Publication Date: July 15, 2007 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up
Tragedies and triumphs are memorable themes in this collection of thirty-five myths and legends from the ancient world. Including the lesser-known tales of Polynesia and the Americas alongside the greatest stories in Greek mythology, young readers will explore the folklore of past civilizations.
Grade 6 Up-A collection of myths and legends from around the world, about half of which are from Greece. While the specific details of each tale echo traditional versions, Horowitz has injected his retellings with fresh, sly humor that YAs should heartily enjoy. For example, St. George admonishes the dragon by telling him that eating humans is bad for his health; and Thor, the Norse thunder god, dresses in drag as "Thora" in an attempt to retrieve his stolen hammer. Other selections reflect a similarly tongue-in-cheek attitude. The characters speak in modern vernacular. Zeus, worried that human knowledge is expanding too quickly, mourns, "Where will it all lead to?...Today the rudiments of geometry, tomorrow it could be genetic surgery." The overall result is a book that is a delight to read. Ideal for use in the classroom, it will also appeal to lovers of mythology. Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library District, IL Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Children's Literature The book is an easy read because the stories are only a few pages long; therefore, readers can put the book down and pick it up without losing the sense of the plot. I highly recommend this book for readers who are on the go but have a little time for a good story.
Children's Literature Clear and excellent rendition of Isis and Osiris, of Narcissus and Echo, and of Achilles' and his vulnerable heel.
School Library Journal The overall result is a book that is a delight to read. Ideal for use in the classroom, it will also appeal to lovers of mythology.
Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls. A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.
Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.
A lot of classical myths are hard to read and stiff in their telling. These versions are told in modern prose with a sense of humour, without losing the spirit of the original tales. Some schools in New Zealand use this as one of their English texts at about 9th grade level, and it is very popular with kids and teachers. It's a well-thumbed book on our home bookshelf, returned to again and again. Recommended.
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This review is from: Myths and Legends (Paperback)
My 14 year old daughter needed research on myths and legends; thus this book's title was obvious. As per her review, it was interesting, easy to read and informative. She was able to get all of the information she needed from the book and enjoyed reading it as well. She would definitely recommend it to her peers.
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We ordered and received the book Myths and Legends (Red Hot Reads) by Anthony Horowitz. This book is a great addition to our library collection. Thank you so much.
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