Strong Stuff: Herakles and His Labors
Grade 2-4–This simplified version of the 12 labors of Hercules (Herakles as the Greeks called him) will delight young children with its gory stories. Each labor is allotted a spread with bright and bold illustrations featuring Herakles locked in mortal combat with the monster of the moment, accompanied by a chatty, humorous commentary. Reducing the complicated actions and themes of Greek myths is difficult, but the author handles it well. Each verso corner has a How's that again? box with a guide to pronunciation of major characters and places, and the endpapers offer a map of Greece that shows the main locations of the labors. The illustrations, while cartoonish, nevertheless faithfully reproduce the salient points of each incident. A fun look at an ancient hero.–Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.