Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Krystyna Kreyser

Following the Myths of Ancient Greece and Rome [Śladami mitów starożytnej Grecji i Rzymu]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue (accessed: June 16, 2021), Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp., section by Barbara Krcha, pp. 150–152. The stories explain how Greek and Roman myths are reflected in the order of the world, natural phenomena, and in the calendar. The author discusses anc(...)

literary

YEAR: 1992

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Adonis Aeolus Andromeda Apollo Argos / Argus Panoptes (Giant) Atlas Bellerophon Cassiopeia Cepheus Cerberus Chiron / Cheiron Cyane Cycnus Daphne Dionysus / Dionysos Echo Europa Fortuna Helle Heracles Hercules Hyades Icarus Jupiter Mars Midas Narcissus Neptune Orion Ouranos / Uranus Pegasus Perseus Phaethon Phrixus Picus Pleiades Pluto / Plouton Poseidon Saturn Talos (Perdix) Tantalus Theseus Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Venus Vulcan Zeus

Tonya Alexandra

Nymph (The Love Oracles, 1)

Merope is a Star Nymph, the youngest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid nymph Pleione. After rejecting the offer to take Orion as her consort, Merope is banished from Olympus to a small Greek island. She meets Lukas, a local teenager, and although they are not aware of it until much later, the pair are struck by Eros’ arrows and fall passionately in love.Olympian law strictly forbids a relationship between a goddess and a mortal man, though Merope recognises the (...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Heracles Homeric Hymns Merope Orion Ovid Pleiades Prometheus

Emma Chichester Clark, Geraldine McCaughrean

Orchard Book of Roman Myths

This is a retelling of Roman myths, meant for ages 9–12, that takes the readers through a fantastic journey of cultural transition, from Troy to Rome. It combines some tales of Greek mythology with Roman myths (Romulus and Remus, the Sibylline prophecies, Tages, Camillus, Lara, the Sabine Women, Aeneas). The chapters of the book are as follows:Introduction: explains how the Romans translated the Greek gods, creating their own mythology where the main concept was "duty". 1) T(...)

literary

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Aeneas Apollo Baucis Camillus Carthage Ceres Diana Dido Endymion Erysichthon Falernus Ganymede Gaul Italia Juno Jupiter Lara Lares Liber Mars Mercury Nymphs Olympians Orion Philemon Pleiades Remus Rhea Silvia Rome Romulus Sabine Women She-wolf Sibylline Books Sirius Tages Tarchon Tarquin the Proud Tiber Troy Veii Venus Vesta Vulcan

Cynthia Voigt

Sons From Afar (Tillerman Cycle, 6)

Sons from Afar (1987) is the only Tillerman novel that focuses on two main characters, with the perspective alternating between James Tillerman and his younger brother Sammy. As they go through adolescence, the brothers (James in particular) struggle to cope with the lack of a father figure and begin a quest to find out more about their father, Francis Verricker. They visit Francis’s former schoolteachers and discover that their father was a gambler and a cheat. Eventually, the boys&r(...)

literary

YEAR: 1987

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Apollo Homer Icarus Lotus Eaters / Lotophagoi Orion Penelope Phaethon Pleiades Scylla Sisyphus

Diana Wynne Jones

The Game

Orphan Hayley Foss lives with her grandparents on the outskirts of London. Homeschooled under the strict control of her grandmother, she lives a lonely and isolated existence. She is not allowed to play with other children, and is only permitted to leave the house to accompany the maid on errands. When he is at home, her grandfather shows her amazing things in his study; from computers and televisions that monitor the daily news, to maps of the world and the solar system. He tells her about the (...)

literary

YEAR: 2008

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Atlas Harmonia Hermes Jupiter Maenads Merope Pleiades Sisyphus Titans Trojan War Troy

May O'Brien, Susan Wyatt

The Legend of the Seven Sisters: A Traditional Aboriginal Story from Western Australia

In her story of the Seven Sisters legend, May O’Brien dedicates this traditional Aboriginal story to the descendants of the Wongutha people who came to live at Mount Margaret Mission in Western Australia. Beginning with “Long, Long ago when only Aboriginal people lived in Australia” there were “small men…Yayarrs” who walked all over the country. These small men would leave Earth and travel up and down the Milky Way, coming back to Earth and landing on a speci(...)

nonclassical

YEAR: 1990

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Creation Myths Indigenous Myths Pleiades

Reggie Sultan

The Seven Sisters

This story reveals how the stars of the Seven Sisters visited the earth and asked the Milky Way to bring them down in a creek in the desert, where they were turned into people. Seven hunters showed them the emus, goannas (monitor lizards) and the blackbirds. It was the first time the sisters had seen human men. The hunters showed the sisters where to collect plant food in their coolamons (carved wooden dishes for carrying food and small babies). At night time six of the sisters jumped onto the M(...)

nonclassical

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Creation Myths Indigenous Myths Pleiades

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

Brett Bean , Lucy Coats

The Unicorn Emergency (Beasts of Olympus, 8)

This is the eighth and final book in the Beasts of Olympus series. Pandemonius (or Demon as he is most commonly referred to in the series) is the 11 years old son of the god Pan and the mortal Carys. Demon is the official beast keeper of the Olympic gods and it is his responsibility to take care of the various beasts. In this story, Demons returns from Asgard and then enters a deep sleep, during which he prays for Morpheus to help the mad wolf Fenrir to find peace. Morpheus agrees but warns Demo(...)

literary

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Artemis Electra Hades Hephaestus Morpheus Norse Mythology Pan Pleiades Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon