Greek Myths for Young Children (Stories for Young Children)
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List Price : $18.99
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Greek Myths for Young Children (Stories for Young Children) Feature
- ISBN13: 9780746037256
- Condition: New
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Greek Myths for Young Children (Stories for Young Children) Overviews
The Greek myths are a fascinating part of our cultural heritage, and young children will find these stories of gods, mortals and monsters irresistible. This collection of the best-known stories are retold in a magical and sensitive way.'
Greek Myths for Young Children (Stories for Young Children) RelateItems
- Aesop's Fables (Stories for Young Children)
- The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus (Trophy Picture Books)
- Stories from Around the World (Mini Classics)
- Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, Specially Arranged for Children Five and Up by an Educational Expert
- D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
Greek Myths for Young Children (Stories for Young Children) CustomerReview
It is very hard to find reasonably faithful collections of Greek myths that are accessible, appropriate, and appealing to small children. This is one of the few I've found. The stories are very engagingly told and--after I made powerpoint presentations about the various Greek gods and heroes and such--have definitely captured the attention of my 3-year-old.
The focus here is on Greek heroes and other encounters of humans with gods. There is not so much about the gods themselves, per se. The stories of Heracles (so named in the book), Odysseus, Jason, Theseus, Perseus, and Bellerophon are all here. The "rape of Persephone" and Eros and Psyche are the only god-only myths here. For this reason, Aliki's The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus (Trophy Picture Books) makes a really excellent companion, with very little overlap. In fact, I would recommend reading the latter before this book, to give it all a bit of context.
The writing, the taste with which the stories are retold for young children, and the story selection are all in this book's favor. What keeps me from giving it five stars is that, for the probable target audience, there aren't enough pictures. It looks like a big picture book, but there really aren't more than a handful of pictures per story. The pictures that there are, are pretty good--but even so there are problems, for example, when there was a perfect opportunity to draw the cyclops with one eye, the artist just showed a pair of giant feet. Anyway, if you child won't sit still for a chapter book, he probably won't sit still for this.
I had a few other small quibbles. For instance, I haven't the slightest clue why the author would name Hades "Pluto" when using Greek names for, e.g., Heracles.
If you are not familiar with (or have forgotten) Greek mythology, you should know that it is pretty gruesome sometimes, what with Cronus devouring his children, Heracles made to go insane and killing his children, the heroes becoming heroes by killing all sorts of monsters, etc. This version is pretty tame, but the book does rather matter-of-factly say some pretty horrible things. As a parent you'd have to be comfortable with that and you'd have to know that your kid wouldn't be terribly disturbed by it. Every day for hundreds of years, an eagle comes down and tears out Prometheus' liver? Ouch!
That is not meant as a criticism (although I would have preferred the most gruesome stuff being made less so), but just as a hopefully-helpful warning to sensitive parents.
RelateItems
- Aesop's Fables (Stories for Young Children)
- The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus (Trophy Picture Books)
- Stories from Around the World (Mini Classics)
- Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, Specially Arranged for Children Five and Up by an Educational Expert
- D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
*** Product Information and Prices Stored:Jul 16, 2010 20:30:05
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