Tales From The Odyssey

Brave Odysseus is far from home, tossed by stormy seas, and cursed by an angry one-eyed giant. If he ever wants to see his family again, he will have to face hungry cannibals, outwit a beautiful witch, and sail past a six-headed serpent. His journey is the ultimate test of endurance and courage.In this exciting series, best-selling author Mary Pope

Osborne retells Homer's *Odyssey*, one of the most thrilling adventure stories of all time.

## Book Reviews

**Literature for Kids:** "After making a rather poor selection for my grandson of an accessible children’s book about the Odyssey, I just stumbled on this amazing series by Mary Pope Osborne, and cannot praise them enough. In each children’s book of the series, she has taken the essence of each of the major stories/events in the classic Odyssey and rewritten them in simple, elegant, and clear language, allowing children of any age to encounter this classic. Her series has six separate children’s books in it, and they are not actually in the same order as the original Odyssey. For example, Book 5 contains the opening scenes of Telemachus and Penelope. However, if the purpose is to allow children to enjoy the stories on their own, the order doesn’t really impact the reader as much.The other aspect of these books is that the goriness of some of the original is toned down so that younger children can read the books without nightmares. To be honest, I only read book 4 and book 5, but my guess is that the other books are equally user-friendly.Bottom line: if you are looking for a good version of Odyssey, Mary Osborne’s are perfect. If you are teaching Waldorf 5th grade, these are splendid."

http://litkidz.com/tales-from-the-odyssey\_childrens\_book

**Coreena McBurnie:** "*Tales From The Odyssey* is a series of six children's books that retell Homer's *Odyssey*.  They are written by Mary Pope Osborne of The Magic Tree House fame and are written for a similar age group, I would say around grade 2 to 6.  The names of the characters may be a bit complicated, but there is a pronunciation guide in the back.  I have chosen to review the series as a whole because I tend to think of The Odyssey as a whole, that and we read them so fast that they seem like one story.I recently read the whole series of six with my middle son who is in grade 2 and he was completely hooked by them, and even my eleven year old found himself listening in as I read - after all, these are entertaining, exciting stories that have been around for thousands of years!  I picked the first book up because I am a HUGE classical mythology fan, to the point of studying it in university.  I am always on the lookout for good versions of classical stories to share with my kids and I am very impressed with Mary Pope Osborne's version of *The Odyssey*.  I would say it is quite obvious that she did her research as the story rings true to the original, but in a much shorter and more accessible kid's version.Mary Pope Osborne focuses on the action of the original epic poem - for example, the Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, and various other monsters.  There are battle scenes, blood and guts, fighting and shipwrecks.  The gods interfere, Odysseus pines for home, the sea rages, and the ten years of Odysseus's travels are told with a feel of the original.  She even mentions the "wine dark sea" several times, which is one of many epithets used throughout *The Odyssey*.  Epithets are such an important part of Homer's work that I love that Mary Pope Osborne included this one in her retelling."

http://coreenamcburnie.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-tales-from-odyssey-by-mary.html

## Activities:

Teacher's Guide and Crossword Puzzle: http://books.disney.com/content/uploads/2013/09/Odyssey-The\_Part1.pdf

## Other Links:

Author's Website: http://marypopeosborne.com/

Theatrical Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndFp0fqy3rU