My Storybook Favorites

I probably spent WAY too long going through different stories on the list but I finally found some that caught, and kept, my interest!

I am Not my Brother's Sister

This story was by far my favorite (of the ones I read). I have always been interested in magical, fairy tale creatures and I know a little bit about changelings (I've only read about mischievous fairies that swap their sick babies for healthy human babies). I was intrigued by the title because I have a little brother and the thought of not being totally, directly, related to him freaked me out. I don't think this title gave anything away about the story but it definitely did its job and caught my interest.

The introduction was my favorite type of introduction! I love the creative style of being thrown into a story and quickly having to figure out what world you're in and what's going on. The drama element was key and there was enough of a cliffhanger to make me want more.
I found the random picture of the door rather distracting since it broke the flow of the text. This could be good for attracting reader's attention but I would rather picture the story myself than have a picture surrounded by text.
Overall, I thought the design was good. The smaller text made me happy because that means more words and longer stories! I absolutely loved the picture of the different colored eyes at the top of the page! It looked so intriguing and beautiful that I just had to read the story they were attached to. The picture of the Kerosene lamp just before the introduction started really helped set the storytelling tone and got me into the setting quickly. I could see myself using the design technique of using a picture at the beginning of my introduction to set my desired tone or scene.

Kerosene Lamp: I Am Not my Brother's Sister

Factory Boy

If I heard about anything like this topic before, it was a long time ago and didn't stick with me. I find the idea of searching for one's self whilst suffering from extreme memory loss incredibly interesting. My first impression of the story based on the title was that it would be about a boy that hid in an abandoned factory (similar to the movie, Hugo) or a machine that mimicked a young boy a little too well. The story was close to my expectations but had just enough twist to keep my attention. The introduction did well with giving insight to the rest of the story while also keeping an air of mystery. I immediately wanted to read more. 

Though the journal entry style is not my favorite to read, I think the author used it well for this specific tale. It accurately dictates the feeling of this lost little boy who doesn't know who he is or why he's there. 

The design of the page is simple and clear-cut. I like the simple white background with black text. It is reminiscent of reading a physical book and feels very calming to me. 

The picture on the front page of the blog contrasts with the almost serious nature of the story. I feel the author could have picked a more appropriate picture to better fit the tone they were going for. The other images used help to create the feeling of "strange" or "lost" which I think the author was trying to achieve. 

I liked the design and layout of the pages, it made it very easy to read and was simple to navigate, however, I wish there were also a button to continue to the next section at the bottom of the page so I wouldn't have to scroll back up every time. I think the only thing I would want to take away from this storybook is the white background with black words.

F. Child Case Files

This topic, "The Child ballads, formally known as The English and Scottish Popular ballads by Francis James Child" is completely unknown to me. Because I had never heard of Mr. Child before, I guessed wrong as to what the storybook was going to be about. I believed that it would be about missing children or gruesome crimes involving children. That being said, now that I have read the intro, which did a fantastic job of pulling me into the story, the title now makes perfect sense and is appropriate for this storybook.
I appreciated that the author laid out the introduction in a way that allowed me, the reader, to read a bit of the story first on the left side of the page and then put the explanation on the right so that I was sucked in and then got to see what the story was based on. I also liked the picture of  Scotch and the black background with white writing. The whole page put me in mind of an old detective film complete with saxophone soundtrack in the background. I found this fitting for the story.
The navigation was simple and easy to use, a simple "Forward" at the bottom of every page prompted me to continue into a fascinating world. I could see using this simple design and easy navigation in my own storybook eventually. I think it would help my readers a lot.