A fine first introduction to an age-old tale of travel, adventure, and heroism.
Murder, intrigue, betrayal, patricide, regicide, and more constitute Jason’s epic quest for the Golden Fleece.
Like most Greek myths, Jason’s journey to complete a near-impossible task unfolds through an episodic plot in which the gods interfere with the mortals constantly—for good or ill. When Jason’s evil uncle, Pelias, usurps the throne of his father, Aeson, king of Iolcus, Jason’s mother wisely sends him to the forest to be raised by Chiron the centaur. Upon Jason’s return to Iolcus to defeat Pelias, Hera, wife of Zeus, appears to him and promises her guidance and protection, which she delivers throughout his journey. Pelias refuses to relinquish the throne unless Jason brings him the Golden Fleece (the background story of which Byrd also includes in this volume). Jason then gathers the finest Greek men, commissions the Argo, and embarks upon a journey with colossal challenges. Byrd eases navigation of this text-heavy picture book by illustrating the unimaginable, such as bronze-beaked Stymphalian birds with dart-shooting feathers and Scylla, part hag, part fish, with six fanged dog’s heads protruding from her torso. Each double-page spread constitutes a chapter, making for good-sized chunks for episodic read-alouds. Sidebars give brief background on characters, the backmatter introduces the Olympians, and front and back endpapers show maps of Jason’s route.
A fine first introduction to an age-old tale of travel, adventure, and heroism. (Mythology. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4118-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Disgusting and futile medical practices are always a pleasure to contemplate. Beccia, following closely in the spirit of The Raucous Royals (2008)—dry-witted artwork, conversational text, engaging historical detective work—asks readers to guess which “cures” may actually have helped a handful of ailments. Take a nasty cough, for example: Should you take a heaping helping of caterpillar fungus, frog soup or cherry bark? Common good sense will lead readers to wag their heads no when it comes to sprinkling mummy powder on a wound or drilling a hole in your head to relieve a headache, though some counterintuitive measures will come as a surprise success: spider web for an open wound, frog slime for a sore throat, moldy bread to treat a cut. The author provides intriguing background information on the cures—where they arose, why they were thought to be efficacious—and pulls more than one gem out of the nastiness, such as the property of silver to kill bacteria, giving birth to a familiar expression: “In the Middle Ages, wealthy-born babies sucked on silver spoons to protect against plague....” (note, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-22570-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
Future voters of the world, unite. The vote, Stier makes clear, is a great gift we have given ourselves.
A proudly buoyant tour of Election Day in the U.S.A.
This spry salute to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November generates a significant amount of positive energy. Only through active engagement in the process—informing yourself, going to the polling station—will you be tapping into the possibilities of the system. Everything else is just so much hot air. Stier neither belabors nor stints on the text. There is a decent amount of information to be imparted, if only to acquaint readers with political parties, campaigns, Congress, the history of the vote, Constitutional amendments, debates and voting, and it is done in an easy, if modestly didactic voice. It has the genuine ring of smart young students giving the oral presentation of their civics projects, sweet and serious. Stier situates the activity around the children's school, and Leonard makes the most of the setting, giving it the warm, watercolor cast of a small town, yet modern in its computer voting machines. And all ages are involved, young to old, with the finger squarely placed on the importance of 18-year-olds assuming this mantle of importance.
Future voters of the world, unite. The vote, Stier makes clear, is a great gift we have given ourselves. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8008-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
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