WINGS

A clear, well-balanced retelling of the tale of Daedalus, focusing on the loss of his son Icarus, who flew too close to the sun while the two were escaping from Crete, melted the wax that held feathers to his wings, and fell into the sea. Yolen carefully sets the tale in Greek mythology, going back to the reasons for Daedalus's exile, explaining the concept of hubris, and using italicized asides to comment on the gods' reactions to the events. In his formal, realistic paintings, Nolan extends the device by picturing the gods as cloud formations, their responses ranging from anger and boredom to laughter, but all rather ordinarily human. A thoughtful, attractive presentation of the themes underlying classical tragedy, as exemplified by a particularly resonant myth. (Mythology. 7-12)