Usborne Illustrated Guide to Greek Myths and Legends
Illustrated by: Rodney Matthews
Traditional/folklore Lit
Scholastic 2001
I was actually very surprised with this book since I wasn't expecting it to go into as much detail as it did. There was so much information even I was getting confused at times with everything it was throwing at you. The book basically goes over all of the major figures in Greek mythology and gives some important side stories of some of the characters. Obviously, Zeus is mentioned a lot and many of the stories are about him. There is so much for kids to learn about from this book and I was very surprised at how graphic they were allowed to get. The pictures were not very disturbing, but I almost forgot how crazy the mythology can be. I would definitely not have this book in a classroom that is under 6th grade.
When reading a book like this it is important to learn the lore so one can be well rounded but there has to be the line between what is real and fake. I am not saying that this is fake because you really never know, but children need to understand how some of this is very far fetched and even though this is a big part of Greek culture it is not technically their real history. This book could be a great guide to show how legends can be very complex and fleshed out in a groups culture but there is still a differentiation between history and myth.
