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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607001488801 | Juvenile Nonfiction | 292 MCCAUGHREAN | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
From the prize-winning author and illustrator of Greek Myths and Greek Gods and Goddesses comes this wonderfully rich and varied collection of fifteen stories from Roman mythology, freshly retold and made accessible for today's readers. Here are all the famous myths: the birth of Venus, the founding of Rome, how the sacred geese saved the city from the Gauls -- stories that reflect the drama and the power that was Rome. Here are all the great gods and goddesses, brought vividly to life: Jupiter, the king of the gods; Juno, his wife; warrior Mars; Mercury the messenger; Diana, the goddess of hunting; as well as many of the lesser gods and goddesses who controlled every aspect of Roman life. Emma Chichester Clark's beautiful illustrations, inspired by Roman art and culture, perfectly reflect the liveliness of Geraldine McCaughrean's retellings.
Author Notes
Geraldine McCaughrean was born in Enfield, England on June 6, 1951. She was educated at Christ Church College, Canterbury. She has written more than 160 books and plays for children and adults.
Her writing career includes the retelling of such classics as One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, The Canterbury Tales, and The Bronze Cauldron: Myths and Legends of the World, which is a collection of stories from all over the world. She has received numerous awards including three Whitbread Children's Book Awards for A Little Lower Than the Angels, Gold Dust, and Not the End of the World. She also received the Guardian Prize and Carnegie Medal for A Pack of Lies, the Beefeater Children's Novel Award for Gold Dawn, the Michael L. Printz Award for The White Darkness, and the 2018 Carnegie Medal for children's and YA books for her middle-grade novel Where the World Ends.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-This companion to McCaughrean and Clark's Greek Myths (McElderry, 1993) is equally enjoyable. Fifteen tales introducing the Olympians and telling of Romulus and Remus, Philemon and Baucis, or the Sibylline prophecies lead nicely from one to the next, explaining Roman beliefs of fate and destiny in the telling. McCaughrean does this in her short, dramatized text by posing questions or suggesting motivation in a way that almost oversimplifies, or treats the subject casually. But she has accomplished an appealing and approachable introduction to Roman mythology that will make readers want to seek out more. Clark's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations also lend a light touch to the stories, suffusing every page with color in spot or full-page art. On the title page of each story, she imitates Roman art in an illustrated bar, and gives similar stylistic effects in page-number borders, but the bulk of her pictures are in her own appealing style that matches McCaughrean's tone beautifully. Brief notes on the myths make cultural references and hint at the wealth of more stories to be found, though, as there is no bibliography, readers will have to find them on their own. This attractive introduction should whet their appetites.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
From the collaborators behind Greek Myths and Greek Gods and Goddesses, Roman Myths retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, illus. by Emma Chichester Clark, offers 15 stories including "Dreams of Destiny: Aeneas sets out to found an empire" and "Burning the Books: The Sibyl and her prophecies." Many prominent gods and goddesses (e.g, Jupiter, Venus and Diana, the goddess of hunting) and some lesser known are featured throughout. Watercolor illustrations play up the drama in each, and an icon appears as a motif that unifies each tale. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 7 |
| The Olympians | p. 9 |
| Chains of Love: Vulcan tames his wife, Venus | p. 13 |
| Dreams of Destiny: Aeneas sets out to found an empire | p. 18 |
| To Hell and Back: Aeneas in the underworld | p. 24 |
| Romulus and Remus: Twin boys who founded Rome | p. 32 |
| Stolen Wives: The theft of the Sabine women | p. 39 |
| A Wild-Goose Chase: The story of Philemon and Baucis | p. 44 |
| Liber-Ality: How Rome received its most prized blessing | p. 50 |
| Kissed by the Moon: The story of Diana and Endymion | p. 54 |
| The Man Who Cut down Trees: Erisychthon pays a terrible price | p. 58 |
| Telltale Tit: The love story of Mercury and Lara | p. 64 |
| Burning the Books: The Sibyl and her prophecies | p. 69 |
| Little Old Boy: Tages shares his great knowledge | p. 75 |
| A Shot in the Dark: Orion, Diana and Apollo's spite | p. 79 |
| The Guardian Geese: The night the Gauls attacked | p. 86 |
| The Gods and Goddesses of Rome | p. 93 |
| Notes about the Stories | p. 94 |