Mercifully short. But every third sentence jarred. Plagued by didactic non-sequiturs. ( )

The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths Retold offers suspenseful stories rewritten in an easy way to understand. For example, throughout the story of Persephone, the reader is put into a sense of wonder when the young, lively woman is abducted from Hades, the god of the underworld, without consent. The reader wonders if and how her mother, Demeter, will be able to save her. When Persephone is on the grips of freedom, a complication occurs that could risk the endeavor. Until the story ends and is resolved, the reader suspensefully waits for the happiness of Persephone. The story of Orpheus is also very suspenseful for the reader. On his wedding day, his beautiful wife passes away. The story documents his journey to reunite with her. Like the story of Persephone, Orpheus faces a complication when he is very close to his goal. The tale forces the reader to wonder if he will ever be reunited with his love up until the very end of the story.
The book also features vivid imagery through its detailed word choice. For example, in the story of Persephone, her abduction is worded as follows “…the ground opened up beneath her, a massive hand reached up for her long hair, and in one terrible moment, she was gone.” The text describes in detail how a humongous hand grabbed Persephone by her hair in what seemed to be the blink of an eye! The book also features a detailed description of Orpheus’ grief the moment when his wife dies by stating “The anguished cries of her young husband broke even the hearts of trees.” The sentence does a great job of painting a picture of a young widower screaming out in pain and anguish.
The overall main idea of the book is to describe stories that teach parable-like life lessons. For example, Persephone’s story aimed to teach the reader not to blindly trust those around you. Orpheus’ story teaches the reader to accept and cope with fate rather than to expand all efforts to fight it. The stories feature ideas that can be applied to daily life. ( )

A gorgeous little book. Some of the vocabulary is a little advanced as are some of the illustrations so this book is probably better for older kids.

This is a fiction book retelling some of the great Greek myths.

Read for mythology assignment