Padraic Colum (1881–1972)

project gutenberg

Oh, I'm loving it already. I love the style of the illustrations... not sure if they're art nouveau exactly but they remind me of some of that. I love that the boy has to *learn* how to speak the language of the birds, not just eat a magic fruit or whatever. I love Colum's lilt in the narration, and how he uses a different 'voice' in dialogue... for example the grouse are clearly clucking and chuckling the way fowl like that do. I would love to read this aloud to a show more child....

Done. A fair bit of sword-work, but also cleverness. Nothing too disturbing for modern sensibilities. And very enjoyable for those of us who appreciate classic stories. I will read more by Colum. show less

Chosen as the sole Newbery Honor Book in 1926 - the medal winner that year was Arthur Bowie Chrisman's Shen of The Sea: Chinese Stories for Children - The Voyagers is the second of Irish author Padraic Colum's three books to be so honored (the first being 1922's The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, the third 1934's The Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside). It collects a variety of historical and quasi-historical legends concerning European exploration in show more the Atlantic, beginning with the The Legend of Atlantis (as related in Plato's Critias and Timaeus), and continuing through the naming of the American continents for explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

In between are the Irish legends of The Voyage of Maelduin, an 8th century tale concerning a fantastic voyage out into the western ocean made by Maelduin and his companions, and The Voyage of Saint Brendan, whose quest for God's "Fair Land" to the West was a popular medieval tale. Also included are some Norse selections concerning The Children of Eric the Red (Leif the Lucky, Thorwald, Thorstein, Gudrid the Fair), the story of Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the West Indies, of Ponce de Leon's quest for the Fountain of Youth, and of the English "discovery" of Virginia, as told by Captain Barlowe, Captain John Smith, and Ralph Hamar. Colum includes his source material, at the rear.

I enjoyed the earlier mythological and legendary tales that Colum presented in The Voyagers, although I did find myself wishing that he had also included the Welsh legend concerning the voyage of Prince Madoc to the Americas, in the twelfth century. The later tales, concerning the European "discovery" of the Americas, were the sort of white-washed history one would expect from a book published in this era. Columbus comes across as a benevolent father figure, who would never dream of molesting the hapless (and helpless) natives. Colum may have used Columbus' (edited) journals as a source, but he seems to have forgotten to quote the bit where the "Great Admiral" mentions how the natives would make natural servants (read: slaves).

Of course, as already stated, this sort of thing comes as no surprise, given the date of publication, but it does make The Voyagers less palatable to the contemporary reader, perhaps explaining why, although other Colum tales have been reprinted, this one remains out of print. I did enjoy parts of the narrative (hence the two stars, rather than one), and thought Wilfred Jones' color and black and white plates were very attractive, but this is still one I would recommend primarily to the Newbery completist, or to the dedicated Padraic Colum fan. show less

I don’t know much about Greek Mythology. But, hey, Zeus and Hercules and all that stuff has always been SUPER cool when it’s shown up in TV and movies! And then… yaaaaaaawn. I was reading sentences, and realizing that the material in the sentences should have been exciting. There was fighting. There was lots of drama and abrupt life (-no, WORLD-) altering things. Plus, explanations for the heavens and seasons and so on. That should be really interesting. For whatever reason, I show more couldn’t get along with the author’s writing style. It was easy enough to understand, it just wasn’t easy to enjoy. It wasn’t a terrible book, and I genuinely did like pieces; I’m merely pained by thinking that something SHOULD be so much more fun. show less

One of five titles to be selected as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, the year that the award was instituted, Padraic Colum's The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles reads like a children's version of Hesiod's Theogony. The tale of Jason and the Argonauts, who set out on a quest to Colchis - a kingdom located in the northern Black Sea area, in what is now the Republic of Georgia - hoping to obtain the fabled Golden Fleece and bring it back to Greece, the book also features show more numerous storytelling interludes in which Orpheus relates to the other heroes various tales concerning the creation of the world and the adventures of the Olympian gods and goddesses.

Here the young reader will encounter the odd story of the early races of men - the golden, silver, and bronze - who came before our own. Here too is the tale of Prometheus and his theft of fire, and of Deucalion and his extraordinary boat. Pandora, Hades and Persephone, the hero Perseus - all appear in Orpheus' tales, which are embedded in Colum's larger narrative about the Argonauts, their quest, and their adventures afterward.

I enjoyed this book, which made me feel quite nostalgic for the wonderful course in classical mythology I took while in college, and am now longing to see Ray Harryhousen's film, Jason and the Argonauts, again. That said, I can certainly understand why someone would hesitate to recommend this to young readers, as I don't think it makes a very good introduction to the subject. It does not have the uninterrupted sequential narrative that contemporary children might expect, and assumes a basic knowledge of Greek mythology. As an intermediate step however, between such classic children's book as D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and actual classical texts like Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymns, this would be ideal, I think. show less