NATIONAL POETRY MONTH STARTS TOMORROW!

Yes, it's that time of year again... The fourth annual books4yourkids.com celebration of poetry! Today I am reposting an article I wrote in 2010 that was mostly to convince myself of the importance of poetry in our lives, but will hopefully convince you too, if you need it. But, if you do nothing else poetic this year, I hope you and your kids will celebrate National Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day which is THURSDAY APRIL 18! Almost every day this month I will feature a poem or review of a book of poetry for kids (including a book created specifically for Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day with tear-out, pocket size poems to share) that I hope you and yours will take a minute to read, to yourself or out loud, and enjoy. Poetry can force us to slow down and pause, to look around and notice things, to laugh out loud.

If poetry just isn't your thing, stick around anyway. I will be posting a few book reviews this month, including RUMP: The True Story of Rumplestiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff.

Why Poetry Matters

I wrote this in 2010 for my first ever celebration of National Poetry Month, as much to convince myself of the importance of poetry in our lives as to convince you, my readers. If I convince you or you don't need convincing, scroll down for links to some really great resources for poetry - for kids and adults - and ways to play with it.

Why Poetry Matters is actually the name of a very thorough, academic book by Jay Parini that I started reading a month or so ago when I got the idea to hop on board the National Poetry Month train and feature poetry on my blog for the whole month of April. I wanted to challenge myself and read the kind of texts I read in college so that I could give my readers a really solid reason for why they should read poetry to their children and for themselves. After becoming an art school drop-out, I went on to study literature, poetry specifically. I even wrote a 100 page thesis on the last book of poetry written by a famous American poet who shall remain nameless (I'm sure you can guess who - I was a middle class, white college student who loved popular culture and was too timid to study the likes of Adrienne Rich or Elizabeth Bishop.)

But, the book starts off with Plato and Aristotle. From there it becomes pretty dense. Which was intimidating to me and also reminded me of why people don't read poetry. I think that poetry is intimidating to most people and useless to the rest. Yes, music lyrics can be considered poetic, but rarely do they generate the imagery of a poem alone on a page. I wanted to be able to come up with a really good, convincing reason for you all to read poetry to your children and encourage them to read and write their own. Writing poetry is like drawing for little kids - they do it with zeal and lack of self-consciousness for years until someone or something suppresses those forms of expression for them. The problem was, by the time I graduated from college I had read, written about and written so much poetry, unpacked so many metaphors and decoded so many stanzas that I was sick, sick sick of poetry. However, I still listen with one ear every evening when The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor comes on the radio and he reads a poem. And sometimes I am even inspired to pick up and old book and read a few lines. And, of course, I read poetry to my kids now and then. But how can I convince the non-reader of poetry why it's important if I myself have ambivalent feelings about it?

I thought about this often while I waked my dogs and this is what I came up with:

Above all else, poetry can inspire a love of words and language and connection with others. Poems are meant to be shared, some out loud, some in silence. Poems connect us or make us feel connected. But, a poem can also be like eating a bag of potato chips or watching a commercial on TV - not necessarily nourishing or inspiring, but sometimes tasty and entertaining. Not all poetry has to be a complex gourmet meal, a Russian novel or a foreign film. It can be short and sweet and funny. Most kid's poetry is. Think of the great Shel Silverstein, who, admittedly, has a very nice subversive streak. And Jack Prelutsky, another children's poet with a long shelf life, and also served as the first Children's Poet Laureate. Then there is the wonderful Mary Ann Hoberman, also with a very long writing life and also the second Children's Poet Laureate (look for a review of current Children's Poet Laureate J Patrick Lewis'sWorld Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of on April 4th - which happens to be World Rat Day) who recently expressed this thought in an interview and passed it on to share here,

"Above all poetry is pleasure. I dislike it when a four-line poem of mine is in a teachers' manual and there are three pages on how to use it across the curriculum and it's analyzed to death. That's not what poetry is for. It's for joy!"

I couldn't agree more. I think that readers are intimidated by poetry because it can be mysterious and complex and benefits from analyzing. But I also think that we shouldn't shy away from those more profound poems either. These poems can be windows and doors to new thoughts and ideas. Much of the poetry written for children is bright, cheerful and shiny. Happily read and easily digested. However, there is also a lot of poetry for children that does give more pause for thought. There is poetry that is like a warm, ripe raspberry bursting in your mouth. There are poems that, after reading, leave you feeling like you have lifted a curtain and glimpsed another world. There are poems that MAKE YOU THINK. But in a good way, not the intimidating, "what does this really mean?"way. Hopefully, I have picked some of those to share with you over the course of this month. And, I know I have picked some of the bright, shiny poems that we all love to read as well. As Elizabeth Hague Sword, editor of A Child's Anthology of Poetry writes at the end of her introduction, "I hope this book opens "magic casements" for everyone who reads these poems. Whether a child's interest lies in a poem's words, story, rhythm or rhyme, poetry can foster a lifelong love of the language. This is a gift beyond measure." I couldn't agree more!

Below is a chunk from am essay at POETS.org that I hope you will find inspiring if you feel like you need more signposts on the poetry path. I have also included a link to another great piece from their site titled, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Poetry by Bill Zavatsky. I hope you will read and write poems with your children this month and maybe even share them with us at books4yourkids.com! I've left some spots open at the end of our poem-a-day month in case anyone wants to share. Accompanying artwork and photos welcome!!

Serious Play: Reading Poetry with Children
"Play is what we want to do. Work is what we have to do." said W. H. Auden

It is a simple fact that some children are more drawn to words and literature than others. Sometimes all it takes is the influence of the right person or book at the right moment, to tap something that is set to blossom inside--a love of language, of the sound or meaning of words, of their look on the page. But it is critically important for all children that the right opportunities, the right people, be there when the moment is at hand.The trick is how to translate this energy, once aroused and captured, into the desire to read poetry seriously, to do the intellectual work necessary to gain a basic mastery of the literary art, just as one does, say, with math, biology, or Spanish. There are several crucial components which apply equally to many fields of knowledge: natural affinity, family, school, and community.

Often the first of these opportunities is the influence of family. How many of us can't remember a song that our parents sung, a book or a poem that was read to us countless times, or a favorite bedtime story? At that intersection of love and language is poetry. Naomi Shihab Nye urges us to "remember the dignity of daily affirmation, whatever one does--the mother speaking to the child is also a poem."

After the home comes the classroom, a frequent stumbling block for poetry. Any subject--even school itself--can be characterized as "liver and onions" by a student who isn't turned on to the excitement of learning. Although many teachers were raised to believe that poetry was an obscure, inaccessible, and unpalatable art, just as many understand its intrinsic value, but want guidance on how to approach it in class: recipes for poetry.

Finally, there is the world around us. Adrienne Rich noted: "Poetry reflects on the quality of life, on us as we are in process on this earth, in our lives, in our relationships, in our communities." It's hard to overestimate the importance of community to poetry. Once a love for poetry has been established, and some understanding has been acquired of the art, we need to have the opportunity to read and share and respond to poetry in new ways.

The above image was created for National Poetry Month, 2013 and is sponsored by The Academy of American Poets. Their website, POETS.org, is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in dipping a toe into the poetry stream or jumping in and getting very wet. They also have a wonderful section For Educators which has essays on teaching, a resource center and and an excerpt from the master Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook, What's Right or Wrong with Poetry. You might also want to visit Poetry Foundation. Both sites has collections of poetry for children (and adults) that you can browse, as well as audio and video clips.

Write 
about your sorrows, 
your wishes, 
your passing thoughts, 
your belief in anything beautiful.

Rainer Maria Rilke
From: Letters to a Young Poet

If you read all the way to the bottom of this piece, THANKS! And thanks for loving words!

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook, by Joanne Rocklin, 240 pp, RL 4

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook 

is NOW IN PAPERBACK!!!

 

Joanne Rocklin surprised and wowed me with her last book, One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street and goes above and beyond with her new book, The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook. Both books are illustrated by the marvelous Chris Buzelli, and I wish there was more of his art inside the books as well. I'll be honest. I usually do not enjoy reading real-life-family-trouble type stories. You know, the kind that usually win the Newbery, like The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. I read to escape, so I find myself making a concerted effort to stick with a book in which a child struggles with what life has dealt her or him. Also, as main characters, these children often take on layers of personality that sometimes feel disingenuous or not quite real. Perhaps because of my prejudice going in, I find myself (more and more) pleasantly and often enthusiastically surprised by this type of book when I do choose to read it. Joanne Rocklin is one of those authors who inspires a string of laudatory adjectives when I write about her books. As a cat person who deals very badly with the death of my pets, I cringed when I saw the cover for The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook. But, Rocklin was so skilled with her handling of the sometimes heartbreaking events of her last book that I trusted her and began reading with only a bit of trepidation. 

While there are many lives and plot threads that make up One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street, Rocklin streamlines her story in The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook. Nonetheless, as with  One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street, this book is instilled with a deep sense of community and connections between seemingly disparate people. Set in Oakland, CA, The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook is populated by people like Mario and Maria, the Italian and Mexican owners of the improbably named O'Leary's Pizzeria, a family of Swedish and Indian descent, a taffy making Grandma and a "nice old African-American man with young eyes and an oxygen tank." Rocklin takes the seemingly simple event of a sick stray cat and tells the story of the many lives touched by him, weaving them into a beautiful, moving book. Besides the village of loving adults watching out for the main character and her brother, what makes The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook so readable (and tolerable during the sad parts) is the strong voice of the narrator. Telling us about herself, Oona Armstrong says that she's a ten-year-old who likes to "dip my french fries in vinegar. I love when the sun shines through spiderwebs. My best friend is Riya. I love my little brother so much my heart hurts. I like music and dancing." And, she is also an inventor and a good noticer. When Oona learns that Mario is an autodidact (and what an autodidact is) she says, 

I would like to be an autodidact, too - shorten my hours at school, learn whatever I like, whenever and from whomever I like. Kind of like a school furlough . . . I will stay in my room and learn everything I need online by myself. And I'm sure I can convince Gramma Dee to sneak in tons of books, too, along with my meals. Gramma Dee loves sharing books and discussing them.

Oona is also a good story teller, something she inherited from her father, The Great Rebus-Maker and Whopper-Teller. Since her dad died two years earlier, Oona has made it her job to teach her little brother Fred to read using rebus skills learned from her dad, to comfort him by telling him stories and to always wear her dad's Oakland Raiders sweatshirt. Every single day. Like most kids, Oona wants to make sense of her world and she has quite a few theories to help her along. My favorite is her "Rainbow Whopper Theory," which is a color-coded system of ranking stories or, as Oona says, "lies, plain and simple." As the plot of The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook unfolds, Oona's stories and lies begin to overlap and she struggles to cope with Zook's failing health and the secret she has been keeping for the last two years. 

Oona has her reasons for keeping Zook's origins secret. When she found him (behind O'Leary's, which is also famous for fried zucchinni, thus his name) he was wearing a collar with a tag on it that had his name, address and a diamond on it. He was starving, dirty and ragged and had a BB lodged under his fur. And he was named Mud, which Oona insists is a dumb name for a cat when she is making her case for the reasons why she kept his origins secret. Convinced that Zook/Mud's former owner is a villain who shoots cats and gives them dumb names, she sometimes stakes out his house and glares at him, bolstering her decision. Also, Zook arrived at a time when Oona's father was dying of cancer. The one specific memory Oona shares of her father and this time is the day that she and her mother tucked Zook into a picnic basket and snuck him into the hospital for a visit. That was also the day that Oona's dad died. When Zook's kidneys begin to fail and he has to stay at the vet's Oona soothes the sensitive Fred (and herself) by telling him that cats have nine lives and Zook will be fine. Fred wants to know how many lives Zook has used up and, because five is Fred's favorite number, Oona tells him that Zook is on his fifth life and then begins telling him the magical, fantastical, suspenseful stories of his four other lives before he came to them.

Rocklin adds another layer to The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook with Dylan, the Villain, Terri's new boyfriend. The two meet at a party at Riya's and Oona is stricken to see the Villain at her best friend's house and talking to her mother. As their relationship progresses, Oona is convinced that she has to put and end to it and force Dylan to admit that his is the cruel, former owner of Zook. Things don't go as Oona planned and get progressively worse. Dylan earns Oona's trust by using his nursing skills to allow Zook to live at home and seemingly thrive, promising Zook will get better. Of this, Oona says, 

Happy-ending times happen all the time, but you have to be a good noticer, or they'll just pass you by. You can look back on your life and think, 'Hey, that was one of them. I think.' But it's so much better to catch them like a fastball, AT THE EXACT MOMENT they're happening. I've been catching more and more happy-ending times lately.

However, when it becomes clear that Zook is suffering and cannot go on. Knowing that Zook will have to go back to the vet, she says, "I wish I could invent a happy-ending room spray or something. I wish I had the power to make happy endings happen whenever I want to in real life, not just in stories." Oona feels betrayed by Dylan for promising Zook would get better and Terri feels betrayed by him when he suggests she let Oona be there when Zook is put down. In the end, though, Oona is there holding Zook, observing, "it wasn't like putting Zook 'down,' I'm thinking. It was like sending Zook up and away. Up and away and out of that tired old body filled with pain, which smells so familiar when I kiss it one last time. It smells like our house and my sweatshirt, and because of that, a little bit like my dad." When the time comes to tell Fred that Zook died, Oona has to also explain why he doesn't get to live out his last four lives, telling him that everyone, even cats, only has one life to live. Then she cries. Oona cries for Zook, for her father and for "all those extra lives nobody gets to live."

When Fred disappears and is found hours later in the spot where Oona found Zook, waiting for him to come back and live his other four lives, Oona tries to help him make sense of things, telling him that Zook will come back, just not in the exact same place. She thinks, 

there must be a special color for a whopper you really, really want to believe, and sometimes you do. You imagine that if you tell it, even to yourself, maybe it will come true. A whopper about living things having lots of lives, for instance. Or a whopper about someone being a villain so you can keep his sweet, singing cat. Or a promise like the one Dylan made, that Zook would get well. It's the color of a wish, if a wish had a color. Maybe it's a color that's only seen in outer space. Or maybe it's multicolored, wrapped up like a birthday gift.

Rocklin ends The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook with everyone, except Dylan, who has not been part of their lives since the scene at the vet, at O'Leary's eating pizza. Mario and Maria have been teaching Oona and Fred how to make pizza and everyone is sampling their pies. Dylan arrives carrying a wicker basket with a kitten inside and she is orange and white, just maybe the color of a wish.

Best of all, Rocklin ends the book with a chapter titled, "The Theory of Story-Making From Oona and the Great Rebus-Maker and Whopper-Teller," which has eight different points that will help young writers weave a tale.

Again! by Emily Gravett

Again! is the newest book from Emily Gravett. I fell in love with Gravett's picture books when I read her first, Orange Pear Apple Bear, which came out in 2007 an makes a fantastic board book! Made up of only five words and gentle pencil lines and water color washes, Orange Pear Apple Bear is a stellar example of a seemingly simple picture book that makes a lasting impression. Gravett's books range from the seemingly simple (Orange Pear Apple Bear, Blue Chameleon, Monkey and Me) to picture books with long narratives and detailed manipulatives like flaps, folds, postcards, die cuts and more (Meerkat Mail, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Spells). And, of course, there is The Rabbit Problem, which I reviewed back in 2011. Every book is beautifully drawn and illustrated with a a palette that somehow manages to be vibrant and gentle at the same time.

With Again! and her story of a little dragon who loves his bedtime book, Gravett delivers something in between - a seemingly simple story with a lot going on. Mama dragon reads little dragon (no assigned gender for this little dragon, thanks Emily!) a bedtime story. Little dragon wants it AGAIN! The text of the bedtime story is printed in Again! (see illustrations below) and it changes as Mama dragon gets sleepier and less able to read and little dragon gets more and more frustrated. As this plays out, the text of the bedtime story changes also (see below again) until little dragon does what dragons do. The end results can be seen on the back over of the book, which is a bit charred and has a clever little hole in it... Which is one other thing that I love about Emily Gravett's books - the production value. I always take of the dust jacket to see if there are any extras and Gravett never disappoints. If you remove the dust jacket of Again! you will find a beautiful hardcover that looks exactly like the cover of little dragon's book!
  

More books by Emily Gravett! I always intend to only share the covers of her other books, but I love her illustrations so much I tend to get carried away. Sadly, Cave Baby, written by the amazing Julia Donaldson, and Matilda's Cat are not available in the US - yet.

 

Source: Review Copy

Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas!, by Philippe Coudray, RL 1.5

When Philippe Courdray's Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking was released in August of 2011, it was a big hit in my home, one of the first books my son took to bed with him and actually READ instead of just looking at the pictures. Besides being yet another superb book from TOON Books, and a great beginning to read book, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking is a smart, funny book that I have since heard described as The Far Side for kids. If Mo Willems's Elephant & Piggie can be described as driven by a sort of manic, slapstick humor, then Benjamin Bear and his smaller forest friends are more philosophical and thoughtfully serious-minded in their silliness. And, in the end, their silliness (or fuzzy thinking) usually makes some kind of sense. Philippe Coudray makes readers laugh, but he also makes them think about why they are laughing.

As I said in my review of Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking, succinctly describing the antics of Benjamin and his friends in writing is tough. It's better to let them speak for themselves. In that spirit, I share with you two pages from Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas! .

Source: Review Copy

Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking, written and illustrated by Philippe Coudray, 31 pp, RL 1.5

BENJAMIN BEAR in Fuzzy Thinking 
is NOW IN PAPERBACK!!!

TOON BOOKS hits another home run with their latest offering, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking by Philippe Coudray. This book had me and my son in stitches when read it together. If you can imagine a little bit of the zaniness of Elephant & Piggie rubbing off on the bear from I Want My Hat Back who has chosen to befriend rabbits, not eat them, then you can begin to get a feel for Benjamin and how he operates. The book is made up of thirty-one single page adventures that range from subtle to deadpan to silly to sweet. I think that Benjamin really speaks for himself, so please check out the images below. Although this review is brief, do not consider this a reflection of my feelings for the book, which will always be special to me. The night after we first read Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking my son took it to bed with him and actually READ the words and not just the pictures as he is wont to do. It made my heart sing a little to wake him up the next morning and find the book tangled amongst his sheets!

The TOON BOOKS website has a great selection of things to do and use and is really worth taking a look. I was drawn to the TOON Into Reading Kit that gives you a printable spread of scenes from the book that need to be cut out and placed in sequential order. There is also a two panel spread that is blank for readers to create their own comics! This is one of a really amazing selection of resources to go with every book they publish. There is also the CarTOON Maker, which lets you make your own cartoon online using characters and scenes from TOON books. Finally, there is an Online Reader which lets you read three of the TOON books in Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish and, of course, English.

All images copyright (c) 2011 RAW Junior,LLC/TOON Books®. All rights reserved.

Barry's Best Buddy by Renée French

Something I especially love about TOON Books is the exposure I get to the works of acclaimed cartoonists from all over the world and the slightly left of center sensibility they bring to the beginning reader graphic novels they create for this publisher that is now five years old! Bringing these author-artists who have thriving careers creating works for adult into the children's book world has added (a much needed) breath of fresh air - especially when it comes to beginning readers. Eisner Award nominee Renée French is yet another of these creators bringing her style and sensibility to TOON Books.

Barry's Best Buddy (Level 1) is a classic odd couple story which makes for some of the best beginning reader books. And I have to say, Barry's best buddy has to be one of the BEST creations I have seen in  long time. Barry's best buddy is Polarhog, a lumpy, toothy, kindhearted fellow who is good at planning surprises and keeping a secret.

Polarhog arrives at Barry's house one morning telling him to get up because he has a surprise for him. Polarhog also notes the dreary appearance of Barry's house, saying, "Your HOUSE puts me to sleep. What color is it? Snooze?"

Polarhog leads Barry, who is a little bit blasé, maybe even a little bit grumpy, on a walk through the woods. Passing a hat store, Polarhog convinces Barry he will look SO GOOD in a hat, like the King of France. The two friends make a few more stops, including a visit to the ice cream store and the appearance of a mysterious meatball. Along the way they keep passing a line of ants who are clearly up to something. But what? That is the surprise that Polarhog has for Barry when they make their way back to his (no longer Snooze colored) house, making Barry's Best Buddy a new favorite among favorites for me.

Just in case this wasn't enough, check out this perfectly scored (and narrated) book trailer. It will definitely pique your child's interest!

Source: Review Copy

Chapter Books, Middle Grade and YA novels with Themes from Greek Mythology

I first posted this roundup in 2010. Since then, a few more books have hit the shelves so I thought I'd share this again. Also, don't forget my list of reference books on Greek Mythology, found here.

With the tremendous popularity of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, many other books with Greek gods and goddesses as characters with themes from Greek Mythology have hit the shelves, so I thought I'd round up all the titles I could think of for you here. While the Riordan's books have enticed masses of boys to read, interestingly enough, all the books in this post are really "girl" books, meaning they have girls as the main character and thus are like nuclear waste to boys. The one exception is Scott Mebus's Gods of Manhattan trilogy, which, while not technically about Greek gods and goddesses, have figures from American history posing as gods AND a boy protagonist. The Gods of Manhattan and The Shadow Thieves lso happen to be the only books listed I have read and reviewed. Please know that I HAVE NOT read any of these books, but have read the blurbs.

The Stickman Odyssey: An Epic Doodle by Christopher Ford. A big hit with WIMPY KID fans. Here's what KIRKUS REVIEWS has to say about book 1:

In medias res is a dangerous trick to play on unsuspecting readers. In the first six pages of this graphic meta-goof on The Odyssey, our stick-figure hero, Zozimos, nearly drowns, gets lost in a jungle, is captured by golems and gets thrown in jail. The pace never really lets up over the 200 pages of the book, as he tries to find his way home to Sticatha. Readers may feel as though they’re flipping channels on a remote, and every channel is showing an action movie.Some readers may need to page through the story a second time to realize that Zozimos is sort of charming, and a few turns of phrase are quite funny (“By Hades’ pajamas”).It would be easy, though, to get distracted by Zozimos’ many selfish actions and his refusal to listen to anyone else. Early in the book, King Marnox says, “The way I see it, everything that happened was your own fault for being a shortsighted jerk.” It’s hard to disagree. A few leisurely pauses here and there might have given readers more opportunity to sympathize with the main character.

 

OLYMPIANS is another great graphic novel series featuring the stories of the gods and goddesses from FirstSecond, who publishes THE BEST graphic novels for kids, teens and adults you will find.

Medusa Jones by written and illustrated by the prolific picture and chapter book writer Ross Collins was published by Scholastic in 2008. At 144 pages, it is the easiest to read of the bunch and maybe the funniest. Collins imagines Medusa as a young school girl and oddball, tormented by the "cool kids," the Champions of Olympus. Instead of beautiful golden ringlets like Cassandra, Medusa has a head full of snakes that make reading difficult and often unpleasant. It seems her "headsnakes had a habit of turning the pages back when one of them had missed an important plot point." Medusa's friends are Chrion the centaur and Mino, the Minotaur, who's father has gotten so carried away with adding on to their house that it is now a maze that family members can get lost in for days.

Published in December of 2007, Pandora Gets Jealous is the first in this series of books by Carolyn Hennesy, Pandora, daughter of Prometheus, needs something good for her school project. Tired of sharing her father's old eagle-eaten liver, she secrets a box given to her father by Zeus himself to the competition at Athena Maiden Middle School. Once there, she accidentally opens the box and unleashes the plagues on humanity. She is sentenced by Zeus to retrieve them and is helped along the way with secret gifts from gods and goddesses who, as Hermes tells her, remember their own youthful mistakes, "A little petty thievery, a few unrequited loves, people mistakenly transformed into animals or trees or hideous monsters. Things we're not As the Publisher's Weekly review noted in 2007:
 

Aspiring Hellenists will appreciate Hennesy's informed liberties with her topic, and novices will be not only fine but possibly inspired to go further. Debut novelist Hennesy's Hollywood comedian background shows in her witty juxtapositions of modern popular culture and classical Greek legend: her work is rife with mythic creatures (dryads, satyrs, gorgons), magic (a talking diary, winged flying shoes, shape-shifting) and lively dialogue (" 'Hey, sorry about the light,' Hermes said. 'Standard procedure. Zeus wants everyone to be terribly afraid when I appear whether it's good news or bad; but that kind of thinking is sooooo Bronze Age, right?' "). Accurate where it counts, this loosely interpreted myth rarely misses a comic twist.

At this point, four out of the seven deadly sins have been covered by Hennesy. Besides Pandora Gets Jealous, Pandora Gets Vain, Pandora Gets Lazy and Pandora Gets Heart, Pandora Gets Angry, and Pandora Gets Frightened are currently in print. Pandora Gets Greedy is due out May 2013.

The Roman Mysteries is Classical historian Caroline Lawrence's seventeen book series for young readers that is rich with detail and intrigue. Characters include 13 year old Flavia, who was born in Ostia, Rome to a wealthy family, Jonathan, who was born in Jerusalem and fled with his father shortly before it was besieged and Nubia, a young girl who saw her family murdered in Egypt, her birthplace, and was sold into slavery and bought by Flavia. Then there is Lupus, born on a Greek island and a mute. He is sneaky and good at spying on people, which is an asset to Flavia in her quest to solve mysteries and poke her nose where it doesn't belong. These books were recently made into a ten-part series on the BBC, but sadly, are not yet available to rent on DVD.

Not exactly Greek Mythology, but worth mentioning for all the boys out there is Scott Mebus's Gods of Manhattan, with cover art, magical and fantastic as always, hardworking Brandon Dorman. Thirteen year old Rory and his nine year old sister Bridget live a seemingly life in New York City, unaware that sprits from Manhattan's (or Manhatta, as the invisible world is called) co-exist alongside them. Rory has a gift for seeing this other world but has ignored it until one day he can ignore it no more. Walking home from a birthday party, Rory notices a cockroach riding a rat, an ancient Indian warrior, a papier-mâché boy and other oddities. He also sees historical figures such as Walt Whitman, Babe Ruth, Peter Stuyvesant, John Jacob Astor and Alexander Hamilton, all gods in this parallel world. Rory is enlisted to help find a devious assassin who has somehow found a way to kill the immortals and has trapped the Munsee Indians in Central Park. Along the way he gets help from immortal teens, including Lincoln Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass. He also gets help from Bridget, who has an alert-ego she named "Malibu Death Barbrie" as well as Battle Roach named Fritz.


 
The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu is FANTASTIC! To be completely reductionist, it's the girl's answer to Percy Jackson. Please read my review for all the details.

FOR TEEN READERS:

These books are shelved in the teen section at the bookstore where I work. The covers are dead giveaways for their placement, but, I also suspect there may be some light (or serious) romance in these books, making them teen titles. If you are concerned about content for your young reader, PLEASE read these books first. I am including them because the plot synopses I read sounded interesting. Personally, my policy at work and at home is to keep girls from reading romance themed books for as long as possible, or until age 15.

Tera Lyn Childs is the author of Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, books that follow Phoebe Castro as she learns that her dream of having a great cross-country track season and preparing to attend USC are about to change. When her mother comes home from vacation with a new husband and a new home Phoebe finds herself on a secret island in the Agean attending a secret academy where her new stepfather is the headmaster and his students are the descendants of Greek gods and goddesses, super powers included. In the second book, Phoebe has adjusted to her new life and also learned that she is a descendant of Nike (the goddess, not the shoe, as Child's humorously points out.) In order to prepare for the Pythian Games, the only thing bigger than the Olympics, Phoebe's stepfather sends her to summer camp to hone her skills. Unfortunately, the camp is full of 10 year olds.

Troy, by Adèle Geras, is a portrait of the Trojan War as told by the women of Troy and most likely will appeal to older readers who are girls. During the last weeks of the war, the women are sick of tending to the wounded, the men are tired of fighting and the bored gods and goddesses are looking for ways to stir things up. The sequel, Ithaka takes place after the war and is told from the viewpoint of Klymene, the fourteen year old servant to Queen Penelope. As the queen waits for her husband, Odysseus, to return from war, she is besieged by suitors who demand she remarry while they wreak havoc on the palace. Klymene is secretly in love with Telemachus, son of Penelope, and she pines for him as his attentions turn to the beautiful but fickle Melantho. Reviews say Geras' writing is vivid and rich with details of the time period and gripping in her feminist perspective.

In Nobody's Princess, Esther Friesner imagines Helen of Troy (the face that launched 1,000 ships..) as a child. Helen goes from being a curious, spoiled girl to a brave adolescent who yearns to be trained as a warrior. The descriptions of life in the Bronze Age of Greece, a place full of royal palaces, slavery, grand feasts, the Oracle of Delphi and a bloody boar hunt will give readers a rich idea of the time. The Spartans and their way of life as well as the gods they worshiped are also described in great detail. Helen remains a strong character yearning for independence throughout the book, whether she is thwarting an unwanted suitor or accompanying her sister the Mykenae for her wedding. In the sequel, Nobody's Prize, Helen, in disguise, follows her brothers on the quest for the Golden Fleece where she faces danger and adventure at every turn.

Tempting Fate, also by Friesner, is the story of Ilana Newhouse and her search for a summer job. When her unique fashion sense makes this difficult, she is happy to be taken in by the Divine Relief Temp Agency. Sent to work in a textiles business run by three unusual sisters, she soon realizes she is working for the Fates who are responsible for spinning, measuring and cutting the life threads of everyone on earth. She soon makes friends with other teens who are temping for the gods and goddesses and makes a friend of Arachne, the maiden turned spider. This book is described as having quirky characters with "Personality Plus," sizzling dialogue and a fast pace.

Taken from her home when she is six, Anaxandra is destined to be the companion to the crippled daughter of King Nicander on the island of Siphnos. However, on the way there their ship is attacked by pirates and Anaxandra is the sole survivor. When rescued, the adopt the identity of Princess Callisto to survive. The ship belongs to Menelaus, King of Sparta, who believes Anaxandra's lie. His wife Helen, however, does not. How Anaxandra survives her deception, as well as the passionate affair between Helen and Paris that plunges Sparta and Troy into war.

Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman (thanks for the recommendation, Charlotte!) is the story of Persephone, the goddess Demeter's daughter, who is courted by Hades, King of the Underworld. Demeter is so overprotective and powerful that living in Paradise, one that is devoid of men, feels like a trap to Persephone. Check out these rave reviews:

The Page Flipper

Dear Author

Stop Drop and Read