The Olympians (The First 6 Books)

By the Beard of Zeus!  George O'Connor's Olympians series is...amazing.

http://abcreads.blogspot.com/2013/07/george-oconnors-olympians.html

And the newest in the series:

I don't know why it took me so long to read these- no lie, they've been on my desk for almost 3 months.  I am FLOORED by how well-done this series is!

I was a Classical Studies minor, spent a summer in Greece when I was in high school, memorized Edith Hamilton's Mythology, and in my younger years wore out a Mickey Mouse mythology book.  The picture of Medusa with her snakey hair and dripping, body-less neck have stuck with me. I tried to find a picture to post here, but it seems it's been a long time defunct :-(  If anyone can help a girl out- it had a white cover, Mickey, Myths...(oh the irony of the librarian giving that description).

***

Update: Oh my goodness, I found it! Thank goodness for eBay! Now to convince my husband our house needs more books...

***

I won't go book-by-book, because I have a feeling it would be a lot of repetition of how much I love Olympians. So, I will do a general overview.

O'Connor uses beautiful language- his narrative reads like an epic poem, but is more approachable to younger (or reluctant) readers.  I would recommend starting with Zeus, but the books don't have to be read in order.  I just think Zeus and the whole creation story are a great kick-off (plus, there's an amazing illustration of the Titans that is haunting and powerful.)  

The bold colors and illustrations sweep you up, and before you know it, you're halfway (or all the way) through the book.  Actually, I had a stack of these in front of me at work for this review.  As I was reading one, one of our regular boys (a bit of a reluctant reader) came and sat across from me.  I told him he could look at them if he wanted.  He sat there for an hour, and read three of the books.  He said he loved the stories and the illustrations, and I was excited to tell him that there are more coming!

Each book focuses on an Olympian, but also on those involved with their stories.  For example, we learn about Hera, but also Heracles/Hercules.  We learn about Athena, but also Arachne and Medusa.  We learn about Poseidon, but also Odysseus and Minos.  

The books also include notes about the writing process, a glossary with translations, information on characters, discussion questions (like, "Zeus's dad tries to eat him.  Has your dad ever tried to eat you?")  As well as a bibliography and recommended reading for different age groups.

I especially enjoyed O'Connor's takes on certain situations, and even more enjoyed that he is trying to tell the women's stories, too.  "For when the men of ancient Greece wrote down their stories, they did not think to ask the women theirs." (Hera, p. 65)  This, of course, gives a deeper appreciation and understanding of the goddesses, and other female characters.  There are things I had overlooked or never thought of before, in my mythology reading/classes, and I love that this is a medium for a new take, a new perspective on such ancient stories.  Bravo, George.  Bravo.

Honestly, if the next six books are anything like the first- I will be getting the entire collection for my department, and for my home.  

I would recommend this series to all ages.  Anyone interested in mythology or folklore, Greek history/culture, superheroes (cuz really, these are the first superheroes), comic books...just...so much awesome!  Annnd...stay tuned for a special post in a couple of weeks!  In the meantime, you can follow the Blog Tour for Aphrodite here.

The Olympians series is published by :01 First Second. Copies provided by my awesome Public Library System/Consortium.  

I Am Algonquin

As it says in my brief, little, header thingie at the top of my "About Me" section- I grew up in Downeast Maine.  As the crow flies, 2 miles from Canada, and about 15 from the Atlantic Ocean.  My father worked as a Forester for the Passamaquoddy Tribe. -And yes, before we moved there, all I could think of was the town in Pete's Dragon. I grew up with close friends within the tribe (even another Sarah Dawn!), and was frequently around that culture.  In fact, for a report for grad school few years ago, I was watching the PBS show Colonial House.  I knew it had been filmed near my hometown, but was surprised to see George, a family friend, on the show in full costume.  He and my father were good friends- they hunted moose together, and George helped build our log home. He has since passed away, but I do rent the DVDs from time to time when I'm feeling homesick.

The above paragraph is part of the reason I wanted to read I Am Algonquin: An Algonquin Quest Novel by Rick Revelle.  The Passamaquoddy tribe is part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, and is part of the Algonquin Nation.  The Wabanaki Confederacy consisted of five tribes that banded together in response to Iroquois aggression. The Tribe was such a large part of my childhood, I wanted to learn more about Algonquin history.

I Am Algonquin is a Young Adult historical novel that follows Mahingan and his family in 14th century Ontario.  Through it, the reader learns traditional Algonquin ways of life- hunting, playing sports, marriages, births, deaths, tribal conflicts and warfare, and the rites of passage for boys to become men.  It was really interesting to learn more about the gender roles, and how highly regarded women were.  

I wasn't the biggest fan of the dialogue.  While I enjoyed learning the vernacular, it just felt...clunky. It kind of reminded me of that scene in Anchorman where Baxter is talking to the Bear. I could understand if they were trying to speak English- but since this is 14th century, pre-European invasion...they are supposed to be speaking their native tongue, and I would figure it would flow a bit more smoothly.  It did seem to get better toward the end- maybe I just got used to it.

As I said in my post on far far away I love learning languages.  I appreciated Revelle's use of the Algonquin language in his narrative.  However, it got to be a bit distracting.  Each Algonquin word was followed by a parenthetical translation.  This would have been fine, except he uses a lot of Algonquin vocabulary.  I think it would have been much smoother to have footnotes on each page with the translation (this is probably just personal preference).  Revelle does include a glossary at the end of the book- instead of footnotes, he could've maybe just written the Algonquin in bold in the text?

Also, there was a point where the point-of-view suddenly changed from first person (Mahingan) to third-person.  It threw a wrench in the flow of reading, because all of a sudden we're getting two perspectives and thinking "Wait...how can Mahingan be both here and here at the same time?  And why is he referring to himself in the third-person?"

Those are my only pseudo-complaints (they're really not that big- they didn't detract much from the overall story).  While I mentioned I wasn't a fan of the dialogue, I have to say I was a huge fan of the descriptive narration.  I would read ten pages on a battle and not even realize it!  The final battle alone is worth the read.

One of my favorite scenes involves a woodland buffalo hunt with members of the Wabanaki Tribe.  From the tracking to the kill to the butchering, I was enraptured (I grew up around all this, so it wasn't a tough read).  There is actually a point where he is describing the smell of the decaying meat, and I remembered the time my Dad had gotten a moose.  He and George came home, and Dad had set the skull (not fully cleaned) on top of the coat closet, and started putting his equipment away.  A week or so went by and we could not figure out what this horrible smell in the house was- I was standing on our landing, and saw a skull/antlers with bits of moose still on it.  So, I absolutely related to that whole chapter.

My other favorite scene was a battle over hunting grounds.  Not just any battle, though!  I was expecting blood and death and war-cries.  I got an epic game of lacrosse.  I wish we still settled disagreements that way...

There are moments of great joy and celebration, moments of fear and sorrow.  It is a good narrative of what life was like for these people in that time.  

I'd rate this probably a 3.5/5.  I loved the history, the description, and learning about Algonquin traditions.  I just wish it had flowed a bit better with the dialogue and vocabulary.  I would recommend this to anyone interested in Tribal history, Canadian history, hunting, and languages.  


I Am Algonquin: An Algonquin Quest Novel is published by Dundurn. ARC provided by NetGalley.