Review by Booklist Review
Ages 6-9. Rockwell retells 15 familiar tales from Greek mythology, including the ones about Demeter and Persephone, Daedalus and Icarus, Atalanta and the three golden apples, Pandora's box, and King Midas' wish. In an appended author's note, Rockwell lists her sources for the stories as well as her inspirations for the illustrations. The spacious format includes large pages, generous margins, fairly large type, and many four-color illustrations with patterned borders. Stylistically, the pictures have overtones of ancient Greek art but are much more childlike, rounded, and full. Respecting the original tales, yet finding ways of expressing them for younger children, Rockwell has written a dependable source of Greek myths in a format suitable for the early elementary grades. (Reviewed June 1994)0688097405Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rockwell's ( Our Yard Is Full of Birds ; What We Like ) engaging roundup of 15 tales from Greek mythology opens with a concise introduction to the key residents of Mount Olympus. Subsequent entries range from very familiar myths (of Daedalus's doomed flight; Pandora's ill-starred curiosity; Orpheus's unrequited love for the lost Eurydice) to those featuring less renowned gods and goddesses. Less playful than Marcia Williams's Greek Myths for Young Children , Rockwell's narrative is at once authoritative and informal. The author does an admirable job of condensing the occasionally intricate myths, and brings each to a tidy conclusion. Still, the stories are of varying length and complexity, and some may be beyond the reach of those at the younger end of the intended audience. Using serigraphs painted with watercolors, Rockwell has created graceful, effectively luminescent illustrations. Her stylized lines loosely evoke classical art, while her storytelling sensibility is squarely up to date. Ages 5-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-The D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (Doubleday, 1980) has long reigned as the standard collection for children. Rockwell's volume doesn't compete with it in scope, but the relatively fewer stories in it are appealingly and accurately retold. Rockwell's colorful, flat, schematic illustrations are an interesting blend of the archaic, the modern, and the cute. Although the book seems designed for a young audience, the harsher aspects of the myths are not deleted. Eurydice, Actaeon, and Icarus's deaths; Hera's cruelty; Aphrodite's faithlessness; and the disturbing birth of Pan are all described, as are the stories of Echo, Midas, Dionysus, Hermes, Bellerophon, Demeter, Atalanta, and Pandora. Although this is much the same ground covered by Marcia Williams's Greek Myths for Young Children (Candlewick, 1992) and Geraldine McCaughrean's Greek Myths (McElderry, 1993), Williams's terse and witty versions and McCaughrean's romantic ones, besides aiming for a slightly younger and slightly older audience respectively, both put a ``spin'' on the stories absent from Rockwell's straightforward narratives. A pronunciation guide, reading list, and overview of the gods are included.-Patricia Dooley, formerly at University of Washington, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The grandeur of the myths is somewhat lost in this attempt to put the lyrical language of the tales into words understandable to young children. The sturdy illustrations may appeal to children but are unsuited to the subject. Pronunciation guide included. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Inspired by her grandfather's tales of ``the wondrous tricks and transformations of the Greek gods and goddesses,'' a well- loved author known for her simple books for the very young achieves with astonishing grace her goal of making these stories appealing ``to children as young as I was when I first heard them.'' Lucid and lively, her 15 chapters present the major gods and goddesses plus several of their interactions with mortals (e.g., Echo, King Midas, Actaeon); with judicious pruning and admirable tact, Rockwell manages to suggest the myths' earthier underpinnings without being explicit, yet without subverting their deeper meanings. Neatly capturing the text's artful balance between significance and playfulness, her illustrations (half a page or so on every spread) are quite splendid: The sturdy, vigorous stylized figures are limned with calligraphic elegance and enhanced with light, rich colors; decorative underlining bars add a gracious touch of formality, while the tightly structured compositions are dynamically self-contained. A fine, disarmingly approachable introduction; a real achievement. Note; pronunciation guide. (Nonfiction. 5-10)
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