This is a collection of a select number of Greek myths retold for children, with accompanying illustrations and artwork that visually dominates the page, often changing the colour of the page to match the art. The illustrations are lavish, to the point this is almost a presentation book. The stories primarily focus on myths about nature and nature spirits. In contrast to the twenty-first century trend towards more anachronistic and humorous retellings, these retellings stick closely to ancient source material, usually telling it in a neutral tone without didacticism.

The introduction begins with a personal note from Turnbull about her own experience of the myths, as told to her by her father. He loved them for their invocation of a bright world and she loved nature spirits such as Pan. This is reflected in the myths Turnbull chooses to include in her anthology, which feature a large number of myths about nature spirits. 

She goes on in the introduction to explain the Olympian gods were descended from the Titans, and introduces the Muses and different types of nymph. She explains she has omitted the Iliad and Odyssey because they require books of their own, and that she has tried to go back to the earliest versions by the "ancient Greek poets" (p. 8). Therefore, she will not be including certain staples of most children’s anthology books, such as Pandora having a box and Midas having a daughter. Finally, Turnbull says she has always used Greek names over Latin names, Ks over Cs in names (reflecting the ancient Greek script better) and tells children Greek names are easy to pronounce if one remembers the es on the end are not silent.

Featured Stories:

• Introduction.

Earth, the Heavens and the Underworld

• Arethusa.
• Persephone.
• Orpheus and Eurydice.
• Phaethon and the Chariot of the Sun.

Monsters and Heroes

• The Minotaur.
• Ariadne on Naxos.
• The Kalydonian Boar Hunt.
• Atalanta’s Race.
• Perseus and the Gorgon’s Head.
• Bellerophon and the Winged Horse.

Gods and Mortals

• Pan and Syrinx.
• King Midas and the Golden Touch.
• King Midas and the Music Contest.
• Arachne.
• Echo and Narcissus.
• Pandora.

Walker Books, the publisher, describe this book on their website as a retelling of the "timeless stories" of the Greeks (see here, accessed: September 24, 2020). Turnbull’s own website calls the book a "timeless collection for all ages" and includes quotes from reviews discussing the importance of Greek myths for children (see here, accessed: September 24, 2020). The marketing around this book, therefore, would seem to play to the idea of the Greek myths as timeless tales that are "worthy" for children.

This is a lavishly presented book, with strong emphasis on aesthetics and stories about nature spirits, and a fairly morally neutral writing style. The stories are unusually accurate retellings of ancient myth. In her introduction, Turnbull mentions going back to ancient Greek poets. However, Ovid’s Roman Metamorphoses is evidently used heavily as a source. 

In particular, Ovid’s influence can be seen in the regular appearance of rape and attempted rape. This is often portrayed in the neutral, uncritical language of describing predation among wild animals, as if nature spirits carrying out sexual violence is analogous to animals hunting their prey and cannot really be judged. For example, of Pan the book says "Pan often pursued nymphs for love, and only those who were wary and fast escaped him" (p. 122). It goes on to retell the myth of Syrinx, in similarly neutral language with Syrinx’s flight from Pan somewhat eroticized. 

This neutrality might be a conscious choice. Turnbull’s anthology stands out from other commercially successful children’s receptions of the time which adapt ancient myth more loosely, and include humour, particularly anachronistic humour, sometimes with the intent of drawing in reluctant readers. See, for example Kate McMullan’s Myth O’ Mania series, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson franchise, Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams’ Goddess Girls series and the anthologies of Terry Deary (Top Ten Greek Legends 1998) Lucy Coats (Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths 2002) and Michael Townsend (Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders 2010). With the beautiful artbook style of the work, and its sometimes surprisingly sexually explicit language, it may be aimed at a crossover adult as well as child audience.

Whilst the language of the rape episodes is never entirely explicit, the text becomes surprisingly explicit elsewhere. For example, Atalanta and Hippomenes "made love" in the temple of Rhea and are turned into lions as punishment (p. 89). 

Turnbull’s anthology also differs from the aforementioned books by not being particularly didactic. Such works as Riordan and Deary, whilst often presenting themselves as "cool" and rebelling against adult authority (see Murnaghan 2011 for a discussion of this)*, are frequently significantly morally didactic. For example, Rick Riordan in his 2014 anthology Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods is at pains to explicitly point out the wrongness of the sexual violence depicted. Turnbull’s anthology may wish to differentiate itself from the more "cool", humorous competitors by rejecting their didacticism as well as their alterations and anachronisms. It may also be written for a more highbrow, middle class audience that considers didacticism condescending. If avoiding perceived moral preaching was the goal, however, one wonders why so many rape myths were chosen for a child’s anthology and not material that might be better suited to neutrality. The nonjudgmental tone of episodes of rape like the Pan passage mentioned above and the Arethusa one mentioned below might seem to children to by default give the power of right to the rapist.

The anthology begins, unusually, with the story of Arethusa. This turns out to be because Arethusa’s story leads into the tale of Persephone. Arethusa jumps into a pool naked, and the god Alpheus appears. Arethusa, without thought on her part or explanation from the narrative, immediately runs away when she sees him, although what she fears he will do is never made explicit. The whole story is told in language strikingly devoid of moral judgment. Alpheus is described menacingly – e.g. whilst she is hiding he "prowled outside" and "the nymph shook with fear" (p. 14), but the narrative does not suggest his behaviour is wrong. Whilst fleeing Alpheus, Arethusa catches sight of Persephone, newly abducted by Hades, sitting sadly beside him and identifies instantly with her, knowing they are in the same situation. This camaraderie between victims of sexual violence is the closest the narrative comes to condemning it with its otherwise neutral tone. The phrasing at the end becomes more sexual, using their different waters as a form of euphemistic sexual violence: "some say that in time Alpheus, his love unquenched, found his way at last across the sea and mingled his waters with hers" (p. 17). Turnbull leaves it to the reader to decide whether this actually happened.

The illustrations are very distinctive, and are often brought up in reviews of the book (e.g. here and here, accessed: September 24, 2020). Many look like works of art in themselves that could be displayed in galleries, as other of Young’s work has been. At times they are creepy, at times very sexualised – for example naked Arethusa fleeing from Alpheus with her hand moved down to just cover her genitals from view. Other illustrations use the natural environment of the myth to create an aura of exciting wish fulfilment for the child. For example, Arethusa relaxing in Alpheus’ pool at the beginning of her story looks like she is in a jacuzzi, and when Arethusa sees Persephone and Hades, she is shown going down the flume of a transparent, twisting natural water slide, with Persephone and Hades in a cave beneath. The art is not always confined to a small illustration, often spreading out across the page. Pages change colour; for example when Orpheus descends into the Underworld the pages become black.

The focus on nature spirits also leads to a focus on the beauty of nature, and scenery and movement through scenery is described extensively. For example, Pan’s love of the rustic Arcadian world he moves through is given at length. 

Like many other children’s anthologists, Turnbull is sympathetic to Ariadne. Ariadne in Naxos, after she is abandoned, is its own separate chapter, and we are shown her despair and sense of betrayal once she realises Theseus has left her. Her agency in the action is also emphasised; for example she is the one who tells Theseus his ship is ready when he emerges from the labyrinth. Yet Turnbull also points out the naïve, even problematic elements in Ariadne thinking she can win Theseus’ love by promising to save his life. When she initially promises to help him, he comments internally that he is hardly in a position to refuse her. He also, however, has a more cynical reason for accepting her offer: thinking that stealing his daughter will strike an additional blow to Minos. On the voyage home, Theseus grows weary of Ariadne and regrets promising to make her his wife, hence his abandoning her.

Turnbull is fairly critical of Pandora. When she is initially created, Hermes gives her "the power to lie and deceive"  (p. 162), which seems to emphasise the idea of women as inherently more deceitful. When she wishes to open the jar, she "pestered her husband" (p. 164), which makes her sound rather childlike. There is also a corresponding idea of wives as able to "sweeten" a household in a way men cannot; as Epimetheus’ wife, Pandora "made his home sweet with her womanly arts" (p. 162).

* Sheila Murnaghan, "Classics for Cool Kids: Popular and Unpopular Versions of Antiquity for Children", Classical World 104.3 (2011): 339–353.

Coats, Lucy, Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths, ill. Anthony Lewis, London: Orion Children’s Books, 2002.

McMullan, Kate, Have a Hot Time, Hades!, 2002. Reprint, North Mankato, Minnesota: Stone Arch Books, 2012. 

McMullan, Kate, Phone Home, Persephone!, 2002. Reprint, North Mankato, Minnesota: Stone Arch Books, 2012.

Murnaghan, Sheila, "Classics for Cool Kids: Popular and Unpopular Versions of Antiquity for Children", Classical World 104.3 (2011): 339–353.

Riordan, Rick, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, London: Puffin Books, 2005.

Riordan, Rick, Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, New York: Hyperion, 2014.

Townsend, Michael, Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders, 2010. Reprint, New York, NY: Puffin Books, 2014.

Entry based on edition from 2012.