D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Product Information

This classic introduction to Greek mythology for children, written and illustrated by the husband-wife team, is divided into three main sections. Edgar concentrated on illustrating books using wood block engravings and stone lithography; Ingri garnered commissions to paint portraits of prominent businessmen. He was engrossed by the first section, and the text when read aloud flowed better than I'd expected it to. Also, my brother and I were flipping through this book the other day, and we saw a drawing of the Andromeda: incredibly pale skin, blue eyes, blonde hair.

I remember first reading this in third grade after having read The Lightning Thief and becoming fascinated by Greek mythology. Looking at it with adult eyes, I see now that the stories have been somewhat sanitized for children, but without changing the overall essence. Highly recommended not only for children, but for anyone who loves well-drawn and well-narrated folklore. One thing I don't like is that he punishes people just for doing something wrong even if they're helping their friend or wife or husband. He garnered enough commissions illustrating books to send for Ingri and they moved into a cold-water walk-up flat in Brooklyn in 1929.On the one hand, pretty brutal violence (plucking out livers, tearing someone apart, immolation) was a-okay, while all of Zeus' lady friends (read: women he sexed and those he raped) actually voluntarily married the jack off. This volume was carefully printed to reproduce the vibrant color and texture of the original lithographs, and includes a glowing foreword by Michael Chabon.

I don't know how many times I've read it, but every single story and illustration felt intimately familiar when I opened it now, 20 years later. Whether you visit the wold of Greek mythology through auditory means or a visual guide, D'Aulaire's is the divine choice. We encourage them to think for themselves, to question, to seek, to demand that authority earns respect, so their experience with the book isn't as revelatory as mine. A modest insurance settlement following a near-fatal bus–trolley collision in Paris provided the seed money for Edgar's steerage-class voyage to the U.Even now as an adult when I read it, I am impressed by all the words and terms that Greek folklore has bequeathed to the English language and no doubt its sister tongues ("panic" from the satyr demigod Pan, "echo" from the nymph of the same name cursed to forever repeat the words of others, "narcissism" from the youth Narcissus who pined away from desiring his own reflection in the water, etc). They have parents who've been answering their questions -- about gods, life, death, where babies come from, about anything -- since they were asking questions.

I remember taking this book out of the library at my elementary school, Queensland Downs Elementary School, when I was in Mrs. It does that thing where rapes are glossed over as "marriages", which is horrible to read if you know what actually happens in the myths. Here are the gods, goddesses, and legendary figures of ancient Greece--mighty Zeus, with his fistful of thunderbolts; gray-eyed Athena, goddess of wisdom; Helios, the sun; greedy King Midas--lavishly depicted by Caldecott winners Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire.C -- Calydonian Boar: Brontë: It was very fierce, kind of like the fierce bear in Brave, like if you shoot three arrows at it it would still be alive. P -- Prometheus: I liked how he saved other people and risked his own life just to warm up the humans by stealing fire from the hearth in the throne room. I don't think he is one of those people who kills things just to stay alive, but someone who risks his life to save others. He illustrated many books in Germany from 1922 to 1926 and painted frescoes in Norway from 1926 to 1927.