Customer Reviews

Goddesses

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Organized in alphabetical order, this well-researched, richly illustrated volume introduces readers to over one hundred goddesses from around the world and across time.

In addition to the better-known Greek and Roman goddesses, we learn also of the Indian goddess of knowledge, Sarasvati, a "gentle and graceful young woman who rides on the back of a peacock or swan" and invented poetry, literature, and music. Moving to the west we find Olwen, the goddess of sunlight, who "opened the blossoms of all flowering trees and plants" for the people of Wales.

Each entry provides a description of the goddess, her powers, and often a telling anecdote or story. Thoughtfully, the author has included a list of goddesses by country, culture, and domain.

The exquisitely detailed, jewel-tone illustrations combine with the flowing, elegant text to create a beautiful celebration, not only of goddesses, but of womankind as well. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis staff.

Even though my daughter is a bit old for a picture book, she was delighted by "Goddesses: A World of Myth and Magic" by Burleigh Muten. The text is concise, the prununciation keys useful and the illustrations by Rebecca Guay are compelling, lush, sensual and joyful. This book introduces almost forgotten goddesses and features those more familiar as well, from all points of the globe. My only quibble with the book is that the European goddesses are overly represented. I'm sure that with a little more research a fair representation of the rich goddess traditions from around the world would have been easy to accomplish. I still give it 5 stars because it is a wonderful book.

This book, listing major goddesses all over the world, is one of my favorite non-fiction books. The information about each is the important things that you will want to know, covering details quickly and keeping things interesting. The pictures are beautiful, contributing greatly to the reading experience. Anyone who loves myths or magic will certainly love this book! A good coffee table book- you can glance through it; reading it slowly actually adds to the experience.

The illustrations are beautiful, the text for each goddess is concise and fascinatng. There are many goddesses featured that I had never heard of: young and old, short hair, long hair, all ethnicities, good and bad. They are all described in cool and original ways, even ones I was familar with I learned new things about. Both my daughters sat turning the pages, interested enough to give me an hour time to make dinner without disturbance (I'm talking TV/Sponge Bob absorption level.) Here's the Amazon link if you want to learn more (I need to learn how to do these links) See more reviews on media and products that are empowering for girls on my blog [...]

Both this book and The Book of Goddesses are wonderful picture books with brief summaries and gorgeous pictures of many different goddesses. If I HAD to choose one, I'd choose The Book of Goddesses, but I would really rather not choose. This is a wonderful book and would be a great addition to your collection!

I beautiful picture book of brief information about the different goddess,but overall a nice book to add to your other "goddess" collection.
Gail Howell

Truely lovely illustrations accompany the entries in this book to make it a great introduction to a wide variety of goddesses from all across the world.

Absolutely stunning illustrations by my favorite living artist, and fantastic information about each goddess. The seller sent the book out very quickly and it was in perfect condition.

Rebecca Guay's illustrations really brings to life a diverse range of goddess myths. Her beautiful depictions of the various goddesses and female archetypes give them each distinct personalities. It's the kind of book that you want to linger over again and again. Heartily recommended.

This is a great book if you're insterested in mythology. Although it could've been more complete, since it gives little information about each goddess, the fact that there are goddesses from so many cultures really makes up for it.
The best has to be the artwork by Rebecca Guay. Sometimes you can't imagine how the goddess is from the lifeless description, but Rebecca makes up for it. Her drawings are excellent and very detailed. I wish there was one for each goddess but, you can't have it all! :)