Year: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Orson Scott Card

Six-year old boy genius Ender (Andrew) Wiggin is selected for training at the Battle School. An elite force of soldiers is needed to protect humanity from invasion by an alien force, named the ‘Buggers,’ for their resemblance to insects. Ender’s intelligence includes an awareness of his light and dark sides, symbolised externally by his empathic sister, Valentine, and his sociopathic brother, Peter (both of whom have been rejected by the School). As he undergoes his training, E(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Alexander the Great Ancient Warfare Caesar Cicero Demosthenes Hero(es) Patriotism Rhetoric / Oratory Roman Empire

Wanda Markowska, Anna Milska

King Midas. A Greek Legend [Król Midas. Legenda grecka]

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.The myth about Midas is told in a very concise way, focusing on the consequences of excessive greed and conceit. It is a story with a moral and a message for children. Of all the things in the world, king Midas loved gold the mos(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Apollo Arcadia Dionysus / Dionysos Golden Touch Midas Nymphs

Lisl Weil

Of Witches and Monsters and Wondrous Creatures

In this informational picture book, Weil takes young readers on a tour of mythical creatures from around the world. She opens by explaining the role of mythical creatures as providing answers for the things that happen that cannot be explained. "Some of these creatures were good; some were bad. Some were like animals; some were like people . . . Every country, every different group of people, had their own wicked monsters and wondrous creatures that became a part of the stories that were to(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Ariadne Bacchus Cerberus Cyclops / Cyclopes Dionysus / Dionysos Dragons Dryades Heracles Hercules Minotaur Nymphs Odysseus / Ulysses Pegasus Phoenix (Bird) Sphinx Theseus Unicorn (hippos monokeras)

Shirow Masamune

Prometheus Unbound [プロメテウスの解放 (Purometeusu no kaihō)] (Appleseed [アップルシード, (Appurushīdo)], 2)

In the utopian city of Olympus, built on the ruin of a devastated world after WWIII, tension is rising between humans and Bioroids (enhanced humans). The city's high council of Bioroids develops a new plan, elpis, "a program for the optimization of the human race" (p. 50). This plan aims to regulate the bodies and minds of humans. The council elucidates its radical plan by saying that if they do not take action, "the earth will become an increasingly inhospitable place for man(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: Japan United States of America

TAGS: Athena Gaia / Gaea Olympus Prometheus

Margaret Mahy

The Catalogue of the Universe

In The Catalogue of the Universe, eighteen-year-old Christchurch teenagers Angela May and Tycho Potter have finished high school and are considering their futures. Angela lives in an isolated cottage on the hills near the city, with her single mother, Dido. Believing the stories Dido had told her about a doomed romance, Angela tracks down her absent father, Roland Chase, and confronts him, hoping to reunite them. She finds him to be a self-absorbed businessman, for whom his youthful affair with (...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Anaxagoras Anaximander Aristarchus of Samos Dido Heraclitus (of Ephesus) Parmenides Virgil

Anthony Horowitz , Tim Stevens

The Kingfisher Book of Myths and Legends

This is a collection of myths and legends from around the world, with a large Greek section near the beginning, told with a heavy dose of cynical humour. The Greek myths in particular seem to be aimed at an audience which has probably encountered the basics of the myth already at a younger age. Their focus is generally on human characters, with enough introductory information about the gods to understand their presence in the earlier chapters. The chapters are lightly illustrated with line drawi(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Achilles Actaeon Arachne Ariadne Athena Demeter Hades Heracles Medusa Narcissus Odysseus / Ulysses Oedipus Orpheus Pan Pandora Persephone Perseus Pyramus Syrinx Theseus

Alice Low , Arvis Stewart

The Macmillan Book of Greek Gods and Heroes

This is a collection of short, abbreviated retellings of Greek myth with bright and sometimes gory illustrations for children. It is divided into sections such as "Triumphs of the Gods", "The Heroes" and "Constellations".Academic Barry R. Katz’s afterword adds that myths "tell us how the Greeks understood the world before science, as we know it, existed" (p.179). He also discusses the difference between Greek and Roman myth, saying it is thanks to th(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Arachne Atalanta Athena Cassiopeia Castor Echo Europa Hera Heracles Io Jason Medea Narcissus Odysseus / Ulysses Oedipus Orion Perseus Pollux Theseus Zeus

Shirow Masamune

The Promethean Challenge [プロメテウスの挑戦 (Purometeusu no chōsen)] (Appleseed [アップルシード, Appurushīdo], 1)

In the aftermath of WWIII in the 22nd century (the story takes place between the years 2125–2127), the former civilized order has crushed and changed. Former soldiers and friends, Duenan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos (Bri) survive in abandoned cities in desolated places named “Badside”, trying to scrap a living. One day they are confronted by a young woman named Hitomi. She tells them she works for Aegis, the Central Management Bureau. Hitomi was sent from the governmen(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: Japan

TAGS: Athena Nike Olympus Prometheus

Cynthia Voigt

The Runner (Tillerman Cycle, 4)

The Runner is a prequel to the other Tillerman books (reviewed elsewhere in this survey). Set in 1967–1968, the novel focuses on Samuel ‘Bullet’ Tillerman in his final year at high school before signing up to go and fight in the Vietnam War. His siblings have already left the family home, leaving Bullet alone to deal with his abusive father and downtrodden mother, Abigail. At his recently desegregated school, Bullet, himself bigoted against black people, largely ignores ra(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Alexander the Great Aristotle Cyrus the Great Daedalus Fall of Rome Persian Empire Sisyphus Trojan War

Jerzy Pilikowski, Zbigniew Łoskot

Timocrates’ Sons [Synowie Timokratesa]

Rhodes, 201 BC, shortly before the end of the Second Punic War. The Rhodian city-state seems to be the last truly free Greek territory facing a significant threat to their free trade in the Mediterranean from the Macedonians, who are in alliance with Cretan pirates. Timokrates*, a wealthy merchant, leads his youngest son, 15-year-old Nikanor, to the port to join a trireme crew so that he could become a sailor and serve his city-state. His oldest son died in a naval battle, and the second one, Kr(...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Alexandria Ancient Slavery Cyclops / Cyclopes Helios Macedonia Pegasus Poseidon Punic Wars Rhodes Rhodians Zeus