Customer Reviews

Tales from the Odyssey: The Land of the Dead - Book #2

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My 9 year old and I read this and it was definitely an interesting read. However, you should know that the pages are quite small and the print a little large, so the actual amount of reading is probably less than 50 standard pages. Also, in order to read all of the Odyssey, you need to purchase at least 4 of these small books, which gets pretty expensive. Additionally, I believe this story for children lends itself to illustrations of which this book has virtually none. We decided to go with http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1841488003/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance book as it had all of the Odyssey stories in a single book with beautiful illustrations.

I have spent weeks trying to purchase a complete set of Osborne's rendition of the Odyssey. I do not need to reiterate what a wonderful job she did in making this appropriate for younger children without ruining the true spirit of the story. You can find that in the many reviews you will find for each book.

What I am trying to do is save others from spending two weeks trying to find out how they can purchase this set without having to pay $125 for a new paperback copy of one book (The Land of the Dead). There are other books in this series that are also way too expensive. I didn't think I needed to break the bank for books that originally sold for $5.99.

So here's the scoop:

The Osborne rendition of the Odyssey was originally sold in separate books as follows:
Book One: One Eyed Giant
Book Two: Land of the Dead
Book Three: Sirens and Sea Monsters
Book Four: Gray Eyed Goddess
Book Five: Return to Ithica
Book Six: Final Battle

I was going crazy trying to find Book Two (Land of the Dead), Book Three (Sirens and Sea Monsters), and Book Six (Final Battle) for reasonable prices.

So, after much research, I discovered the following:

In 2010 the publisher, Hyperion, combined books 1-3 (now called "Tales from the Odyssey, Part One") and 4-6 (now called "Tales from the Odyssey, Part Two").

"Tales from the Odyssey, Part One": ISBN 978-1423128649 $5.99
"Tales from the Odyssey, Part Two": ISBN 978-1423126102 $5.99

I had no problem finding "Part One" on Amazon, but "Part Two" was another story. If you type in the isbn it will take you to their listing but it does not have a picture. It says "Part Two" is in stock but will take up to 2 weeks to get to you. Due to past experience, I didn't want to order "Part Two", wait the two weeks and end up with nothing or another "Part One". If you want to experiment & find out if Amazon can actually get the correct book, please do so and let us know how it works for you.

Here is how I got my hand on both books at the reasonable price of $5.99 each. I ordered "Part One" from Amazon and then went to their competitor for "Part Two". The competitor does not have "Part Two" available online either, but you can type in the ISBN to see if any of their physical bookstores have copies available on the shelves. A few bookstores in our area had the book. I called and asked them to physically get the book while I was on the phone & please hold it for me. They happily did this for me and told me they were willing to hold it for up to three days.

The publisher (Hyperion) is a division of Disney Book Group. Disney is well know for having strange practices with regard to making their old classic movies available. I didn't know this practice applied to recently published and "in demand" book series. Maybe that's not the case. The copies I purchased are "trade copies". Maybe they're testing the market & the mass market publication will soon be released. I really don't know how the book publishing process works so this is just surmising. Maybe someone versed in the book publishing process can enlighten us. I would love that!

Anyway, if you really want a copy of Osborne's "Odyssey", I hope this helps you find it without your having to spend hours on the computer or running from bookstore to bookstore.

Cheers!

I use this book for an ESL English class. It's much more comprehensible than reading the poetic version. The kids seem to enjoy it, where I think they would be lost with the poetic translation in our textbook. All of the students in this class are low level English speakers, so this gives them something interesting to read without a huge comprehension challenge. They find it interesting to read about going to the land of the dead and then coming back. Most are Catholic, so it is alittle difficult for them to understand Hades and Persephone. There is no good comparison to what they already know.

I am reading Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey series with my 10 year old son. He is enjoying the stories and I think it's a great introduction to Greek mythology.

These books are excellent. My second grade class is obsessed with them. Some of them are even writing a play based on The Land of the Dead. They hang on every word, and discuss Odysseus' flaws on the play ground. It's so cool.