Medea Tells All

Medea Tells All: A Mad, Magical Love (The Other Side of the Myth)is a great companion for students reading Jason and the Golden Fleece as it attempts to tell the story from Medea's perspective with a little bit of humor.

I find these "other side of the story" type books to be useful in teaching perspective. Some are better written than others and this falls into the good category. Medea begins the story by explaining that she didn't even like Jason when this whole story began. However, she got caught up in a revenge plot of Hera's who then used Aphrodite to cast a love spell on her. She puts all the blame for the rest of her actions to help Jason on the Gods suppressing her free will.

While the story does give a summary of the original Jason story, I think it would be best to read the original myth before reading this one as it will increase the child's ability to compare and contrast the two stories. There are a variety of options available for children.

Hades Speaks

Any of you who read this blog know I'm always on the lookout for books that present information accurately, but also engage kids in actually wanting to read the material. I recently came across a mythology series, Secrets of the Ancient Gods that I think meets that criteria. The stories in the series are each written in the first person by the mythogoical God.

In Hades Speaks!: A Guide to the Underworld by the Greek God of the Dead we are introduced to Hades who provides a humorous discussion of his life as both a Greek and Roman God. He even throws in a reference to Voldemort and Harry Potter and threatens Percy Jackson to demonstrate he's kept up with modern pop culture.

Hades takes the reader on a rather entertaining tour of his realm while he discusses his family relationships, how he ended up as God of the underworld, his marriage, and introduces a variety of mythological creatures, heroes, and other beings. For children familiar with mythology from others books they've read they will find his perspective on these matters often amusing, but different from other books they've read. For students new to mythology it still is an interesting introduction to the topic, but will require more reading to get a balanced view of some of what Hades discusses.

If you are looking for a short addition to your Greek and Roman mythology study that adds a little fun and humor this might be for you. It is accessible for elementary readers, but older students might also appreciate the humor.