And on the subject of the National Mythology Exam

The sub-test for this year is Heracles (or Hercules).  I found this wicked cool book at the Walters Art Gallery (they had stacks of books throughout the Greek Myths exhibit that you could peruse as you enjoyed the ancient art).  Strong Stuff: Herakles and His Labors is a picture book that describes the twelve labors given to the title character as a punishment for his transgressions (killing his family).  School Library Journal says its for grades 2-4, Booklist says 4-7, and I say all of the above.  It's a great book, and will certainly appeal to the younger kids that like superheros, monsters and all things destructive.  I like it because it's a terrific explanation of the story of Hercules/Heracles/Herakles that kids will remember.  Includes a map and pronunciation guide.

Odyssey Games

We're getting ready here for the National Mythology Exam in February.  Ever since reading the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, J is obsessed with all things Greek and mythological.  So when I found out about the NME, she immediately wanted in.

We went to a class at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, where they have an amazing exhibition right now called Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece.  While waiting for the kids, I found a couple of awesome games in the gift shop. 

First is the Odyssey Memory Game, which includes the 60 most important names from Homer’s famous epic, with names, pronunciations, and definitions printed on each card.  It's a classic Memory game, with 2 of each card to match.  There are 3 groups of 20 (Classic Characters, Immortals, and Monsters, each group with different back-side pictures), so you can easily break the 60 cards into smaller batches for play.

The Odyssey Definitions Game is basically a set of flash cards.  This is the one we bought to study for the exam.  You could certainly flip them over and play memory with them as well (or any other pairs game) but we're using them as flash cards.  I punched holes in the bottom left corner of each card and put them on a metal ring so they're easy to flip through. 

The Odyssey Storytelling game is more of an interactive, role-playing game.  It includes 30 Storyteller cards, 30 Divine Assistance cards, 60 Invoke the Muse cards: 120 cards in all.  This looked better for a larger group setting.

There is a link on the publisher's page to receive 25% off your order if you are a homeschooler (Doh!  Wish I had known that at the museum!) with a simple email.

How many versions of the Odyssey could there be?

And which is the "right" one for me?

We've gone through about 7 versions so far!  Not all from start to finish, of course... lots of hopping around as library books are due, one wants to read ahead, etc.  Here are a couple of reviews:

The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum is a good, solid retelling of both the Illiad (the Trojan War) and the Odyssey (wanderings of Odysseus).  Publisher says it's for ages 9-12, but I think most 9 year-olds would stumble over the King James style English.  But, it's pretty thorough, doesn't leave out any of the adventures, and has a handful of black and white illustrations throughout.  Good for middle grades to read independently.

I find Mary Pope Osborne's (of Magic Tree House fame) version, Tales from the Odyssey, the most... interesting.  Broken into three volumes, the books are highly readable by the younger set - probably those that are used to reading her Magic Tree House series.  However, just because the language is relaxed and there are fewer words per page does not change the content.  The cyclops Polyphemus still bashes the brains out of the skulls of Odysseus' men, etc.  So while you may be able to hand these books over to your second grader, you may not want to.  The Odyssey has some scary stuff in it.  I like it better as a read-aloud, and I find these books on the "light" side for our read-aloud tastes.  I would recommend it for older elementary students that are still having reading difficulty.


So far my favorite version has been right in the middle.  The Adventures of Odysseus by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden and Christina Balit is an excellent picture book version that still has a complete text.

This book is just under 100 pages, and is broken into 16 stories including a prologue (Trojan War story) and epilogue.  Each page of text is surrounded by gorgeous watercolor, gouache and gold ink illustrations that really bring the story to life.  I find the narration to be beautifully lyrical (and this story was a poem, right?), neither too antiquated nor simplistic.

"The next morning, when dawn took her golden throne, we said our last farewells to Circe.  She gave us a wind to fill our sail.  When the wind failed us, when the sail sagged, we knew we were approaching the enchanted regions of the Sirens."

I've renewed this book from the library twice already!  Almost time to turn it in for good, so I think this weekend we will read the last few stories and put Odysseus to rest for a bit.  But if we ever get the hankering again, this book is available in full text, for free, on Google Books.

Highly recommended as read aloud for all ages, and independent reader for ages 9 & up.