Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Cynthia Voigt

A Solitary Blue tells the story of Jeff Greene, a character first introduced in Dicey’s Song (1982). When Jeff is seven, his mother Melody abandons him, purportedly to devote herself to helping others. Meanwhile Jeff’s father, an academic known as the Professor, is distant and seemingly uncaring. From an early age Jeff is accustomed to feeding both himself and his father, experiencing extreme anxiety lest his father become unhappy. Jeff becomes ill as a result of being negl(...)

literary

YEAR: 1983

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Horace Venus

Maggie Rudy

City Mouse, Country Mouse

In this retelling of the famous fable of Aesop, Tansy mouse (a country mouse) makes friends with William Mouse (a city mouse) when she mistakes the end of his tail for a fuzzy grey caterpillar in her strawberry patch. Over a meal of strawberries, William tells Tansy about the excitement of the city. Tansy tells him the country is better and shows him her world. "Just smell the freshness!" (p. 6). As the sun gets low, Will says he must be going, and he invites Tansy to come with him. &q(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aesop’s Fables Horace

Tom Schulman, Peter Weir

Dead Poets Society

The action starts in the fall of 1959 when a new English teacher (a former student), John Keating, arrives at the Welton Academy – a very conservative boarding prep school for boys in Vermont, New England. His unorthodox teaching methods are meant to inspire students to think critically, become individuals and make their lives extraordinary. The Latin expression Carpe diem soon becomes the mantra for a group of boys who are fascinated with Keating’s approach to life. When they find o(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1989

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Bacchus Horace Latin (Language) Plato Poetry

Julian Tuwim

Frogs the Latinists [Żaby łacinniczki] / Latin [Łacina]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.In Żaby łacinniczki [Frogs the Latinists] the poet extends his thanks to frogs for their spirit-lifting croaking which he claims to be done in Latin. It is a twelve-verse poem based on the humorous similarity of sound between Lat(...)

literary

YEAR: 1930

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Catiline Horace Latin (Language) Rome Virgil

Jerzy Ciechanowicz, Barbara Milewska-Waźbińska

Impluvius and Compluvius among Sarmatians [Impluvius et Compluvius apud Sarmatas]

Impluvius et Compluvius apud Sarmatas is an amusing story about the journey of two brave Roman soldiers, Impluvius and Compluvius, from Rome to Sarmatia and back again, on the order of Tiberius Claudius Maximus – a fictional emperor of their contemporary world.On their way to the barbarian Sarmatia, outside of the civilized oikoumene known to Romans, they pass through Assisi, Ancona, Padua, Budapest, go outside the Limes, traverse the Tatras, reach Cracow, and eventually, Warsaw, where the(...)

literary

YEAR: 1991

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Architecture Gladiator Games Horace Latin (Language) Laurel Wreath Neptune Ovid Roman Empire Rome Virgil

Małgorzata Musierowicz

Jeżyciad (Series) [Jeżycjada]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.Jeżycjada is a saga about the life of succeeding generations of families from a district in Poznań, Jeżyce. It began in December 1975. Most of the volumes highlight the problems of adolescence and early adulthood for girls from t(...)

literary

YEAR: 1977

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Aristophanes Aspasia Cyclops / Cyclopes Great Fire of Rome Homer Horace Hydra Hypatia Ides of March Jupiter Laocoön Group Latin (Language) Lotus Eaters / Lotophagoi Marcus Aurelius Nero Ovid Pyrrhus of Epirus Roman History Seneca Sibyl Socrates Styx Virgil Wedding Traditions (Greek and Roman)

Philippe Lagautrière, Michel Piquemal

Philo-Fables. 60 Fables with Questions, Points and Keywords [Les Philo-Fables. 60 Fables accompagnées de questions, de repères et de mots-clés]

A collection of fables and tales from European philosophy, mythology, Eastern wisdom, popular tradition of many countries. All stories are similarly structured. Each fable is followed by an indication of source and then by a modern explanation of the moral entitled In the Philosopher’s Workshop (Dans l’atelier du philosophe). The key-words for each story are placed on the upper margin. Words considered difficult for the child reader are explained in footnotes, e. g. *Parabole: p(...)

literary

YEAR: 2003

COUNTRY: France

TAGS: Aesop Alexander the Great Antigone Damocles Diogenes Gyges Horace Midas Narcissus Ovid Plato Pliny the Younger Socrates Sophocles

Joseph Rudyard Kipling

Regulus

An introductory note preceding the story explains that the Roman general Regulus, about whom Horace wrote the Ode 3, 5, was captured by Carthaginians and then sent to Rome to negotiate on their behalf. Regulus convinced the Senate not to negotiate with his captors, knowing well that in retaliation, they would torture and kill him. At United Services College in Westward Ho!, the Latin teacher Mr. King asks Fifth Form students to prepare for the entry exam to military colleges to translate th(...)

literary

YEAR: 1917

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Horace Latin (Language) Patriotism Regulus Roman Virtues

Biblioteczka Filomaty , Jerzy Drzewiecki

The Freedman’s Son. The Life of Quintus Horatius Flaccus [Syn wyzwoleńca. Żywot Quintusa Horatiusa Flaccusa]

Little Quintus lives in Venusia, in rural Apulia, on the southern Adriatic shore (on the heel of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula). His father, a freedman, decides to choose a school for him in Rome where nobody knows him and where he would be spared mocking or bullying because of his father’s origin, which would be unavoidable at a local school. The boy is very excited and grateful to him. In Rome, despite the harsh educational methods favoured by his teacher, Orbilius, Quintus wants to (...)

literary

YEAR: 1935

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Cicero Horace Maecenas Octavian Poetry Rome Virgil

Jan Parandowski

The Mediterranean Hour [Godzina śródziemnomorska]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.A collection of thirteen texts* containing personal memories and author’s reflections on the Mediterranean world, particularly on the legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome. The selection presents famous scholars studying ancien(...)

literary

YEAR: 1949

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Ancient Greece Archilochus Caesar Cicero Homer Horace Odysseus / Ulysses Proteus Roman Empire Rome Virgil

Natalia Rolleczek, Zbigniew Łoskot

The Splendid and the Most Splendid [Świetna i najświetniejsza]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp.Tyche, the goddess of destiny plays with the fate of two Greek siblings, Apion and Ammonia who meet two young Egyptian boys Enum and Uni; the former is the son of a distressed dignitary Theta, the latter lives his life in poverty(...)

literary

YEAR: 1979

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Aeneid Alexandria Anagnorisis Aphrodite Apollo Arachne Caesar Circe Cleopatra VII Egypt Herodotus Homer Horace Iliad Library of Alexandria Mark Antony Mercury Odysseus / Ulysses Odyssey Orpheus Poseidon Tyche

Cynthia Voigt

The Tillerman Cycle (Series)

The Tillerman Cycle follows the lives of four siblings – Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy Tillerman – abandoned by their parents and in search of a new home. Over the course of seven novels, spanning nearly a decade in the children’s lives, Voigt explores themes of family, home, resilience, and the relationship between individuals and society. Brief summaries of the novels are included below; for more detailed summaries, see the individual entries elsewhere in the OMC survey.Hom(...)

literary

YEAR: 1981

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Alexander the Great Ancient Greek Dance Apollo Aristotle Circe Cyrus the Great Daedalus Dryades Fall of Rome Hippocratic Oath Homer Horace Icarus Lotus Eaters / Lotophagoi Nemesis Odysseus / Ulysses Odyssey Orion Penelope Persian Empire Phaethon Pleiades Polyphemus Scylla Sisyphus Trojan War Venus

Kathrin Schärer

The Town-Mouse and the Country-Mouse [Die Stadtmaus und die Landmaus]

The town-mouse visits the country-mouse. She is scared of the cows and the rooster, dislikes the smell of the pigs and the wheat field stubble hurts her paws, but she loves the stars of the night sky, the food and the sunrise. Then the country-mouse visits the town-mouse. She is scared by the speed of the city, overwhelmed by the business and smells of the supermarket and frightened by a dog. She also is not used to eating so much. So her friend takes her to quieter streets and shows her the lig(...)

literary

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Aesop’s Fables Horace

Jess Stockham

Town Mouse, Country Mouse

In this lift-the flap picture book for young readers, Jess Stockham tells the story of a mouse who lives in the country and invites her cousin from the town to visit. She promises picnics and swimming in the river. Eager for fresh air, her cousin comes. He arrives on his skateboard, and the cousins greet one another. It is time for lunch. The country mouse shows how to find nuts and berries. But the nuts are too dry, and the berries too bitter for the town mouse, who pulls a face and asks for su(...)

literary

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Aesop Aesop’s Fables Horace