The gods and heroes of ancient Greece shake heaven and earth in a collection of over thirty stories that breath new life into the myths of Olympus. Here is the triumphant tale of the Trojan Horse, the tragedy of Oedipus, the downfall of Medusa and more. Witness the grand drama of some of the best known heroes of all time in a fresh rendition of these timeless tales.
This is a great book to help get kids started on some of the world's greatest myths, and it provides a handy review for parents reading the book with their children. The nice illustrations are memorable also.
So I picked this up at the library while browsing the non-fiction aisles. I am a sucker for anything Greek mythology, but I didn't realize until later that this is technically a children's book. 😅 But hey, no shame here, right? This is a short, concise, "no-frills" rundown of Greek mythos. Since there are so many renditions of these tales, it was nice to have a Cliff's Notes version to act as a refresher. For what it is, it does well.
Hero Low, Alice The Simon & Schuster Book of Greek Gods and Heros (1985) Heracles or also known as Hercules was the strongest man in the world. HIs parents were Zeus the king of the Gods but his mother was not Zeus’s wife. His mother was Zeus’s mistress Alemena this causes all the problems in this hero's life. Zeus’s wife Hera is angry and jealous of Alemena therefore she wants to kill Hercules as a baby. When she is unable to do this it is prophesied that Heracles would become a mighty hero. Unfortunately for Hercules his great strength cannot keep Hera from trying to ruin his life and cause many problems. The greek myths can be hard to follow with all the different characters and the greek names. The illustrations help give some clarification to the action and scenery in the story. The target audience is 13-16 years old.
We checked this out at the school library (an older MacMillan edition). We were looking for a good introduction to the Greek myths for my 6- and 3-year olds. This was it. At one point my little one turned to the big one and said, "These are great stories, aren't they." I doubt the little one understood them all, but the 6-year old had a good understanding. I spied them one morning in their room looking through the pictures and the elder telling the younger the story of the earth and the sky and then discussing the three brothers Zeus ("the king of the gods AND the king of his brothers"), Poseidon, and Hades. The stories are brief and to the point. We were able (and interested) to read several in a sitting.
Let's be honest, there was Godesses in that book as well. Over all, I loved it. Children's books give you the facts but are straight to the point. I started with a more adult version of the history of Gods and when you are just starting out your learning, it got me lost, so fast!
This book made me learn them and they were awesome!
I read this book hoping that it will be a simple and easy way to address my lack of knowledge in Greek mythology; I was right. However, it is too simple for my taste, and I felt it is childish in its narrative.
Great kids book for Greek myth. It was mine growing up so I enjoyed rereading it. It also features fantastic watercolor and pen and ink drawings. Definitely a worthy bedtime story book for the kiddos.