Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
[Baby Professor], Greek Mythology for Kids: From the Gods to the Titans, Baby Professor. Newark: Speedy Publishing, 2015, 32 pp.
ISBN
Genre
Instructional and educational works
Myths
Picture books
Target Audience
Children (Young children)
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
Baby Professor Series (Author, Illustrator)
The Baby Professor series is an imprint of general interest trade publisher Speedy Publishing. The Baby Professor series specialises in fun educational works for children. It covers many subjects including science and history (with works on topics such as the human body and the Great Depression), the natural world, space and geography. The emphasis is on creating visually attractive books that will entice the young readers.The historical books in the series include: Empress Wu: Breaking and Expanding China; The History of the Inca Empire; and Everything you Need to Know about the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire in One Fat Book; What Happened to Pompeii; and Athena: The Goddess with Grey Eyes.
Source:
Profile at amazon.com (accessed: January 20, 2020)
Prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com
Summary
This book opens with a short introductory paragraph which says that the Olympians ruled after overthrowing the Titans and then each page is dedicated to a different deity, featuring a photo of the god or titan’s statue on one page and a short biographical text on the corresponding page. The gods featured in this book are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Ares (thereby excluding Dionysus, Demeter and Artemis), and the Titans are Oceanus, Prometheus, Atlas and Themis.
Analysis
This book aims to present various Greek gods and Titans to young readers, and does not follow chronological order, from Titans to gods. The information provided on the different gods is their sphere of power ("king of the gods” the rule over bodies of water) and their weapons.
The photos used are not ancient sculptures or vase paintings but later renditions of the gods, for example from renaissance or baroque fountains. Some of the photos are perplexing. For example, for Hades the chosen photo depicts a monstrous, almost demonic being, with curly horns and long teeth, not a human being at all. The accompanying text says that Hades was the ruler of the underworld and had a three-headed dog, therefore there is no explanation for this image, unless the creators only tried to link the underworld with a demonic and frightening image.
The image for Hera is also perplexing. It shows the head of a youth, whose gender is unclear, covered with leaves like a some kind of nature divinity (similar to a Green Man); there is nothing that connects the image to Hera. Similarly, for Aphrodite, an angel statue was chosen.
Perhaps the most unconventional of them all is the photo of Apollo, who is represented by a headless statue, because the head seems to have been cut off during the production of the book, leaving the god’s lower body from the neck down including male frontal genitalia. I presume there was a problem in the production. I have not found any reviews on this matter except for one which discuses inappropriate pictures in the book and refers to Zeus’ image, which is also naked yet conceals his private parts (see here, accessed: January 20, 2020).
The book offers brief information about the ancient Greek gods and Titans and can serve as a very general introduction to learning about Greek divinities. There is no explanation about the difference between gods and Titans. Discretion is advised due to some of the photos as shown above.
