters within Greek Mythology that exhibit both human qualities and supernatural powers. This week we are rounding out the Mount Olympus family tree with the most notable Greek goddesses. Aphrodite Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. There are a few different …
Greek Mythology contains many heroes and themes, yet it also contains many Greek gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus, which is the highest mountain in Greece. It is difficult to truly understand Greek mythology without having a background in the names and characteristics of the deities. Most Greek gods and …
Most books, movies, tv shows, etc. all have clear protagonists and antagonists. For example, most children can identify that the Big Bad Wolf is a villain in Little Red Riding Hood and Maleficent is the villain in Sleeping Beauty. However, these one-sided stories do not leave room for understanding all perspectives. Oftentimes, media tells us …
Last week our blog post discussed the attributes of heroes and how those traits change in different cultures depending on that culture’s beliefs. One thing that connects many hero stories across time and genres in our present day is the arc of the Hero’s Journey. The monomyth of the Hero’s Journey was developed by Joseph …
Last week our blog featured storytelling and the ways that this helps create understanding between diverse peoples. A central aspect of these stories is the heroes that are featured in them. What do you think of when you think of a hero? I tend to think of the countless Marvel movies that were released since …
