Zeus: King of the Gods

Kids love Greek mythology and this is an accessible and appealing graphic novel adaptation, complete with back matter that made my heart skip a beat. Reading this first book made me want to run out and get the rest of the series. Loved it! One beef? Why do all the human-looking gods have to be light-skinned?

Even though I loved my textbook for mythology in school, I would've loved a book like this far more. The colour choices are rich, though uncommon hues, and the use of contrast is particularly interesting. The text is a perfect blend of recognizable/accessible vocabulary with a cadence that makes it feel a little old-fashioned without any of that awkwardness. The summary pages at the end are very helpful, and I especially like the G[r]eek Notes. Now looking for volume two!

The first book in George O'Connor's Olympians series focuses on the origins of the Greek Gods and how Zeus got them out from under the Titan's thumb. Illustrations were nice and the story is extremely an accurate recounting of the myth appropriate for any age. There are more facts in the back, recommendations for further reading for adults and children, and a discussion question guide. Zues' story is tangled up in the story of how the Greek Gods got their power so I am very curious how the stories of other god's will be handled.

Picked this up at the school book fair while I was doing my teaching internship.

This book is the first in a series of graphic novels retelling the origins of the Olympian Gods. Of course it's appropriate to kick off a series like this with Zeus since he became the king of the Olympians, but also because it is easy to work in the origins of the universe according the Greek Mythology through Zeus because of his battle with Kronos. In order to tell the story of Zeus' triumph over his father, it is important to know how the whole thing started, to set the stage. This is exactly what George O'Connor does with this story.

I would definitely want this and the other books of the Olympian series in my classroom if I was teaching. It would come in show more handy for those students who are not burdened with imagination (which I didn't think was possible until some of my students started asking questions like "people really believed this stuff?") and find it difficult to understand how Kronos could eat his children and they could grow into adult humans inside him. Visuals probably would help them understand the general size difference and some other things they missed in the readings. show less

A beautiful and well-told tale of the dawning of the era of the familiar Greek Gods. O'Connor has kept important parts of history, while alluding to other stories that follow.

The first book in George O'Connor's Olympians series focuses on the origins of the Greek Gods and how Zeus got them out from under the Titan's thumb. Illustrations were nice and the story is extremely an accurate recounting of the myth appropriate for any age. There are more facts in the back, recommendations for further reading for adults and children, and a discussion question guide. Zues' story is tangled up in the story of how the Greek Gods got their power so I am very curious how the stories of other god's will be handled.

The first book in George O'Connor's Olympians series focuses on the origins of the Greek Gods and how Zeus got them out from under the Titan's thumb. Illustrations were nice and the story is extremely an accurate recounting of the myth appropriate for any age. There are more facts in the back, recommendations for further reading for adults and children, and a discussion question guide. Zues' story is tangled up in the story of how the Greek Gods got their power so I am very curious how the stories of other god's will be handled.