D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Product Information

D'Aulaires' Trolls (1972) was a finalist for the annual National Book Award, Children's Literature [9] and a New York Times Book Review "outstanding book" for 1972. the kings and heroes of ancient legend will remain forever matter-of-fact; the pictures interpret the text literally and are full of detail and witty observation. It was the best introduction I could ever have asked for and is still the one I trust to be both simple and accurate.

these and other equally fabulous figures are featured here with their heroic deeds and petty squabbles illuminated in full dimension. When we finished the book, my kid wanted to immediately start over, to learn about the Greek gods again.Highly recommended not only for children, but for anyone who loves well-drawn and well-narrated folklore. The audio book ended a bit abruptly, but it was a wonderful listening experience I highly recommend.

Greek mythology can be a very complex subject, but this book does a fabulous job of making the myths accessible and enjoyable.When I was a kid, I used to take this book out of the library over and over and I would read it when I was at a friend's house and they had a copy. The drawings, particularly the full-page ones in this oversized volume, are excellent and excitingly evocative. The d'Aulaires and Abraham Lincoln won the Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association in 1940, recognizing the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children".

I occasionally wonder if I would be the person I am now if I hadn't discovered this book at such a young age. On the one hand, pretty brutal violence (plucking out livers, tearing someone apart, immolation) was a-okay, while all of Zeus' lady friends (read: women he sexed and those he raped) actually voluntarily married the jack off. It breaks my heart a little that my son is, for some perverse reason of his own, fixed in the idea that he doesn't like Greek myths.

Kids don't always love what their parents love, however, so I put it on his shelf and waited for him to discover it. For anyone who ever became confused with Zeus and all of his cronies, this simplifies it all and ties it up with one nice Golden Thread. Even now as an adult when I read it, I am impressed by all the words and terms that Greek folklore has bequeathed to the English language and no doubt its sister tongues ("panic" from the satyr demigod Pan, "echo" from the nymph of the same name cursed to forever repeat the words of others, "narcissism" from the youth Narcissus who pined away from desiring his own reflection in the water, etc).