Week 3: Storybooks

Topic Statement: My storybook will be based on the four Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm wanting to blend the accounts of the life of Jesus into one cohesive story (as if the four men were telling the story together, but each has his own perspective to add). I will definitely want to include some of the miracles but I will have to choose ones that are recounted in all four books. One story that I know appears in all four accounts is the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 found in the Gospels of the New Testament.
Bibliography: "Jesus Feeds the 5,000." The Gospels. The Holy Bible (New International Version). Zondervan. 1973.

Storytelling Strategy 1: Interview setting - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all being interviewed closely following the Resurrection of Christ. While it is clear they all have the same story, each has a little different way of telling it. For example, in one interview, the men could be explaining how Jesus was baptized. I think it would be really interesting for the men to take turns adding to the story, throwing in detail that maybe one of the others "forgot" or didn't think was that important. It would be a way of almost filling in any gaps that occur among the Gospels.

Storytelling Strategy 2: Diary Entries - this would allow me to give each disciple his own personality. I would have each man give a diary entry from the same day about the same event, but in different ways. For example: one could be overly dramatic, another could be strictly factual without much commentary, one could be highly introspective, and so on. Showing the diary entries along side one anther will really illustrate the differences in the writing styles of the gospels.

Storytelling Strategy 3: My side of the story - Each disciple tells of a specific event in story format with his own personality. There should be slight variations with each retelling of the event. I think with this strategy, I may be able to add a little humor to the storybook. For example, the disciples could be poking fun at one another's reaction to Jesus performing a certain miracle.

Storytelling Strategy 4: What my dad saw: I was playing with the idea of a third person storyteller perspective for this storybook idea and what I came up with was the idea of having the children of the four men relate what each of their fathers had told them of this mysterious Jesus. Each child would have a different story based on how he or she had be told the story (which relates to which gospel we are referring). I also really like the idea of a child's perspective of a story of miracles and great wonders.