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Joan Holub , Suzanne Williams

Cassandra the Lucky (Goddess Girls, 12)

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United States of America

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Title of the work

Cassandra the Lucky (Goddess Girls, 12)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

Worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2013

First Edition Details

Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, Cassandra the Lucky (Goddess Girls, 12). New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, Aladdin Press, 2013, 256 pp.

ISBN

9781442488175 (paperback) / 9781442488199 (ebook)

Genre

Alternative histories (Fiction)
Bildungsromans (Coming-of-age fiction)
Fiction
Humor
Mythological fiction
Novels
School story*

Target Audience

Children (Older children, 8–12 years)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com 

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il 

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

Photo courtesy of Joan Holub.

Joan Holub , b. 1956
(Author)

Joan Holub is a prolific children's author from the USA. Graduated from college in Texas with a fine arts degree. Worked as an art director at Scholastic trade books in New York. She has written and/or illustrated over 150 children's books. She has developed a range of series for teenagers on mythological themes: Goddess Girls, set in Mount Olympus Academy, Grimmtastic Tales series, set in Grimm Academy, Thunder Girls, about Norse gods set in Asgard Academy, and Heroes in Training, in which the male Greek gods, as very young men, set out on a range of adventures. For pre-school children, Jan Holub has written on a range of topics including several works with religious and historical themes. These include: This Little President; This Little Trailblazer, Hooray for St. Patrick’s Day!, and Light the Candles: A Hanukkah Lift-the-Flap Book. Joan Holub trained in fine art and worked as an art director at a graphic design company before becoming a children's illustrator and then author.

 

Sources:

Official website (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the penguinrandomhouse.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the simonandschuster.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).



Bio prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk and Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com

Questionnaire

1. What drew you to writing / working with Classical Antiquity and what challenges did you face in selecting, representing, or adapting particular myths or stories?

I learned to love Greek and Norse mythology in elementary school. I’m very comfortable adapting the framework of an existing myth or fairy tale by pushing it into a different setting, adding humor, and/or building in a nonfiction component. Staying true to the essential core of each myth along the way is important to me. A young Goddess Girls reader once told me she enjoyed the series because she “learned something”. In other words, while she liked being entertained, she appreciated that her familiarity and factual understanding of the original myths was broadened at the same time. 


2. Why do you think classical / ancient myths, history, and literature continue to resonate with young audiences?

Kids have questions about their world. So it’s interesting to them to learn how ancient Greeks and other cultures answered questions about how their world worked in exciting tales of heroes and beasts. How did the sun cross the sky? In a chariot drawn by the god Helios. What caused night? The goddess Nyx’s starry cape covered the sky. Thrilling stories of courage and danger, such as Heracles’ twelve labors, the Trojan Horse, and the Argonauts never go out of style. 


3. Do you have a background in classical education (Latin or Greek at school or classes at the University?) What sources are you using? Scholarly work? Wikipedia? Are there any books that made an impact on you in this respect?

I have an entire shelf of mythology resource books. Some of my favorite go-to sources are the Scholastic Mythlopedia series, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, and www.theoi.com (accessed: May 28, 2018).


4. How concerned were you with "accuracy" or "fidelity" to the original? (another way of saying that might be – that I think writers are often more "faithful" to originals in adapting its spirit rather than being tied down at the level of detail – is this something you thought about?)

Each book in the Goddess Girls series (ages 8–12, Simon and Schuster) and Heroes in Training series (ages 7–10, Simon and Schuster) is a retelling of one or two Greek myths, with a twist. We stay as true as possible to the core bones of an original myth in order to give young readers a good understanding, but we include kid situations and humor to entertain. As an example, in Goddess Girls #1: Athena the Brain, Athena is summoned to attend Mount Olympus Academy, where Zeus is the principal. MOA teachers include Mr. Cyclops, who teaches Hero-ology, a class where students are graded on their abilities to maneuver small hero figures such as Odysseus, around a gameboard to enact the Trojan War, etc. Meanwhile, Athena, who is the goddess of invention among other things, inadvertently turns mean-girl Medusa’s hair to snakes and gives her the power to turn mortals to stone by means of a shampoo-like invention called Snakeypoo at the MOA invention fair.


5. Are you planning any further forays into classical material? 

Suzanne Williams and I have written a new middle grade series called Thunder Girls (accessed: May 28, 2018), which is a twist on Norse mythology featuring strong girl characters. The first book Freya and the Magic Jewel releases May 2018 for ages 8–12, published by Simon and Schuster. 


Prepared by Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Courtesy of the Author from her personal website.

Suzanne Williams , b. 1953
(Author)

Suzanne Williams is an American prolific children's author and former elementary school librarian. She has written over 60 books for children.

She grew up in Oregon and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s in library science from the University of Oregon. She currently lives in Reno, Washington.


Source: 

Official website (accessed: May 29, 2018).

 


Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com

Questionnaire

1. What drew you to writing / working with Classical Antiquity and what challenges did you face in selecting, representing, or adapting particular myths or stories?

Writing about Greek mythology was my co-author, Joan Holub’s idea. She's loved mythology since childhood. Her enthusiasm for the subject got me excited about it too. Goddess Girls (ages 8–12) was our very first collaboration. Soon there will be 26 books in that series. One of the challenges we’ve faced in writing our (soon to be four) myth-based series for young readers is how to handle the sexual and violent content of many of the myths. 

To downplay the violence, we often make it cartoonish and lighten it with humor. Since most of our gods and goddesses are pre-teens (as are our readers!), we deal with inappropriate sexual content by making changes that still allow us to keep to the spirit of the myth. For example: in introducing the Adonis myth, in which Aphrodite and Persephone fight over a beautiful youth they both desire, we decided to make Adonis a kitten, rather than a young man. 

Another challenge has involved familial relationships among the various gods and goddesses. In Goddess Girls, Zeus is an adult, the principal of Mount Olympus Academy, the school attended by our “goddessgirls” and “godboys”. In mythology he would likely have fathered a good portion of the student body! So we made a decision that only Athena would call him “Dad”. (Until Hebe popped forth from a lettuce in Book 21, that is.) We do acknowledge many other family relationships. For example: Apollo and Artemis as brother and sister. Medusa and her sisters Euryale and Stheno. Persephone and her mother, Demeter.

 

2. Why do you think classical / ancient myths, history, and literature continue to resonate with young audiences?

Myths have got all the elements that draw us to stories: action, conflict, drama, humor, etc. What’s not to like?


3. Do you have a background in classical education (Latin or Greek at school or classes at the University?) What sources are you using? Scholarly work? Wikipedia? Are there any books that made an impact on you in this respect?

Neither Joan nor I have a classical education. I did take an online Greek and Roman mythology class a few years ago, however. (Taught by Peter Struck, University of Pennsylvania.) Terrific class!

For our Greek mythology-based series, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology is the reference we rely on the most. My co-author and I do consult Wikipedia and other online resources, especially for lists of monsters and maps and general information about ancient Greece. References for Thunder Girls, our soon-to-be-published Norse mythology-based series include: The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths, Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow, The Poetic Edda (translated and edited by Jackson Crawford), and The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (Penguin Classics).


4. Are you planning any further forays into classical material?

In addition to Goddess Girls, my co-author and I have also collaborated on a second Greek mythology-based series called Heroes in Training (ages 6–9). It’s a humorous quest/adventure series with Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and other Olympians as ten-year-olds on the run from King Cronus and the Titans. Freya and the Magic Jewel, the first book in Thunder Girls, our Norse mythology-based series, publishes May 1, 2018. I travel to Norway frequently to visit my daughter, granddaughter, and Norwegian son-in-law, so I am very excited to be doing a Norse-myth series. Aladdin (Simon & Schuster) publishes all three of Joan’s and my mythology-based series. We will be doing a fourth myth-based series with them soon – for ages 5–8. Tentative title is Little Goddess Girls, and it will be another Greek myth-based series.


Prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Summary

General summary for the series see under Athena the Brain.

Cassandra is the daughter of Trojan royalty Priam and Hecuba. Along with her twin brother Helenus, she has the gift of foreseeing the future, and sells the fortunes as fortune cookies. Yet there is a problem with Cassandra’s prophecies: “Prophecies no one ever believed, unfortunately, despite their truth. Instead she was widely considered to be a liar [...]” (pp. 49–50). This was the result of a curse Apollo put on her when they were both little. Cassandra decides to send fortunes to Mount Olympus Academy in order to cause trouble, because she is angry with them for causing the Trojan War. So the Gods and Goddesses come to the Immortal Marketplace to build a magical carousel that Cassandra has foreseen. Athena puts the Trojan horse as one of the animals and Cassandra becomes even more upset. It emerges however that in fact the Immortals had no idea what they had done to Cassandra and the effect some of their choices had had on her life. They explain this to Cassandra and thus peace is restored between them.

Analysis

Having a talent no one recognizes or being thought you are a liar even though you tell the truth are situations children are very familiar with. Cassandra feels less loved than her siblings and that her talents are not recognized by her surroundings. She feels completely unappreciated.

Cassandra resents the goddesses because of their meddling which caused the Trojan War. Since she is upset, she believes the others lead a better and easier life than her. Yet in the end she finds out she and Apollo have a lot in common and that the immortals are not so bad. The theme of the book is to give people a chance and not to prejudge them because in so doing you can miss out on friendship.

Interestingly, the Trojan War is quite obscure. Cassandra is still hurt by it; yet “Everyone else in Cassandra’s family seemed to have gotten past the events of the Trojan War and the part the immortals had played in them” (pp. 285–286). This destructive nature of the war is played down, since in previous books it was seen that it happened due to a mistake the goddess girls made in one of their classes. Odysseus’ fate is also determined through a series of games and classes at the academy.

The entire concept that mythological events happed due to class exercises is an interesting twist, which removes the gravitas and pathos from the mythological epics (the Iliad and the Odyssey) and gives a new angle to view them; they are not exactly child’s play, but they are not as serious either. Making Homer an insecure aspiring author is also a refreshing take on the epic poet which makes him more human and accessible to the readers.

This book taught another lesson, namely that one has to learn to forgive, and understand others. Through the events of the novel, Cassandra learns to look past her own animosity and to hear the other person's side of the story before becoming angry. Thus the reader is shown that she learns to forgive and move on with her life, earning her happy ending.


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Title of the work

Cassandra the Lucky (Goddess Girls, 12)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

Worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2013

First Edition Details

Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, Cassandra the Lucky (Goddess Girls, 12). New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, Aladdin Press, 2013, 256 pp.

ISBN

9781442488175 (paperback) / 9781442488199 (ebook)

Genre

Alternative histories (Fiction)
Bildungsromans (Coming-of-age fiction)
Fiction
Humor
Mythological fiction
Novels
School story*

Target Audience

Children (Older children, 8–12 years)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com 

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il 

Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk

Photo courtesy of Joan Holub.

Joan Holub (Author)

Joan Holub is a prolific children's author from the USA. Graduated from college in Texas with a fine arts degree. Worked as an art director at Scholastic trade books in New York. She has written and/or illustrated over 150 children's books. She has developed a range of series for teenagers on mythological themes: Goddess Girls, set in Mount Olympus Academy, Grimmtastic Tales series, set in Grimm Academy, Thunder Girls, about Norse gods set in Asgard Academy, and Heroes in Training, in which the male Greek gods, as very young men, set out on a range of adventures. For pre-school children, Jan Holub has written on a range of topics including several works with religious and historical themes. These include: This Little President; This Little Trailblazer, Hooray for St. Patrick’s Day!, and Light the Candles: A Hanukkah Lift-the-Flap Book. Joan Holub trained in fine art and worked as an art director at a graphic design company before becoming a children's illustrator and then author.

 

Sources:

Official website (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the penguinrandomhouse.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the simonandschuster.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).



Bio prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk and Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Courtesy of the Author from her personal website.

Suzanne Williams (Author)

Suzanne Williams is an American prolific children's author and former elementary school librarian. She has written over 60 books for children.

She grew up in Oregon and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s in library science from the University of Oregon. She currently lives in Reno, Washington.


Source: 

Official website (accessed: May 29, 2018).

 


Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Summary

General summary for the series see under Athena the Brain.

Cassandra is the daughter of Trojan royalty Priam and Hecuba. Along with her twin brother Helenus, she has the gift of foreseeing the future, and sells the fortunes as fortune cookies. Yet there is a problem with Cassandra’s prophecies: “Prophecies no one ever believed, unfortunately, despite their truth. Instead she was widely considered to be a liar [...]” (pp. 49–50). This was the result of a curse Apollo put on her when they were both little. Cassandra decides to send fortunes to Mount Olympus Academy in order to cause trouble, because she is angry with them for causing the Trojan War. So the Gods and Goddesses come to the Immortal Marketplace to build a magical carousel that Cassandra has foreseen. Athena puts the Trojan horse as one of the animals and Cassandra becomes even more upset. It emerges however that in fact the Immortals had no idea what they had done to Cassandra and the effect some of their choices had had on her life. They explain this to Cassandra and thus peace is restored between them.

Analysis

Having a talent no one recognizes or being thought you are a liar even though you tell the truth are situations children are very familiar with. Cassandra feels less loved than her siblings and that her talents are not recognized by her surroundings. She feels completely unappreciated.

Cassandra resents the goddesses because of their meddling which caused the Trojan War. Since she is upset, she believes the others lead a better and easier life than her. Yet in the end she finds out she and Apollo have a lot in common and that the immortals are not so bad. The theme of the book is to give people a chance and not to prejudge them because in so doing you can miss out on friendship.

Interestingly, the Trojan War is quite obscure. Cassandra is still hurt by it; yet “Everyone else in Cassandra’s family seemed to have gotten past the events of the Trojan War and the part the immortals had played in them” (pp. 285–286). This destructive nature of the war is played down, since in previous books it was seen that it happened due to a mistake the goddess girls made in one of their classes. Odysseus’ fate is also determined through a series of games and classes at the academy.

The entire concept that mythological events happed due to class exercises is an interesting twist, which removes the gravitas and pathos from the mythological epics (the Iliad and the Odyssey) and gives a new angle to view them; they are not exactly child’s play, but they are not as serious either. Making Homer an insecure aspiring author is also a refreshing take on the epic poet which makes him more human and accessible to the readers.

This book taught another lesson, namely that one has to learn to forgive, and understand others. Through the events of the novel, Cassandra learns to look past her own animosity and to hear the other person's side of the story before becoming angry. Thus the reader is shown that she learns to forgive and move on with her life, earning her happy ending.


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