Customer Reviews

Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, Specially Arranged for Children Five and Up by an Educational Expert

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Our daughters are 6 and 10, and we have read from Russell's book for five years. Both girls seek the book out, and they enjoy listening to the stories as much as I enjoy reading them.

Having studied Roman mythology when I took Latin, I was a little worried about some of the content--let's face it, the gods and goddesses were sometimes violent, more often randy--and I wasn't sure how the girls would react to some of the goings-on. But Russell does a terrific job minimizing some of the less pleasant events without glossing over them.

And, of course, the stories and messages are truly timeless. And there's no better way that I've found to introduce children to the Odyssey, the Iliad, and other epics like them.

Our family gives Classic Myths a ringing endorsement for anyone with kids.

Though I teach ancient history, I have kearned to include all aspects of the culture, including relevant literature. During Dr.Suess's birthday week, I read a classical myth a day. The students loved them! The reading of these myths sparked enthusiasm like I have never seen before. We explored the relevancy of these myths to today's standards. What was suppossed to take 10-15 minutes, often continued to the next class period. I have found a new and effective teaching tool.

Everyone should read this book to their children. It educates and is great story telling. I have two boys, a 10, and a 12 year old. I never see them more in trance, like when they watch TV, than when I am reading aloud a story from this book. The book is written to read aloud. Each story is just short enough for one sitting. It's amazing how you can get so much in a short number of pages for a single story. Each story provides a nice introduction just before the start and a summary of how the story relates words used today. The only thing wrong is I need a follow-up.

I homeschool my seventh grade son, and this book is an excellent tool, not only for mythology but language as well. Each chapter begins and ends with a discussion about the topic at hand, and words that are used in the English language today are explained as to how they come from Greek roots. We have been able to build vocabulary, geography and general knowledge. Also included are pronunuciations to difficult words which is very helpful. Many stories could be used for much younger students and they also can be used through high school. There are not graphic explanations or explicit use of violence which make it quite family-friendly, while still being educational and interesting to everyone from age 5 to adult. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Greco-Roman mythology or homeschooling.

This is a book that explains things about Greek Mythology. The beginning of the book is about the creating of the gods and godess of Mt. Olympus and the beginning of man. In the middle of the book it tells different stories and different morals to the mortals down on earth. At the end of the it tells how the other countries and the cities take the Greek ideas and make them their own, like Rome.
The way I found out about this great book is by my mother , She saw me doing nothing so she told me to read this book. So I started to read it and I got so interested in this book. If I had to recommened this book to someone the person would probably like it because in every story they make it have so much adventure.
My favorite part in this book is when the Queen of Greece Helen gets captured by the people of troy. So the Greeks made a hollow horse and sent it to the people of troy,but in the horse was Greek soldiers. At night when everyone was asleep the Greeks attacked the people of troy. And at the end she retured to her home Greece. Thi is the of the book review.

I started reading this book to my second grader and she was fascinated. I read the Iliad and Odyssey to her second grade class and they were completely mesmerized (it helped that I read the story of the Cyclops from Classics to Read Aloud). The information at both the beginning and ending of each story is invaluable for classroom discussion.

I read four books of Greek myths to determine which to use for my 7-year-olds. I will use this and the d'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. I like that this book has the pronuciation of the names right in the story (I hate flipping to the end of the book). Most of the stories are between 5 and 10 minutes long so you can read one to three a day fairly easily. This book does not contain any pictures - it is merely to be used for reading aloud.

The author did a wonderful job telling these stories to a younger audience. The language is rich and full and not dumbed down. He also doesn't go into inappropriate detail.

He tells the story of the Iliad and the Odyssey. I didn't want to go into that this year- I'll wait until they're a bit older - so we used the Trojan Horse by Emily Little. While he does a great job, I'll be using Rosemary Sutcliff's books when they're older (Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus), so for me, about a third of the book wasn't necessary.

This book is about the ancient Greek Myths. The beginning of the book is the forming of the Greek Gods and Godess came to be like : Zeus and Hera. The middle of the book is mainly about how Hercules gets Pegasus the flying horse and how they become friends and kill the bad monsters. The last part of the book is about how the people of different places get these ideas like Rome.
I started to read this book by when I was bored and grounded so I picked up this book and started to read it. Also if I had to recommend this book to one of my friends they would probably like it because it shows the history of ancient people,also it is good because of the adventure of what would happen to them.
My favorite part of this book is when the queen of Greece got captured by the people of troy. So the Greecks went and made a horse that was hollow and the soliders had to go inside the horse and went into the gates of troy. Then at night all the soldiers came out of the horse and killed all the people that lived in troy. and that's the end of the book review.

We have been planning our trip to Greece and Crete for several months and I thought it would be good to expose our boys 7 and 10 to the stories in Greek Mythology. After reading reviews on Amazon.com, I decided to buy this book. My boys absolutely love the stories in this book. We read about 20 minutes per night (it's nice that each story has an estimated reading time) and they beg for more after each story. Then we review the "A Few Words More" sections - which they also really enjoy and which give great insight such as the source of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" which traces back to the Odyssey! For anyone planmning to expose their kids to Greek Mythology, I highly recommend this book and D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. I'd read the latter first for "introduction" and then follow with the Russell book. There may be some repeated stories -but trust me, the kids will love every minute.

I love all these classic stories but I dont think they keep a small child's attention. The book says five and up and I have a six year old who is very advanced in reading but she didnt know what a lot of the words mean. I had to pretty much retell the stories in my own words to get her into the story. Also she is visual and the book has no pictures. I do think she will love it when she's older though.