Favorite Greek Myths

This is an OK introduction to Greek Myths for 7-9 year olds. Mary Pope Osborne was a favorite when my child was young. We both enjoyed her Magic Tree House series. The illustrations are nice too, reminiscent of N. C. Wyeth's style. However, I only gave the book 2 and 1/2 stars because of the inexplicable mixing of Greek and Roman names in the stories. The author does say she used mostly Ovid's Metamorphoses as a resource, but still why call them "Greek" myths but use the Roman names for the gods, while keeping some of the other characters' Greek names? I found this irritating, though a child would certainly not be bothered by it due to ignorance. Also at the end there is a list of "modern words with Greek origins" and again, there are show more many words in the list of Latin origin, though this is not distinguished (for example: cereal from Ceres, the Latin name of Demeter). I understand that the author didn't want to get into these pesky details since the book is geared towards elementary age children (all the myths are 'cleaned up' by the way, no sexual violence), but then just use only the Greek names. Or if the Roman names are more suited for whatever reason, then use only the Roman names -- not this mix. show less

A good collection of Greek classics is essential for early childhood reading. This link to our primitive (and perhaps more elegant) storytelling must not be forgotten, or broken. The illustrations in this collection are top notch, and capture the imagination of the listeners and readers alike throughout. Highly recommended.

This is the second Mary Osborne Pope Osborne book that I included in my library. This book was mainly selected due to convenience as it was very difficult to find a traditional literature chapter book. This book includes numerous different Greek myths, some I was familiar with, some were new to me. I enjoyed the style of writing, as it was written in my child-friendly verse, as opposed to a lot of greek myths. I think the authors purpose for writing this book was to make Greek mythology more accessable to younger audiences.

This collection of Greek myths retold by Mary Pope Osborne is a treasure. Osborne does an outstanding job of writing the myths in a format that is enjoyable and easy to read. The collection contains 12 Greek myths with accompanying illustrations. In addition, there are sections titled God, Goddesses, and Mortals, Modern Words with Greek Origins, and Who Wrote the Greek Myths?. Overall, this is a beautiful collection and a joy to read.

There are 13 tales of Greek Myths in this collection. My favorite is the story of Minerva and Arachne, which is the story of the worlds first spider. Each myth is only 2-4 pages so they are simple reads and although some are interested I found many of them to be boring. The illustrations are vivid and stay within the culture and time period.

A great introduction to Mythology. I had the pleasure of meeting the author at a conference earlier and she spoke of this collection fondly. I enjoyed these stories. Also included are appendices, which are definitely a good reference - it offers both the Roman and Greek names of the characters, descriptions, and a short bibliography of other mythological works. My one quibble is that the Roman names were using in text as opposed to the Greek names.

The stories were easy to read. The illustrations were great for the time period the stories are relevant to. My guess is that the art was done with oil pastels. Having the additional information at the back of the book was helpful to see the relationships between each story and how they were related. It was also fun to see how the English language uses a lot of words that are derived from Greek origins.