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eirenophile's review against another edition
2.0
The thing is, this is the kind of book I usually really get into. The illustrations add very little, being scattered through the book )one per story), but they are nice and detailed pencil drawings. The short 9-20 page retellings of six carefully chosen stories is a great way to introduce people to the myths. They are told in a way that (I think) acknowledges both the history behind the story AND the person of the new storyteller. Rylant has her own very Rylant-y angle to these myths (although she doesn't tell the reader that it's her angle, not an ancient Greek one), and I don't think that's a bad thing.
Here's what I DO think is a bad thing:
1) the essence of femininity is, apparently, joy in submission in heterosexual relationships. I wish it were just the Pandora story that had that, but it's also Persephone. And Pygmalion. And Narcissus. And, to a lesser degree (thank godddess) Psyche. And even though the ancient Greeks WERE patriarchal, what Rylant presents is much more in line with conservative American gender roles.
2) She gets the "details" wrong. (Like Prometheus is a "man" not a god, and "Persephone was a mortal, but her mother, Demeter, was a goddess." Oh really? I doubt the huge chunk of the population that followed the Mysteries at various times would have been happy to hear that.)
Of course, not everyone cares about that. If you don't, and you want a retelling that uses contemporary language and storytelling style, then maybe you should check this out.
Here's what I DO think is a bad thing:
1) the essence of femininity is, apparently, joy in submission in heterosexual relationships. I wish it were just the Pandora story that had that, but it's also Persephone. And Pygmalion. And Narcissus. And, to a lesser degree (thank godddess) Psyche. And even though the ancient Greeks WERE patriarchal, what Rylant presents is much more in line with conservative American gender roles.
2) She gets the "details" wrong. (Like Prometheus is a "man" not a god, and "Persephone was a mortal, but her mother, Demeter, was a goddess." Oh really? I doubt the huge chunk of the population that followed the Mysteries at various times would have been happy to hear that.)
Of course, not everyone cares about that. If you don't, and you want a retelling that uses contemporary language and storytelling style, then maybe you should check this out.
sarahjjs's review against another edition
4.0
I think this is very sweet and probably a very good way to introduce the Greek Gods to children without boring the adults. I know there are some mistakes and some people are all up in arms about it but I'm not sure.. I. think the focus on this was the beauty of the writing, story and images; hence the title of the story. Maybe she didn't research it enough and got some mortals and Gods mixed up (maybe it was done on purpose:retelling) but I'd rather this to a boring, poorly written account of the Greek myths. I can read those online.
bookworm_baggins's review against another edition
5.0
Martin read this aloud to us as a family. The stories were told well and very accessible to the kids as well as to us.
toad_maiden's review against another edition
3.0
Simple and lovely. A sweet introduction to some classic myths.
grauspitz's review against another edition
2.0
While I can see this as a good introduction of Greek myths for children, I can't see what else this retelling brings to the table. Nothing in particular stands out really stands out, the author got quite a few minute details wrong that change the entire story (e.g Persephone being a mortal) and it felt rather modern in the gender roles it portrayed.
All these women seemed to live for their husbands and absolutely nothing else, and that was portrayed as a good thing.
All these women seemed to live for their husbands and absolutely nothing else, and that was portrayed as a good thing.
librarylisa's review against another edition
4.0
I do not have a lot of familiarity with Greek mythology beyond the Disney version of Hercules. :) I found these to be beautifully written, moving stories with nice moral lessons about life.
katemiller41's review against another edition
3.0
My kids and I both enjoyed these pretty well. A nice, simple retelling of some of the classical Greek myths.
nora_s's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book because I am interesting in things like Greek Gods. This book told six different Greek. Some of them have meanings, for example; why we have different seasons. However, some of them didn't really mean anything and didn't have much value to me. I liked all six of them anyway. This book would be good for anyone In 4th/5th grade and up. I would recommend this to people who are interested in Greek Gods and Myths. This book is a little shorter than most books that I've read but I like it anyway.