Olympians vs. Titans an Interactive Mythological Adventure

Olympians vs. Titans: An Interactive Mythological Adventure is an entry in the You Choose Ancient Greek Myths series.

Interaction between reader and the material is one of the big reasons I keep selecting the different versions of these types of books to review. I believe strongly that humor and choice help students to connect to the material, thus generating a natural curiosity and interest in learning more about a topic.

Once through one version of the story a reader can go back and choose a different character or continue with the same character but make different choices to see how those choice effect outcome. How choices, decisions, and even the lack of decisions, the failure to choose effect outcomes is a very important life lesson for children and I think this is one series that taps into a unique way of demonstrating how choices change sometimes just an individual's life but other times the course of a much larger group of people.

With the mythology series the publishers have moved to giving students the means to explore how Greek mythology is effected by the choices individuals make and how those choice can result in a variety of different outcomes based on additional choices.

In Olympians vs. Titans readers can follow the path of Cronus, Zeus, or Prometheus. In following any of the paths the reader will get quite a bit of background information not only about the character chosen, but about the background of both the Titans and the Olympians. While a child could read and enjoy this book without having any previous experience with the myths surrounding the battles between Titan leaders and the Olympians, I suspect the book would be more meaningful with some background knowledge. This will help the child understand the choices being made and why the choices matter.

If you are expecting a book in which the Titans win providing a truly alternate mythology this isn't the one for you. In certain cases there are changes based on the paths taken. This is one of the reasons it is best to have some background with the original myths to be able to notice the changes. However I didn't find a scenario in which the Titans win leaving the Olympians in Tartarus. The big picture mythology stays unaltered regardless of the path you take. The choice result in smaller alterations to the story lines.

I was pleased with this entry into the You Choose series. I wasn't sure how well the format would work with mythology. In most of the books I've reviewed we are dealing with minor, unknown characters who can make different choices without alternating the ultimate historical time line. If a fictional character for instance chooses not to do something, the event will still occur in history, the choices will play out in the fictional life of the character created for the You Choose story. However, with mythology, the characters being written about have made specific choices that are written into the mythology that create a specific story line. Altering that story line and staying true to the myth is challenging. I thought the author handled it well.

Thor Speaks!

Thor Speaks!: A Guide to the Realms by the Norse God of Thunder is the last book currently available in the Secrets of the Gods series. It was published in 2015 so I'm not sure if the author plans any future additions to the series or not. I'm hopeful as I think it fills a gap for accessible material that elementary students can read themselves. It's always nice when there are choices about what materials suit a child best rather than just using something because it is available.

I will say I was most excited about finding this volume as I've been looking for some elementary level material for the Middle Ages and Viking period that was factual and accurate, but also fun and engaging for a reluctant reader. As I've stated before in reviews, humor is a great way to engage kids with reading material that you want them to know. However, the humor can't get in the way of the facts and information being accurate. On the other hand, with reluctant readers if they won't read it or even listen to it you've also lost the battle. So, finding a series like this is important.

This is the first volume where we don't meet the God of death. The book is again written in the first person switching from Thor to Loki and back but always staying in the voice of the character telling the story. I think children will enjoy the childish pranking and bickering between the two and while humorous it does address stories and relationships that will give children a better understanding of Norse mythology.

While all the volumes have some mythology stories in them, this volume has the most of the three. I found this a plus because while I have volumes of kids versions of children's Greek and Roman myths, I've found it harder to collect children's Norse myths. Including them in this story is a great introduction or refresher of Norse myths. Learn about the evolution of Runes, the challenges of Odin, the issues with giants, and the constant problem of Loki all as you tour through the lands with Thor.

This was the most detailed of the three books. The inclusion of more mythology stories made for a stronger introduction to mythology. If your looking to supplement a unit on Vikings or Norse Mythology this is a good choice.