My favorite storybooks

The first storybook I chose was Spanish Fairy Tales by Ally Freeman. The title caught my attention because I am near-fluent in Spanish and am very interested in Hispanic culture. Fairy tales and myths can be a great way to get a glimpse into a group's culture. The title, short and simple, let me know exactly what this storybook would be about; the introduction provided a clear description of what would be inside. The design of the blog post easy to use, despite small text in the sidebar.

An illustration of the fairy tale The Fox and the Wolf. Source: Duke University

Another storybook that caught my eye was Queen of the Underworld by Jennifer Nygren. The story of Persephone is one of my favorite Greek myths (fun fact: my sister and I almost named our dog Persephone), and I was excited to see Nygren's take on the myth. Because I'm familiar with the myth, I knew right away that the title was referring to Persephone. However, someone who'd never heard the story before may not know what they were getting into when clicking on the storybook — nevertheless, "Queen of the Underworld" is an intriguing title that could draw readers in, and the introduction made it clear who the story was about. The design of the blog was similar to the one above, but in a different, more simple color scheme.

Proserpine (1870) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Proserpine is the Roman equivalent of Persephone. Source: Owlcation

Finally, I chose LGBTQ+ Stories (I was unable to find the name of the author). I am a part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I understand firsthand the deep lack of representation of our community in fiction stories. Not only are there fewer stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters, a smaller proportion of them become well-known in comparison to non-LGBTQ+ stories, and many of the stories are written by cishet writers who portray the community poorly or even negatively. The title and introduction made it clear what the story was about, which was why I was so excited to click on it. Out of the three storybooks I chose, I loved this design the most — it had several featured images that were of good quality and were nice to look at. 

Books at the Orange City Public Library. Source: New York Daily News