Gary Northfield

Another adventure for Julius and his animal crew. Having conquered Roman hearts and minds as a gladiator, subdued Britain, and rules Egypt as pharaoh, Julius now turns his eye to Greek mythology. The fourth book in the Julius saga, this one repeats much of the humor of the previous editions. That is not always a bad thing as the crew and their interactions, coupled with the fantastic artwork, are what makes this series. The plot is a bit thin this time around and there is not a great deal of show more character development with the exception of some exploration of the relationship between Julius and his brother Brutus. As others have mentioned, it pulls just enough mythology/history into it to make it more than slapstick. Not the strongest book in the set but enjoyable. Enough signs that Julius is not done with his world travels as well. show less

Julius Zebra 'teams up' with Heracles to help him complete one of his labors. Heracles needs to find a golden apple. So, off on a hair-brained, nincompoop adventure. Danger and tribulations abound!

Julius and his friends face a Minotaur, Cerberus, Charon, and try to outwit King Midas. But, do they find the golden apple and what exactly is that Heracles doing to help complete this task? Madcap shenanigans ensue.

Kids will love this romp through legendary times. I am certain that this fourth show more book in the series would be better if the first three have been devoured already.

Includes (an explanation of) Roman Numerals, (an explanation of) The Cosmos, (How to) Dress Up Julius As an Ancient Greek Hoplite, (How to) Be Immortalized on Your Own Greek Jug or Urn, How to Paint in the Ancient Greek Style, and (Whew!) Glossary.

I love when authors sneak facts and history into zany books.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers, Candlewick Press, and Gary Northfield for this ARC. show less

I read a lot of elementary school aged chapter books with my daughter. Many have strengths and weakness, few are perfect. Unfortunately this book had more weakness than strengths. It is the third book in a series and without reading the first two books it really doesn't make much sense. There is an attempt to introduce new readers to the characters with a glossary at the beginning of the book, but it is largely unsuccessful. The concept of a child learning history while reading a novel is a show more great one, unfortunately it also doesn't really work in this book. Rather than gently introduing historical facts amidst the story, instead this book assumes that the child reading this book already has a knowledge of ancient Egypt. You miss a fair amount of the jokes without that prior history knowledge that most elementary children will not yet have. The illustrations are engaging and well done. The attempt at humor fell flat for my daughter and I, but we could see how some children would like it. We struggled to care about the main characters, who we didn't engage with. The story also did not draw us in, it was a bit of a slog to get through the whole book. It seemed longer than necessary. Perhaps we just were not the right audience for this book. I imagine if you like the other books in this series, you would like this one, and 10 year old boys that have an interest and previous knowledge of Egyptian history would probably enjoy it as well. For us it was a promising concept that just didn't work.

*Thank you to library thing and Candlewick press for the advance reading copy of this book. Receiving a review copy did not influence my opinion for this review. show less

Julius Zebra: Grapple with the Greeks is a humorous introduction to classical Greek myths that would appeal to elementary school aged kids.

The story folllows the heroic but often clueless Julius Zebra on an adventure where he meets several figures in Greek mythology, including King Midas, Hades, etc. Heracles tricks Julius and his crew into attempting to steal a golden apple. Heracles was the most objectionable part of the book as he had no redeeming value and was taking advantage of show more animals. He was the reason for the initial quest, but I felt he was more boorish than funny. show less