Author: Korwin Briggs
Summary (provided by publisher): Meet the Original Superheroes.
Before there was Batman, Wonder Woman, or Black Panther...there was Indra, Hindu king of gods, who battled a fearsome snake to save the world from drought. Athena, the powerful Greek goddess of wisdom who could decide the fate of battles before they even began. Okuninushi, the Japanese hero who defeated eighty brothers to become king and then traded it all for a chance at immortality.
Featuring more than 70 characters from 23 cultures around the world, this A-to-Z encyclopedia of mythology is a who's who of powerful gods and goddesses, warriors and kings, enchanted creatures and earthshaking giants whose stories have been passed down since the beginning of time—and are now given fresh life for a new generation of young readers.
Plus, You'll Learn All About:
Dragons: The Hydra, St. George's Dragon, and the Australian Rainbow Snake
Giants: Grendel, Balor of the Evuil Eye, Polyphemus, and the Purusha with the thousand heads
Monsters: Manticore, Sphinx, Minotaur, Thunderbird, and Echidne, mother of the Nemean lion that nearly killed Heracles
Underworlds: Travel to Hades, Valhalla, and the Elysian Fields
My opinion: Ever since the introduction of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, mythology has been a guaranteed win with young readers. And not just mythology based novels. Such novels have opened up interest in anthologies like this one. Generally, anthologies focus on the myths of a single culture, usually Greek or Roman. Briggs has compiled myths from a wide variety of cultures. This book contains both the familiar, like Athena, and some readers will never have heard of, like Inanna of Sumeria or Sedna of Inuit culture. Each god or hero gets just a few pages, a few stories that typify their mythology. The stories are easy to understand. It's easy to lose hours just leafing through stories. Adding to the appeal are Briggs' dynamic, full color illustrations. His gods have a lot of character. I can't wait to share this book with the young readers in my life. Although they may have a hard time getting it away from me.
Want to buy a copy for yourself? https://www.workman.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment