The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus (Trophy Picture Books)

This book was just okay. I didn't care for the illustrations or the content since it wasn't really made that interesting for me. I've read a lot of myths before over and over again and I didn't think that this was particularly interesting. I don't know if kids would really enjoy this. The style is

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also kind of dated looking which kids might not like, too. I know it's by a well-respected author, but I was not impressed. It clearly belongs in a mythology unit. Each student could do a report on one particular god or goddess in the unit.

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This work does a nice job of simplifying complex material for young children to be introduced to Greek myths and gods/goddesses. Material is rendered age-appropriate (they avoid the subjects of castration, rape etc). For the most part, the rendering of Greek mythologic material is well done for

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young children. However, there are several notable problems with the presentation of this material. For one thing, the illustrations render some of the important gods and goddesses (Zeus, Aphrodite) as blond and blue eyed. Greeks are generally a dark people, and the implications of these depictions are upsetting (the main god is blond while the more subordinate ones are dark-haired, the goddess of love is blond, these things have social implications.) Another upsetting aspect is the introduction, which is condescending to the culture that these myths were a part of, saying things like "people began telling stories to explain the mysteries of life," and "people believed that the myths were true," implying that they were not true. It is imperialist to imply that these myths are not or were not true (it would be rude to say that Christians made up the Bible to explain the mysteries of life, and that people believed that it was true). For these reasons this book is better off not promoted.

Teachers and librarians should reconsider the inclusion of this book in curriculum or programming due to the disrespectful approach to the culture being represented.

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This is a story telling how the Greek Gods and Goddesses came to be as believed in Greek Mythology. It also gives quick biographies of many of the main, or most well known, gods and goddesses.

This book tells the stories of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. It tells of the myth of creation and how the most commonly known gods came to be. The strength of this book is the colorful art which accompanies each story about the gods and goddesses.

Genre: Myths

Review: This book tells all about the different Greek mythology characters from ancient Greece. It combines a lot of the stories told in Greek mythology such as the creation of earth, battles over the gods and their reign, stories of family, and individual stories about the different

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characters. This story is, therefore, a Myth book because it tells all about the Greek mythology characters and stories.

There really is no good character because there are so many main characters; no one set setting because it takes place all over; not a good set plot because it has individual stories throughout; and there were no styles or points of view that were represented.

Media: First drawn in pencil on heavy cold-press paper. Then inked and colored with washes of gouache paints and colored pencils.

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A beauitfully illustrated guide to Ancient Greece's Gods and Goddesses. It gives a very child (and adult!) friendly overview of the history of the gods and their stories. I MUST for any classroom leaning about Greek Mythology!