Mythology Books

Kadir Nelson's beautiful, realistic, vivid human illustrations capture the period, the setting, the wonder and the magic of Big Jabe. With his feats, Big Jabe also reminds one of Krishna as a boy. The powerful antislavery message could not have a better children's fiction spokesman than the giant-of-heart Big Jabe. Fiction, with its hyperboles and suspension of disbelief, often is truer than truth, and Big Jabe. rings with sincerity.

This story is a rather original tall tale that revolves around the lives of slaves who live on a plantation. You will never look at another pear tree the same way after your read this story! It will remind you, somewhat, of the tale of Paul Bunyan.

Big Jabe is the story of how a child found floating down the river becomes a hero and savior of his people during the time of slavery. Jabe is found by Addy as she is out fishing at the river for her master. When Addy shows kindness to him, he rewards her by giving her the biggest catch of fish she has ever had. Not only does Jabe help Addy, but within a season's time, the boy Jabe grows to be a full gtown man who can do the work of twenty. He assists all the slaves in doing their tasks and before long, the master's slaves suddenly begin to disappear. In this tall tale Nolen has weaved examples from Biblical stories and other legendary tall tales like Johnny Appleseed and John Henry. The bright watercolor paintings done by the illustrator enhance the story's beauty and brings all of the characters in Nolen's Big Jabe to life. Once again, Nolen has a winner on her hands!

I am in the process of reading the book. It is very interesting. I just bought a Black Mouth Cur puppy and the book was recommended on the American Black Mouth Cur website.

I grew up in East Texas and have lived around the Big Thicket all my life. As a child, I heard my grandfather and his brother tell tales of the bears and "panthers" they had hunted in the early 1900's. I picked this book up one afternoon and began to skim it, and I was hooked within minutes. I couldn't put it down. In the 60's and 70's the authors interviewed many older residents of the Big Thicket area, allowing the old-timers to simply relate their rememberances, from the 1860's on up into the oil boom and logging days of the early 20th century. The dialect is distinct, and the authors do a good job of conveying the pronunciation. The stories these people tell of the hardships and yet the wonder of living in a true wilderness is simply fascinating. If you have any interest in the Big Thicket area of Texas, or if you just enjoy tales of life in the "wild and wooly days", then you will certainly enjoy these stories. It's truly a wonder that these folks survived the hard life and wild animals! My wife and I were so enthralled with these stories,that we found time a few days later to drive over and visit some of the remaining thicket, near Saratoga, TX.

Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by lifelong naturalists Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, Big Thicket Legacy is a compendium of engaging and informative anecdotes about life and living in the Big Thicket country, which is a nearly impassable area of Texas territory that only a few pioneers dared to brave. In those days, only the heartiest of individuals and families could call a place within the heart of the Big Thicket home; their tales have become a part of Texas folklore, and in Big Thicket Legacy are preserved to available to the general reading public, thereby recounting a very special experienced wisdom for new generations of Texans.

This is a fantastic reference guide. Grimal does a wonderful job of giving you a background on all sorts of mythological creatures, characters and other stuff. He doesn't give just a one or two sentence definition, but rather adjusts the length of the definition to the importance / significance of the subject matter. If you're looking to buy a classical dictionary, you need not look any further than this one!

I bought this for my classics class at university and it is fabulous!! The information helps me to learn the background of characters as I am new to this subject and it is great to have a helping hand!
You can get some of these pages online but it is so much easier to flick through it in person, I totally recommend buying this.

I recently became intersted in Greek and Roman mythology. This is a great book for anyone who wants to get more information on this great subject! If you want an awesome book and the gods and goddesses of the past, then buy this book!

Ranging from ancient history to the present, this wonderfully comical book with its superbly hilarious illustrations present episodes from the lives of famous people who needed a "time out" when they did things which upset others. Not meant entirely to be a history lesson, it is instead a book that introduces to children the notion that even famous and powerful people have had to have "time outs" for behaving badly. Such a refreshing notion for today's world, and perhaps required reading for every military dictator, president and prime minister.

The Book of Time Outs is a lively examination of bad behavior to which we humans are so inclined. I wish my mother had given me this to read during a time out instead of the Bible.

In this absolutely hilarious book, children and parents alike are treated to a "Who's Who?" list of troublemakers, beginning all the way back with the Carthaginian General, Hannibal, and ending with Rosa Parks, who got a time out for doing something that wasn't even really wrong!

Deb Lucke presents each character, from Christopher Columbus to Johann Sebastian Bach to Babe Ruth, as people who made mistakes -- and had to pay the price by getting a time out! There's a lesson to be learned in each short story, whether it be the importance of telling the truth or the fact that it's a bad idea to be a marauding pirate, and it's all done with humour and in a way that's easy for kids to understand.

This isn't a book that tells youngsters it's okay to do something they know is wrong, but it is a book that tells them that everyone makes mistakes. And, sometimes, the only way to make up for those mistakes is with a good old-fashioned time out!

This is one title that's sure to be a winner for all ages!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

There has never been a time when I did not adore this book, largely for the amazing illustrations. I loved it when I was little to the point of obsession.

A few years ago, I rediscovered the book and was incredibly surprised at how little text and story there actually was. It must have dug itself so deeply into my imagination that I invented all sorts of events around the images and wonderful story. I remember being frightened, excited, happy... It had everything a budding bookworm could ever desire. Even though it was not as elaborate as I remembered, it holds a special place on my shelf and it always will.

This is a beautiful version of this classic tale. The artwork is stunning and the story flows seamlessly. I remember reading this tale in a large storybook as a child. I was fairly young and I remember it disturbed me. So I wouldn't recommend this for very young children.

For those who don't know, it is about a boy, who likes to draw cats, living in a village and sent to a temple to become a priest because there are too many mouths to feed at home and he's not much good at anything but drawing. He draws cats everywhere inside the temple, including on the walls. One night he tucks himself into a closet to sleep, and begans to hear terrible noises outside of the closet, which last most of the night. In the morning, he emerges from the closet to find a gigantic dead goblin-rat, as big as a cow. And the fangs and claws of his cat pictures are covered with blood because they came to life to save his life. This is a pretty great folktale but probably not for very little children.

The Boy Who Drew Cats is a little hard to classify; it is both a ghost story and a monster story. I first read this story when I was about ten years old, and I have never forgotten it. This is a great story for Halloween, and a wonderful story if you love cats. It's sure to make you appreciate your own feline companion.

I am a personal friend of the author Lisa Lipkin is not only a great story teller, she haswritten a wonderful book that shows us how we too can learn to spin a great yarn, and more importantly, why we should. Storytelling for Lisa is a mission to bring families closer together and at the same time fuel their creative imaginations. Now, whenever my children ask me to tell them a story I use some of Lisa's fun and easy suggestions to help them make up their own. For instance, when we are sitting around the dinner table I ask them to pretend they are a fork and ask them what it is like to be a fork. They love it. It really gets them thinking or as Lisa would say, "strenghthens their imaginative muscle".

In addition, Bringing the Story Home is chock-full of anecdotal information, references from other sources as well as stories from her personal experiences performing in workshops across the country. I highly recommend this book to parents who want to strengthen their familial bond and inspire their children's creativity.

This book is an easy, entertaining read and a reminder of the profound importance of family members TALKING to each other. Storytelling, and storymaking, allow kids and parents to express real feelings to one another and grapple with difficult issues all while PLAYING a game! In addition, she gives you lots of stories and story starters; this was lots of fun to read.

I'm not a parent but I do work with kids. I'm pretty sure that if you try this book, you'll like it. I've already purchased two copies for friends of mine with children!

I bought this book while on vacation with my three young children. In the moments of tiredness or boredom, when my children usually start to fight with each other, I quickly tried some of the simple activities described in the book. To my amazement, the children loved every minute of it, turning what would have been exasperating times for all of us, into wonderful, giggle filled vacation memories. I needed no crayons, no gagdets, no batteries. We had blue sky, each other and our imaginations.

This book is a wonderfully entertaining read, with exquisite excerpts from many sources, and tons of ideas on how to uncover our inner creativity through the age old craft of storytelling.

It is hard to write reviews for Lang's fairy tale books which are as unique as each collection. The Brown Fairy Book once again has tales from many cultures. Included tales are: How Some Wild Animals Became Tame Ones, Story of the King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate, The Mermaid and the Boy, The Sister of the Sun, Which Was The Foolishest?, and many others. I always enjoy the illustrations, too, although some children are disappointed they are black and white drawings.

For some odd reason, this has to be one of my favorite editions of Andrew Lang's collection. I'm not sure why. But as always, we get a good, varying dose of excellent fairy tales from different countries, bettered by the fact that these tales are little known. So, yep, I recommend this for all collectors and those who just plain love a good fairy tale.

A Beautifully illustrated collection of fairy tales from different cultures, its refreshing to read tales that aren't just european. When I first bought it I was very disappointed that they weren't the traditional French, German, and English fairy tales but after reading them I found them to be compelling and beautiful. These tales are imaginative, strange, beautiful, wistful, and gorgous. The illustrations are wonderful, they stand in a class of their own. Modern illustrators should use them as inspiration.

This book is so cool! Anybody who hasn't read this needs to!!!!

This is a wonderfully fun book for little adventurers (and their parents too)! This large book contains fourteen two-page foldouts, approx. 14 inches high by 19 inches across, and each picture is packed with informative, and often humorous, images, labels and text, surrounded by a decorative border. The fourteen "maps and sketches of lost worlds and mysterious places" are: the Garden of Eden; Atlantis; Noah's Ark; the Tower of Babel; Ancient Egypt, depicting the construction of a necropolis for Ramses II; King Solomon's Mines; Homer's Odyssey; Man Against Woman, showing a gladiatorial combat between men and women that took place in Pompeii two days before it was destroyed by Vesuvius; the Seven Cities of Gold; Sherwood Forest inhabited by Robin Hood and his merry men; King Arthur and his knights; Genghis Khan and the Great Wall of China; Dracula's castle; and Conan Doyle's Dinosaur Island.

Each pre-folded out page has several paragraphs of explanatory text that are intriguing and funny. A flat magnifier is attached to the book by a ribbon. The end pages show maps, explorer's tools and silly photographs of the author on his treks, while the book cover looks like Prof. Al Lorenz's travel-worn satchel.

This is a fun concept-book, well-executed and a pleasure for readers (of any age) who are adventurers at heart.

The illustrations in this book are phenomenal!

I boughtthis book and I don't even have children!

The level of detail in theillustrations is staggering, and one will be drawn to the book again,as there is always something new to discover.

I applaud thecreators and hope that there will be more good things to come.

Eric Kimmel gives new life to the same old hum drum fairytales! His charecters truly come to life...my husband and I find oursleves reading with crazy new voices we didn't realize we had. My children love that they recognize the story, but that it also has a new twist. Big faves at our house include Cactus Soup (Stone soup), The Runaway Tortilla (The Gingerbread Man), and The Three Cabritos (The Three Billy Goats Gruff). These tales are fun for the adult readers, as well as the kiddoes...for Kimmels great commentary on those with a "small world-view" check out Pumpkinhead. Great tales, with great lessons!

Cactus Soup by Eric Kimmel takes the timeless tale of Stone Soup and injects a Mexican flavor. The text is arranged into short passages that are easy to read and follow. The Spanish language that is native to the characters in the story is woven into the story. The Spanish is presented in a way that is easy to identify the meaning. For readers who still struggle with the meaning of the words, they can flip to the back of the book and find a glossary.
Kimmel has written his book in a way that has readers eager to flip the page. First he presents a problem, such as a hungry army coming to town who will eat all the food, and then he has the townspeople solve the problem. For every problem that is presented, the reader is anxious to flip the page and see the solution.
The beautiful illustrations by Phil Huling capture the feel of the Mexican Revolution time period. Huling uses reds, yellows, and greens to portray the vivid colors common to the Mexican culture. While the pictures exaggerate the actions taking place in the story, they still follow the plot line and allow the reader to get a comprehensive view of the book.
Since Cactus Soup is a variation of Stone Soup, the characters are predictable, yet still likeable. The mayor looks out for the needs of his people. He takes a misguided, yet authoritarian approach in his attempt to do this. The townspeople first follow the directions of their leader and then later enthusiastically help the captain of the army make the cactus soup.
The captain solves the problem of no food, without asking the townspeople for food they claim not to have. He craftily gets the townspeople to volunteer food in an attempt to improve the taste of the cactus soup. He teaches the townspeople (and readers) the valuable lessons of sharing and working together for a common purpose.

Cactus Soup tells the story of a town that doesn't want to share its food with a small approaching army. But in the end, the captain gets the whole town to "make" his famous cactus soup. I like the quote, "Why ask for what you don't have?" You'll feel like eating Mexican after reading this book! I especially like the "stretched" illustrated characters. Muy bien!

I've been searching for a dictionary of Greek/Roman mythology for some time now. Have come across a number and have snapped up some of them. All were inadequate, until I came across Jenny March's volume. I could almost say my search is over.

Thus far I have _Dictionary of Mythology_ by Bergen Evans, _The Encyclopedia of the Gods_ by Michael Jordan (nah!, can't be the basketball star), and _Who's Who in Classical Mythology_ by Adrian Room. I've enumerated them in order of usefulness. Don't even consider Evans' book. For most of the entries you get less than a paragraph of description. Either he isn't knowledgeable enough or the publisher was trying to save on paper (newsprint for that matter!). On the other hand I have doubts about Jordan's credibility since he makes the mistake of saying that Salus was a god, when in fact she's a goddess. I even perpetuated his error in my paper!

At over 800 pages Dr. March's dictionary is extensive and in depth in its coverage. Complete opposite of the Evans title. For most entries March gives a great synopsis of the tales particular to that character, and even informs the reader when variants of the story exists. In the appendices her book even includes a family tree of the gods. Quite handy as a graphical aid to see which deity came from whom. As a bonus there's a glossary of geographical names and list of Greek and Latin authors.

And to top it off the book is attractive both inside and out. When I first saw it I knew instinctively it had a European flavor, and indeed it is published in England. Cassell has certainly taken time and effort to produce a worthy reference. I find the font they've used for the main text very pleasing, conducive to reading and the subject matter at hand. I take pride in displaying this opus on top of my desk.

Am not too savvy of this subject but the one deity thus far that isn't in March's work is Salus. She's the goddess of health, but somehow she wasn't included by the author. Too little info on this goddess perhaps?

Jenny March has here created what is surely the definitive book on Greco-Roman mythology. The dictionary is incredibly thorough and well-written; but fiercely accurate without any romanticising gloss or faux-biblical style. The text is interpersed with sometimes haunting images from ancient art - such as the Athenian pottery painting showing Heracles journeying across dark oceans in the golden bowl belonging to Helios.
If you are into Greek and Roman mythology (actually it seems the Romans pinched most of their mythology from the Greeks), then here they are in all their primitive glory, local variant stories and all. I find this book especially good for re-reading, with many entries I have never even heard of.

I own a lot of classical mythology books, mainly Grecian ones. Out of all those books, I surely love this one. It is very in depth and gives a very extensive background on a subject. It also has recommendations on books to read (like Hesiod's Theogony) for certain characters. I think it's is the ulimate mythology guide!!! There's a map of the Mediterranean and Greece so you will know where places like Rhodes and Ephesus are located. It also has a genealogy of certain lineages including the Gods, and the House of Troy, Athens, Thebes, etc.