Il grande libro dei miti greci

by Anna Milbourne, Louie Stowell, Simona Bursi (Illustrator)

A sumptuously illustrated treasury of Greek Myths filled with thirty-two lively tales of brave heroes, powerful gods and terrible monsters, bound in a luxury cloth-covered hardback. Including such popular and exciting stories as Pandora's BoxA", The minotaur and the LabyrinthA", Jason and the Golden FleeceA" and more, there are illustrated notes in the margins, which offer further insights into the world and history of Greek myths. At the end of the book, readers will find an extensive reference section with illustrated maps, a glossary of tricky words and a huge Who's Who of locations, heroes, monsters and Gods.

Genres: Mythology, Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Classics, Short Stories, Greek Mythology

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Growing up in North West England and in Germany, Anna wrote plays about talking animals, and stories about naughty children, and drew on every available surface. After school, she did an Art Foundation course, then a degree in German Literature & Philosophy at Oxford University. In 1998 she found her perfect job at Usborne in London, writing about everything from curious penguins to trips to the Moon. Usborne.com

Reviews

[Mariangel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel: Me gustaron todos los mitos. Pero mi favorito es el mito de Hércules. También entiendo por qué cortaron mucho de la historia de Ulises, el libro es muy grandote y si pusieran todo lo que le pasó a Ulises sería todavía más grandote. Y ya había leído la historia de Ulises de todos modos.

[Zoë Ms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book as a child was entertaining, But when I came back to it later in life it had the same affect on me. This story is a detailed depiction of the Ancient Greek myths that were influential to writers still today. The themes of the myths are still used today in modern writing. As a kid I like to imagine the wonderful beings and creatures the story depicts . It is a creative book with illustrations to support the text. I would recommend this book to a large range of people children and adults.

[Ayse Bilgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

8,5 yaşındaki oğlumla birlikte okuduk bu kitabı, harika bir kitap. Yunan mitolojisini hem derli toplu hem de çocuklar ve büyükler için keyifli tarzla anlatan bir kitap.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book!! The first time I sat down to read a few stories to my kids (ages 9, 7, and 5), we were all enjoying it so much, we read for 2+ hours- 100 pages! The stories are well-written, and leave out much of the gory details/stories common in so many myths (see list of content below). I was really impressed by the variety and flow of the writing, and the succinctness of the stories, which kept interest going. The illustrations add a lot, and I liked that none of them had blood. Some of our favorite stories: "The Chariot of the Sun," "Icarus, the Boy Who Flew Too High," "Atalanta and the Golden Apples," "Orpheus' Journey into the Underworld," "Eros and Psyche," and the stories of the Trojan War. There's also a great "Guide to the Greek Myths" in the back.
Some content to consider:
-multiple instances of monsters eating humans (but no illustrations actually show this)
-a few instances of infidelity mentioned (King Menelaus isn't sure if Helen was kidnapped or if she ran away to be with Paris, Hera hates Heracles because he is the son of Zeus and a human)
- heads chopped off (ie Medusa) or people threatening to chop off heads
-some violence described (ie flaming pole jabbed into the cyclops' eye, spear jabbed into Chimera's throat)
-flipping back through, only two illustrations I found were of note- a small sketch of the back of nymphs coming out of the water (nothing shown, but it's obvious they aren't clothed) and some people that had been turned to stone by Medusa, but their statues are broken.
Many of these issues were very briefly mentioned, and I changed the wording slightly while reading it to my kids. I would be fine with my oldest reading the book on her own (I hope she does!!).
I just reread this with my kids, and decided to edit a few parts, like when Achilles ties Hector’s dead body to the back of his chariot and drags it around... 😬 The rest was mostly stuff I’ve already mentioned. Reviewing it right after reading is reminding me that I don’t like some of the violent descriptions, but it was an easy fix with white out. Still a fantastic book!

[Jennifer Cicchetto · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Much-abridged versions of Greek Myths, written in modern English, intended to introduce children to Classical Mythology. Most stories are no longer than 6 pages; with a lot of nice illustrations throughout. The stories are also annotated with margin notes and sketches, which help to explain additional characters without adding more length. There's a great glossary of names, monsters, and places in the back- including a map for a visual-aid of where the myths took place.
As an adult, I did sometimes feel these abridged myths were a bit too watered-down. However, I suspect this was done to reduce violence and gore to accommodate much younger minds. I pre-read this to gift it to a young Nephew & Niece, both under 8 years of age. I may choose to hold onto it for another year or two, as I did encounter one caveat: the level of implied violence that's still left in these abridged versions. I feel my Nephew & Niece may still be too young for how much DEATH, MURDER, and MISUSE OF POWER is in each story. No more could be carved-out of these stories and still remain faithful to the original myths. It's just obvious that Ancient Greek civilizations thought nothing of using violence to solve problems, gain power, and sadly sometimes find love. A very outmoded culture in contrast to our mores, ethics, and justice system of today; including using our words to talk things out to resolve a conflict.
I don't wish to erase History; I would like the stories to still be read as cautionary tales if nothing else. I guess what I wish was that there was a compare/contrast study-guide-like question(s) at the end of each myth to help young readers clearly understand how much our culture has evolved since the days of Ancient Greece. I give this 3.5 stars because I feel like that is really and truly missing, and makes the difference between being a good versus great book for today's youth.

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Greek Myths for Young Children book to my son when he was maybe 6, so this was a good book for my now-10-year-old and 7-year-old (with a 4-year-old occasionally listening in). It includes most of the same stories as the Young Children book (I think the Atalanta story, which I wasn't a big fan of, is new), but the stories are longer and more fleshed out. Overall they enjoyed it and I liked it too, though I was underwhelmed by the illustration style -- they seemed overly simplistic (but not terrible).

The reference section at the end is very helpful -- it's an organized listing and brief description of different Greek characters by category, some of which are included in the book, but others that are not.

My main gripe is how shortened the story of Odysseus was. I get shortening the Illiad to being mainly about Achilles' life and the Trojan horse, because it's a very violent story in general. But the whole Odyssey was pared down to four chapters, and there's no mention of the Lotus Eaters, his journey to the underworld, Calypso, Ino, or even the events at the end of the story. He just washes up on a beach, talks to Athena briefly, and goes home, completely omitting the part where he shoots an arrow through the battle axes, which is pretty much the climax of the story. So that was disappointing. I'll definitely have to make sure my kids read The Wanderings of Odysseus sometime later, even if they're not all ready for it this year. But this book was a decent lead-in to a longer version like that.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hikayeler biraz farklı anlatılmış ama bunun nedeni çocuklara yönelik olması tabi. Kitabı çok sevdim çünkü sizi hiç yormadan, resimleriyle akıp giden, son derece akıcı bir şekilde hazırlanmış. Her yaş grubu için fayfalı olduğunu düşünüyorum.

[Gözde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genelde ne zaman Yunan Mitolojisi ile ilgili bir şey okusak Zeus'un tam bir baş belası olduğunu okuyoruz. Cidden adam Kronos'u öldürdü, Prometheus ateşi insanlara verdi diye onu bir dağa her gün karga ağzına sıçsın diye zincirledi ve Pandora'ya içi korkunç şeylerle dolu bir kutu verdi. Hayır daha bitmedi adam daha neler neler yaptı. Kitapta hoşuma giden şey anlatım tarzı. Daha öncede dediğim gibi anlatımı çok yumuşak, bunu çok sevdim. Gerçekten de çocuklarla okunabileceğini düşünüyorum. Sonunda geleceği dokuyan üç tanrıçanın ismini öğrendiğime sevindim. Genelde hep üç cadı kız kardeş olarak tasvir edilmelerinden sıkılmıştım. Klotho hayat ipliğini eğirir, Lakheis her insana ömür ipliği ölçer ve son olaral Airopos insanların ölüm ipliğini keser. Evet kulağa korkunç gelse de olsun çok şeker olmaları gerekmiyor zaten. Hades ve Persephone olayına gelecek olursak bayılıyorum mevsimler nasıl oluştunun yanıtının onlar olmasına. Demeter'de cidden ne anaymış. Helios'ta mesela oğluna hemen dizginleri vermemeliydi. Bugün benimle git sonra tek başına gidersin demeliydi. Aşna fişneden tanrıların beyinleri pek çalışmıyormuş. Şey güzel ama Ekho mesela, Hera tarafından herkesin dediğini tekrarlamakla cezalandırılıyor. Eko demek yankı demek sonuçta. Narkissos zaten tamamiyle ayrı bir olay. Cidden Perseus'u okumak sıkıyor artık. Aynı şekilde Herakles'i de. Adamın görevleri bitmiyor çok uzuyor her şey. Odeysseus'un hikayesi de Herakles gibi aşırı uzun ve sıkıcı. Cidden on dokuz sene veya kaç sene olursa olsun çok uzun süre evinden ve ailesinden uzak kaldı. Evlerine bir türlü gidememeleri cidden üzücüydü. Ama en üzücü olanı insanların bencil ve aç gözlü davranışlarıydı. Bilmediğim, daha önce okumadığım bir hikaye var mıydı? Yoktu. Rick amcam sağ olsun beni Yunan Mitolojisine derinden bağladı. Okumaktan çok keyif alıyorum. Bu yüzden bazı yerlerde yalan yok sıkıldım. Ama dili dediğim gibi kesinlikle çok hafifti, o yüzden de iyi geldi bana. Aa bunu okumuştum of püf demedim çok fazla. Gerçi şimdi düşünüyorum da belki Daphne'nin hikayesini ilk defa okumuş olabilirim. Yunan Mitolojisi Rehberi kısmını çok beğendim. Birçok kitapta böyle bir kısım yok. Gerçi yalan yok bu kısım belki en ön sayfada yer alabilirdi diye düşünüyorum.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book were stunning and the writing style was pleasurable to read. Gave me a solid introduction to some myths I wasn't all that familiar with, though in the ones I was familiar with, I felt the writing was sometimes a bit too basic and it kind of took the mystical-magical feel out of the tales for me. Still, recommended for people (particularly younger readers) looking to get into Greek mythology.

[Barath Srinivasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of greek myths and some of them are about people like hercules jason and the golden fleece. Greek people have a lot of interesting greek stories.


I would reccomond this book to kefan shi in 7c

I piccked this book because i like to read about other people history

I finished it because it was really interesting.

[Lan Dao · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these short stories with beautiful illustrations. Only one thing to consider: If my girt is too little (just 5 years old) to hear some stories like sisters & brothers get married or mother tell son to kill his father?...

[Damla Saraçoğlu]

bad

[Mahir Şanlı · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kapağı ve görselleri çocuksu dursa da gayet hoş, okuması zevkli bir kitap.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this in a Toppsta Giveaway. This book is a comprehensive collection of all of the most important Greek myths and the characters in them. The Greek myths in the book include the beginning of creation, the origins of the gods and the wars between them, the emergence of the Olympian gods, the story of Prometheus, Hades and Persephone, various love stories, Jason and the Argonauts, King Midas, Oedipus, Perseus and Medusa, Bellerophon, Orpheus and the Underworld, Heracles and his trials, Sisyphus, Theseus and the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, the Trojan War and the Odyssey, was well as several more. At the start with each myth there is a beautiful double-page illustration showing each of the characters and their role in the story. There was also a good introduction, more information about the mythical world as well as a glossary with all of the characters and places at the back.

I would recommend this book for anyone ages 8+ and people who would like to know more about the Ancient Greeks and the stories they told as a very comprehensive guide that will be useful for a long time. There are a lot of Greek myths in this book, so it takes a relatively long time to read, so in my opinion it is best to read it in stages rather than all at once.

[Açelya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Akıcı ve hafif bir üsluba sahipti. Yunan Mitolojisine giriş için ideal. İllüstrasyonlarla bezenince efsaneler okurken daha bir zevk veriyordu, sıkmıyordu. Rehber kısmıysa kesinlikle harikaydı. Haritalar, dizin, rehber, illüstrasyonlar hepsi birleşince ortaya oldukça iyi bir iş çıkmış. Hafif üslubundan dolayı daha küçük yaştaki çocuklarla birlikte de okunabilir. Okuduktan sonra merakınız kamçılanıyor, tam da bu yüzden mitolojiye ilgisi olanlar fakat nereden başlayacağını bilemeyenler için güzel bir temel diyebilirim. "Orpheus'un yeraltı dünyasına seyahati", "Akhilleus'un hayatı", "Mevsimler nasıl oluştu", "Eros ve Psykhe," "Pandora'nın kutusu" kitapta bulunan en sevdiğim efsaneler oldu.

[Michael Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming and informative version of the major Greek myths, approachable but properly crafted, with pleasing illustrations and helpful sidenotes and references. It was a treat to read a friendly and easy-going children's book, ideal as bedtime reading. I spotted some obvious censorship – a lot of "falling in love" standing in for lustier parts of the myths – but I also learned several stories I'd never heard before, not least those of Bellerophon and Eros and Psyche, which were charming and which I can now learn more about.

I've followed up by buying Robert Graves' The Greek Myths, just to prove I can also read grown-up books (so long as they have lots of pictures).

[Frank Theising · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, kid-friendly introduction to Greek mythology. It is written in modern language, has good illustrations throughout, and includes good explanatory notes (either in the margins, the glossary in the back, or additional online guides). I used this as a read-aloud chapter book with the girls (ages 3-9) and they were enthralled. The stories have been edited slightly to accommodate a young audience, but includes just enough gory detail to remain faithful to the spirit of the original stories. Highly recommended.

[Nightshade · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of Greek myths with lovely illustrations. There is also quite a few notes (in the margins) that give more context around the characters and creatures. It also contains a nice summary of the characters, places, and creatures at the end and how they all relate to each other. At the very end of the book there are a couple of really useful and pretty maps, which show where each of the events in the book happened.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, nicely illustrated anthology. Providing an easily accessible compilation of Greek Myths that children, young adults and adults alike can enjoy. A great way for kids to expand on the myths they see in the likes of Percy Jackson and give them a bit of a base as they move into classics like The Odyssey, The Iliad, Antigone and so many more.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I planned on reading the first few of these to see if they would be appropriate for my kids...and just kept on reading to the end!

[can · Rating 5 out of 5]

A splendid, very chill and beautifully illustrated copy. BEAUTEOUS!

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting.

[zeynepba]

resimli kitap okumanın ne kadar güzel olduğunu unutmuşum. resimlendirilse daha da güzelleşmeyecek kitap yoktur ki, hangi noktada bunu bir yaş göstergesi yaptık biraz üzgünüm

[Lilia Delobel · Rating 3 out of 5]

good to inform myself about greek mythology cause i do need everything explained to me like a child

[doma. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mity greckie to coś co mi towarzyszy od początku życia. Mam do nich sentyment i właśnie te (greckie), kocham najbardziej.
Nigdy nie przeczytałam wszystkich, a teraz skończyłam tą książkę.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

So big but defo sehr interessant

[mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this when i was 8, still love it now

[Annemarie Kelly]

Oki

[Brittany Brunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with my daughter and we both loved it! The details of the stories are great but not too graphic for children and the illustrations are lovely.

[raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE