Customer Reviews

Medusa

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In this version of the Medusa/Perseus story, Medusa is the beautiful daughter of a sea witch. She's so lovely, in fact, that she catches the eye of Poseidon.

When they become betrothed, Medusa looses her perspective, and wits apparently, and makes the mistake of her life when she dares to compare her beauty to Athena's. That goddess becomes outraged and subsequently curses Medusa and turns her into the monster we all know. Which is when the story turns to Perseus' saga. In Ms. Lattimore's version, he and his mother are caste up on the shore where she is found by the kind fisherman. There's a couple of lines of fill-in to explain why the pair were in the chest that burst open on the shore, and then shortly thereafter they are taken captive by the evil king.

From there the story, more or less, follows the classic short version of the tale. By which I mean that Andromeda is left out completely, as is the ending part of the story where Perseus accidentally kills his grandfather. This book ends instead with Medusa's head being cast into the ocean because it's far too dangerous to keep around. And we are told that this is where red coral comes from. Medusa's blood, you see, was transformed into the beautiful little creatures.

Talking Points:::
This is a nice version of the story that I think most older children would like. My daughter (9 y.o.) read it through several times.

I'm hesitant to suggest it for younger children, not because of the story, but because the artwork is very stylized. My son, for example, who's 7 years didn't care for it at all. But that's surely a matter of taste. (We much prefer Ms. Lattimore's work in other books such as "The Winged Cat" and "The Fool and the Phoenix".)

Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews
(1051)

My daughter (2 1/2) could not sit still for this book. It is rather on the long side.

However, my son (5) very much enjoyed the story and the pictures. The pictures are well done and dramatic without being scary which is important for my kids. The pictures are full of detail and color and you can easily spend a few minutes taking a look at each and every page.