Customer Reviews

Greek Myths for Young Children

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Does your child look at you blankly when you mention "Pandora's Box"? Do they think that "Hercules" is a Disney-originated character? Even the most stubborn young reader will get a kick out of this comic book version of some of the Greek myths, and you will too when you read the hilarious little speech boxes of the cartoon drawings.

This book introduces the following myths in a very basic bare-bones format, but without sparing the gory bits:

Pandora's Box - starring Prometheus, Zeus, Epimetheus and Pandora

Arion and the Dolphins - starring Periander and Arion, with a cast of a couple dozen extras and some dolphins

Orpheus and Eurydice - otherwise known as "Don't Look Back", featuring Orpheus and Eurydice of course, plus Charon, Cerberus, Pluto and Persephone

The Twelve tasks of Heracles (also known as Hercules) - this story also has Hera, Eurystheus, some Amazons, and a lot of beasts and monsters. Some animals were reportedly injured during the making of this story.

Daedalus and Icarus - also with Athene and King Minos

Perseus and the Gorgon's Head - Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, Dictys, Polydectes, Athene, Hermes, plus the all-girl groups of Gorgons, Grey Ones and Ocean Nymphs.

Theseus and the Minotaur - King Minos, Theseus, Aegeus, Ariadne, and a Minotaur in a labyrinth

Arachne versus Athene - A weave-off to end all weave-offs

Illustrated in vivid color and injected with humor, this book may not have all the myths, but will be enough to develop your child's interest in mythology. You can also make a note to try the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (young adult fiction), which also introduces Greek mythology.



Amanda Richards, July 2, 2006

When I first saw this book, before giving it to my son, I didn't think he would care for the format of it. Boy, was I wrong. I guess 5 year old boys have different tastes than their moms. We had to read this every night for months! Some of the comic strips are kind of gross, but of course, he loved that too. If your child is interested in Hercules, he or she will probably LOVE learning about all the other heroes (and villains) in Greek mythology. I highly recommend this book.

My daughter is 10, and loves this book. Her Grandmother gave it to her when she was about 5. She reads it with her Grandmother whenever possible. I notice it has helped with her reading a great deal. She will "act" out the characters while they read and gets very into the stories. Her favorite is Pandora's Box. The stories are a great educational tool, she is learning lessons and doesn't even realize it. She will ask questions and want to know more about different subjects brought up in the stories.
I recommend this book highly!

This book was very funny. I liked the comic strips. My favorite story was the one about Perseus and the Gorgon head. My five year old sister loved this book too. Her favorite story was the one about Arachne.

My older children (ages 4 and 6) love this book. I read the stories and my daughter (age six) chimes in with the text in the word bubbles of the accompanying cartoons. They ask lots of questions and they have strong favorites. I love that the language is sophisticated enough never to be cloying to adults, and the selection of myths is great. My kids have no idea they're learning the underpinnings of western civilization but I am sure they will benefit in the future from the things they are learning from this book now.

I have a daughter who is turning 5 in two months and I wanted to introduce her to some classical stories that eventually she will resist learning about when she is in high school so I decided to pick this book up. I've been very happy with my purchase. she constantly insists that we read the Greek Myths. Its full of wonderful stories and the comic-book style art is great. When I read her the stories, I can see her mind really brewing up the imagery of whats happening. All in all its a wonderful historical matter prepared in a way so that four+ year olds can start to understand and enjoy.

The only "heads up" is that most Greek Myths have a tragic ending so be ready to change the ending of these stories from "they died" to "they got real sick, but will return from the hospital soon!". Sometimes I give her the sugar coated ending and other times I will give her the death ending.

Reason for Reading: All my readers should know by now that mythology is a favourite subject of mine, especially Greek. Plus I had also read Williams' first Shakespeare book ages ago when it first came out so knew what to expect.

An absolutely beautiful oversized book, graphically designed to be aesthetically pleasing. The author/illustrator often takes a week per single page to design the gorgeous artwork. Each page is rimmed in a thematic border pertinent to that part of the story. The book includes 8 common Greek myths (though one was new to me, or at least far back in my memory banks) and sets them up in comic strip fashion rather than more common comic book/graphic novel format. Each page flows in lines of the comic strip with a written narrative underneath each strip and within the frames bubbles are used to emphasize the story and generally add silly humour to the character's reactions to what is going on around them.

While the stories are brief, they tend to stick to the major details of the original myths, the basic plot lines are there and the important themes are kept in play. The violence is there though only shown with a drip of blood here and there and obviously dead bodies; this may be an issue with some parents. I found it all in good taste at this level as long as your goal is not to hide death and violence. The story that may have been new to me as I didn't really recall it was "Arion and the Dolphin". The others are very popular: Pandora, Orpheus/Eurydice, Heracles 12 Tasks, Daedalus/Icarus, Medusa, the Minotaur and finally the story of Arachne.

A great read, thoroughly hilarious, but keeps the original themes of the myths themselves. Wonderful art and a great way to introduce children to the myths, exciting reading for older reluctant readers and a fun way for adult classicists to see the tales told in a new light.

This book is very well produced. It is oversized with thick, glossy pages and tons of action on every page.

Marcia Williams is a great storyteller, and her style presents simple panels of information that move the action along. Her scenes, even the scary ones, seem happy and non-threatening. This book is perfect for reading aloud to younger children, who may be too frightened of bloodshed and monsters to tolerate some of the more realistically-illustrated books.

In this book, you get:

Pandora's Box
Arion and the Dolphins
Orpheus and Eurydice
The Twelve Tasks of Heracles (Hercules)
Daedalus and Icarus
Perseus and the Gorgon's Head (Medusa)
Theseus and the Minotaur
Arachne and Athena


Each story gets four big pages. Some of the full-page illustrations are just perfectly memorable and fun for a child to try to imitate the style (especially Icarus flying too close to the sun).

Well done book. Very enjoyable.

I am impressed. Greek mythology has been presented in a way that young kids will enjoy. Because the art work is comic book like and the dialogue is hilarious the violent parts of greek mythology don't seem so scary for young readers. I'm glad I purchased it.

I got this book for my kids ages 10 and 8 after reading other reviews. They both enjoy it as well as the Illiad and Odyssey by the same author. Some reviewers thought these books "dumb down" the authenticity but I found it to be a fine introduction to the Greek myths. My kids liked the comic book illustrations and the funny quips that are added throughout the myths.