Weeks 7-8-9

During Week 7 and Week 9 (no new reading in Week 8), you will be choosing from the ASIAN and AFRICAN units. You can do one Asian and one African, or two Asian, or two African: it's up to you! To get a sense of some of the stories that are coming, here's a random image from one of the units (reload to see more). Then, scroll down to learn more about all the options. If you are ready to move on to the Native American options in Week 9, you can also do that: Native American reading.

**NEW TINY TALES: There's a Tiny Tales of Anansi option, with 100-word stories about the trickster Anansi (all taken from Caribbean sources) available as a free ebook/audiobook for one or two weeks of reading.


Length. Remember: the units are all appx. the same length (15,000 words total, divided into two parts: A and B), but the contents are very different, so it's important to take a few minutes to make your choice. Don't just make your decision based on the title of the unit; browse around, read a few paragraphs, and that way you can be sure you are making a good choice for the week.

Here is a complete list of the units with a brief description for each one:

Asian Mythology:
Japanese Mythology: Gods and goddesses, monsters and dragons, plus the hero Yamato.
The Monkey King: The wild life and adventures of the audacious "Monkey King," Sun Wu Kung.

Japanese Fairy Tales: 
Lang: Stories of the wicked tanuki and other magical creatures, plus the fisherman Urashimataro.
Ozaki: Tales of ogres and goblins, the virtuous Princess Hase, and also Kintaro, the "golden boy."

Folktales:
China: Stories of sorcerers and ghosts, wise men, wicked demons, and supernatural foxes too.
Tibet: Animal tricksters, Buddhist legends, along with Tibetan gods, ghosts, and magicians.
Laos: A big selection of folktales and animal legends from the tiny nation of Laos.
Philippines: Native stories from all over the Philippines - Batangas, Rizal, Zambales, and more!

African Tales:
West Africa: Stories from Ghana about the trickster Spider Anansi and other animal adventures.
Nigeria: Stories from the Niger River delta with a focus on animals: elephants, hippos, and more!
South Africa: Animal folktales from the San people (Bushmen) and some great trickster jackal stories.
Congo: Including stories of fetishes, magical powers sometimes embodied in physical form.
African Tales (Lang) : An anthology from northern, southern and eastern African traditions.

African Tales in the Americas:
Brer Rabbit: Brer Rabbit stories, including the famous tar-baby and the briar patch!
More Brer Rabbit: More stories about Brer Rabbit and his tricks, this time in both prose and poetry.
Jamaica: Stories about the trickster Spider Anansi as told in Jamaican English.

You can also search for specific features based on your personal reading preferences; the links below go to the Diigo catalog, and you can click on the unit title to see the actual contents and browse the stories, etc.

Units with explanatory NOTESAsianAfrican
Free AUDIOBOOK versionsAsianAfrican
Lots of SHORTER storiesAsianAfrican
Few stories but LONGERAsianAfrican
One CONTINUOUS storyAsian
Stories for CHILDREN
African
Stories in VERSE AsianAfrican
Units with ILLUSTRATIONS AsianAfrican