Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Carolyn Hennesy, Pandora Gets Heart. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010, 280 pp.
ISBN
Official Website
carolynhennesy.com (accessed: July 31, 2018)
Genre
Action and adventure fiction
Mythological fiction
Novels
Teen fiction*
Target Audience
Children (Children/Middle grade, ages 8–12)
Cover
Courtesy of Bloomsbury, publisher.
Author of the Entry:
Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il
Daniel A. Nkemleke, University of Yaoundé 1, nkemlekedan@yahoo.com
Weng Chen (Jade) (Illustrator)
Carolyn Hennesy
, b. 1962
(Author)
Carolyn Hennesy, born June 10, 1962, is an American actress, writer and campaigner for zoos. She trained at American Conservatory Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London as well as earning a dramatic scholarship to the California State University at Northridge. She studied with the Groundlings and became a member of the Sunday Company. She also trained at the ACME Comedy Theatre and was a founding member of the all-female improv troupe, Ovaryaction. In 2001, she received the Natalie Schafer Award for Outstanding Comedic Actress, and the Ovation Award in 2011 from the LA Stage Alliance. She has appeared in numerous films and television series, and is best known as an actress for the part of Diane Miller on US day time soap opera General Hospital. She has also played recurring roles in Cougar Town, Revenge, and vampire series True Blood. Although she has a popular 25+ year career in film and television, Hennesy is also an author. In 2011 she published a novel based on characters from General Hospital, The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli. Her series of children’s books based on the character of Pandora begins with Pandora Gets Jealous (2008), and continues with Pandora Gets Vain (2008), Pandora Gets Lazy (2009), Pandora Gets Heart (2010), Pandora Gets Angry (2011), Pandora Gets Greedy (2012) and Pandora Gets Frightened (2013). She is involved in "a number of causes including caring for our wounded warriors and helping those with debilitating physical issues regain their self-esteem, but chief among all causes is the issue of animal rescue"*. In addition, she teaches improvisational comedy, and has a flying trapeze act. In interview Hennesy says she drew on her own "notebook" from when she was thirteen in writing the novels.
* Author's official website (accessed: September 23, 2020).
Sources:
Offical website (acccessed: February 1, 2018).
Interview with Carolyn Hennesy (acccessed: February 1, 2018).
Bio prepared by Amanda Potter, Open University, amanda.potter@caramanda.co.uk and Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com
Sequels, Prequels and Spin-offs
Summary
This is the fourth instalment in a series of books called Mythic Misadventures that takes the classic story of Pandora's box and gives it a young, adventurous, partly contemporary twist – Pandora is Prometheus' thirteen-year-old daughter. In this book, the group must travel to the past in order to find Lust, hidden in a golden apple. But they must be careful not to change history since this apple is the one that starts the story of Paris, Troy, and Helen of Sparta.
Since they already know in this case that Lust is on Mount Pelion, they think this fourth task should be easy, but this is far from the case, since Lust is hiding at a wedding that took place 1,300 years ago. Hermes helps them travel back in time but warns them not to change anything. At the wedding, they search for Lust, attempting not to draw attention to themselves, but when Lust appears, it is in the middle of the argument between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, meaning that Pandora cannot capture the evil discreetly. After a number of adventures, there is an unexpected twist at the end when one of the group's members actually dies, sacrificing herself to save her friends, leaving a satisfying but tragic ending.
Analysis
In the fourth book of the "Mythic Misadventures" series, the concept of time travel adds an even more contemporary feel to this new version of the Greek myths. Once again, Henessy displays her knack for making mythological events accessible and humorous, the tone rapidly becomes darker with the tragic death at the end of the book. This volume shows characters beginning to mature and it raises deeper questions about identity, responsibility for others, courage and sacrifice, as well as the often taboo subject of death. The finality of the latter is undercut somewhat, however, by the possibility of retrieving the character from the Underworld, which is set down in the final pages, leaving the reader with a sense of hope (and a desire to purchase the next book in the series).
