We Goddesses: Athena, Aphrodite, Hera

This compilation of myths features three major female figures/ goddesses in Greek mythology. Each of the stories focus on a particular goddess, Athena, Aphrodite, and/or Hera, and provides further insight as to how she came to hold such great significance in the culture.
I believe that this book's meaning and importance lies heavily in the messages it conveys to an older age group of young readers. By focusing on three female entities and highlighting their individual backgrounds, it not only discusses the Greek culture's value in them, but it also provides a more egalitarian outlook on important figures in spirituality. As a woman, much of what I would read when I was younger was focused on males as being the powerful historical and/ show more or religious beings and models for people to look up to. However, with We Goddesses, I believe that this shows how women too have an active stance and position in such realms and gives young audiences more advanced and open world views that do not point to the oppression or belittling of certain categories of being. show less

An excellent look into the stories of three well known Greek Goddesses; Athena, goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite, goddess of love and Hera, the goddess of marriage. It tells of the famous stories of their beginnings in great detail, with individual stories of how and why historical greek events occurred. An great read! I would use this in any of my classes that I was talking about Greek mythology to show them another way to see the stories!

I fell in love with this book the very moment I saw it. Drawing on the oft-overlooked power and beauty of the ancient goddesses, Orgel spins wonderful tales from the perspectives of Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera. She provides excellent background in her introduction, and additional information at the end.

The story is told in a very modern tone which makes it an easy read and not as dense as most mythology. I love that Orgel is giving these goddesses their voices, they are so overlooked in mythology.

These stories told within this book are so rich with detail, yet very understandable (even to a young audience). I really like that the stories are told straight from the perspective of the Goddesses themselves, which is something new, and it adds an interesting insight! In addition, the illustrations really enhance the stories! I am so impressed with this selection!

This is a children’s book (for ages 6-10), but I checked it out of the library as part of my study on Athena anyway because I don’t remember any books like this when I was that age…a very interesting read, I liked how the author gave Athena a mother/birth attachment. The author’s a bit idealistic in places, but overall I think it’s a fine book and it was a fun, if short read. I’ll be getting a copy of this for my kid’s library, and when they “outgrow” it, I’ll add it to mine. Definitely worth a look at for anyone interested in Greek mythology, it’s an interesting perspective with amazing artwork!

Author Doris Orgel brilliantly retells the stories of three of the most loved goddesses – Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. The stories are told not in the third person in the normal form of a myth, but rather from the point of view of the goddesses themselves, in the first person. Each story tells how the goddesses was born or created, describes her powers and gifts, and retells some of the most famous myths about her. The stories are told in order from the moment of creation forward, along a connected timeline. For example, Hera’s story begins with her birth, then moves to her meeting Zeus, tells us of his adulterous love affairs, then their marriage, then his infidelity afterwards and how Hera deals with this. Athena’s story show more includes her birth, her childhood and youthful playmates, then the competition between her and Poseidon to become ruler of the city that will later be known as Athens. Aphrodite’s story includes her creation from sea foam, her first meeting with the gods and goddesses on Olympus, major love affairs she caused or was involved in herself, and her role in the Trojan War. All three stories are skillfully intertwined so the goddesses are connected by their relationships with each other and their relationships with Zeus, king of the gods. show less