All in the Family: A Look-it-Up Guide to the In-laws, Outlaws, and Offspring of Mythology (Mythlopedia)
Greek and Roman mythology is normally one of the easier sells for children, full of proto-superheroes, nightmarish monsters, and petty gods, but to help lure those unswayed by classicism’s allure, the Mythlopedia series spices things up with sassy artwork, a pastel color scheme, and an OMG sensibility. All in the Family! provides profiles of the wide pantheon of complicatedly related non-Olympian heroes and mortals, from Achilles (“I quit! I never wanted to fight in that stupid Trojan War anyway”) to Theseus (“Killing that bull-headed freakshow was no big deal. I was all, take that! And that!”). Aside from the heaps of information coming from all angles on just about every page, each book also contains a decent family tree, a rudimentary star chart, and lists of further reading. Will these books make a true mythology lover’s skin crawl? Absolutely. But for kids unconvinced that anything so old and gray could have any bearing on their lives, these books provide a feisty if somewhat pandering guide to the many cultural references lingering from antiquity. Grades 4-7. --Ian Chipman