Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess

I've been dying to read a few of the books in this series, so I was so excited to find a spare copy about one of my favorite Greek goddesses on book collection day. (My other favorite is Artemis. I'm kind of predictable.)

These tellings of the Greek myths strike a healthy balance between faithfulness to the original and avoiding getting too graphic. If this were written for adults, these stories could have been extremely bloody and gory--but instead O'Connor keeps just enough violence for kids to understand and appreciate the impact of what's happening without going off the deep end.

I appreciate how "adult" the art looks--it could have been so easy to go for rounder, softer images, which strikes me as the visual equivalent of talking show more down to kids. Although created for a younger audience, the art, layout, and only slightly airbrushed stories seem, to me, to respect kids' ability to understand more than adults give them credit for. Plenty of adult graphic novel lovers would enjoy the artwork here.

The book includes a whole bunch of cool extras at the back: full-page profiles of the major characters with key information about them; an author's note with a bit of comparative history; handy "G(r)eek Notes" with extra details about variants on the myths, changes made for the story, clarifications, and references to other myths; and a brief bibliography, including books that this book's audience would be able to appreciate.

I have only two complaints: First, Athena felt too short (I read the whole thing while Areg was in the shower yesterday morning), but this is probably because of the younger audience and the number of available myths to choose from. Second, the story of how Athena became the patron goddess of Athens isn't here. What the heck! That's kind of an important story, and I would rather have had that than the Perseus myth. Perseus just felt like it was straying too far from Athena...and it might have made its own standalone book, or been part of a book about heroes.

I hope First Second is planning an omnibus once all of the twelve major gods and goddesses have been covered, because I'll definitely add it to my physical book shelf!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this review are my own and do not reflect those of my employer. show less

This graphic novel from George O'Connor's Olympians series tells the origin story of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom and several stories important to her development and the building of her aegis.

I can't tell you how much I love this series. It tells lots of the great myth's in a way that makes them very accessible. The illustration style is extremely appropriate and the author doesn't necessarily stick with the most common version of the story. The notes he includes are great and even have references of stories to come, a little bit of humor and give the versions of the stories that the author chose not to include.
He also includes explanations of why he chose to go with the version's of the stories he went with.

I've always found Athena show more interesting and I liked watching a God develop and grow. It puts a whole new spin on the Greek Gods and how human they could be. Some of the myths in her story I had never heard before and some are stories told over and over again. I liked that they told Perseus' story even though it didn't directly include Athena much. The author's inclusion of it made you feel all the more how important the aegis is. show less

This graphic novel from George O'Connor's Olympians series tells the origin story of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom and several stories important to her development and the building of her aegis.

I can't tell you how much I love this series. It tells lots of the great myth's in a way that makes them very accessible. The illustration style is extremely appropriate and the author doesn't necessarily stick with the most common version of the story. The notes he includes are great and even have references of stories to come, a little bit of humor and give the versions of the stories that the author chose not to include.
He also includes explanations of why he chose to go with the version's of the stories he went with.

I've always found Athena show more interesting and I liked watching a God develop and grow. It puts a whole new spin on the Greek Gods and how human they could be. Some of the myths in her story I had never heard before and some are stories told over and over again. I liked that they told Perseus' story even though it didn't directly include Athena much. The author's inclusion of it made you feel all the more how important the aegis is. show less

This graphic novel from George O'Connor's Olympians series tells the origin story of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom and several stories important to her development and the building of her aegis.

I can't tell you how much I love this series. It tells lots of the great myth's in a way that makes them very accessible. The illustration style is extremely appropriate and the author doesn't necessarily stick with the most common version of the story. The notes he includes are great and even have references of stories to come, a little bit of humor and give the versions of the stories that the author chose not to include.
He also includes explanations of why he chose to go with the version's of the stories he went with.

I've always found Athena show more interesting and I liked watching a God develop and grow. It puts a whole new spin on the Greek Gods and how human they could be. Some of the myths in her story I had never heard before and some are stories told over and over again. I liked that they told Perseus' story even though it didn't directly include Athena much. The author's inclusion of it made you feel all the more how important the aegis is. show less

This graphic novel from George O'Connor's Olympians series tells the origin story of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom and several stories important to her development and the building of her aegis.

I can't tell you how much I love this series. It tells lots of the great myth's in a way that makes them very accessible. The illustration style is extremely appropriate and the author doesn't necessarily stick with the most common version of the story. The notes he includes are great and even have references of stories to come, a little bit of humor and give the versions of the stories that the author chose not to include.
He also includes explanations of why he chose to go with the version's of the stories he went with.

I've always found Athena show more interesting and I liked watching a God develop and grow. It puts a whole new spin on the Greek Gods and how human they could be. Some of the myths in her story I had never heard before and some are stories told over and over again. I liked that they told Perseus' story even though it didn't directly include Athena much. The author's inclusion of it made you feel all the more how important the aegis is. show less

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess by George O'Connor is the follow up to Zeus: King of the Gods. It was short listed for a Cybils award in the young adult graphic novel category.

The book tells of the life and times of Athena through a series of short episodes. It's a decent introduction to her myths in Greek mythology and might be fun for kids who have read the Rick Riordan books.

There's no doubt that Greek mythology is hot stuff right now in tween and YA books. It's probably the Percy Jackson effect. There's an influx of graphic novels inspired by Greek mythology, including graphic novel retellings of the Percy Jackson books (post link to Lightning Thief gn review).

While I'm normally a raving fan of pretty much anything published by First show more Second, Athena wasn't my cup of tea. Athena didn't stand out among the crowd of these Greek myth graphic novels. It's a perfectly adequate retelling but it wasn't an outstanding example. show less

"Athena Grey-Eyed Goddess" is written by George O'Connor and this fiction, graphic novel portrays the story of the mythological daughter of Zeus.

This book brings to life the story behind Athena's miraculous birth from her father's head and her journey to becoming the goddess of war, wisdom, strategy, crafts, and cities. Told by the three Fates, this graphic novel shows the reader how Athena has come to be, how she has gained her strength, and how she has received the name Pallas Athena. This book consists of three stories surrounding Athena and all come together to tell of her most powerful asset; the Aegis. The Aegis' powers grow with each story told, by the Fates, and gives light into how deadly it can be.

This story was very show more intriguing to read. I love stories about the Olympian gods and goddesses and this graphic novel was an interesting way to learn the background story and history of Athena. This story is an easier read than Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Younger children will understand more in this book than Homer's and I believe it is a great way to introduce mythology to students. The author raises issues of honor, loyalty, and staying true to one's word. These issues can be relayed to students in a moral way without them even knowing it. I agree with the author that these need to be addressed to young children who need to understand the importance of these lessons. I believe everyone should know the importance of honoring another person who has done great deeds in helping others and the importance that this has for the honoree. Children need to know that they need to show respect where respect is needed. Loyalty to another person who is respected is also a characteristic human beings should have. Without loyalty where would anyone of us be? Would we have our freedom without the loyalty of our American Soldiers? Also, holding true to one's word is something that is being lost. Being able to trust another is falling by the wayside and I believe this is a major problem that should be corrected and needs to be addressed.

Teaching Connections
-At the beginning of the book, have the students make predictions of what they think will happen in each story. Have them use background knowledge they may know already for this activity.
-Have the students discuss what they know about mythology and what surprised them about this graphic novel.
-Have the students create their own graphic novel for this story. Have them use their own interpretations for this activity.

I would read this again and I would recommend it to teachers to use in their classrooms. This book is volume 2 in this series of graphic novels and the other volumes include: Zeus, Hera, and Hades, but it doesn't stop there. There are many other books like "Athena Grey-Eyed Goddess" that can help students learn about mythology and the hidden moral lessons they teach as well. show less