Tag Archives: Mythology

The Eternal City by Paula Morris

08 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Fantasy, Mythology, Young Adult

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eternal city

The past is the past, and it’s over and done with. Right? What if it is not? What if, just because people stopped believing in them, the Roman gods and goddesses never stopped existing? What if something that was stolen from them in the past needs to be returned to stop calamity in the future?  Such is the premise of this book.

Laura is a high school student from the U.S. on a trip to Paris with other students of Ancient History. She and the rest of her group get trapped in Rome because of a volcanic eruption which stops all air traffic.  But, then things get weirder and weirder. Statues come to life and birds seems to have strange powers, but Laura is not sure that these things are really happening.  The most unlikely people help her sort out her problems and help save her life and all of Rome itself.

This is a good love/adventure story involving history, mythology and religion.  Readers  in grades 7-12 will enjoy it.

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A, Nielson

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Young Adult

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mark of the thief

This book is a clever combination of mythology, history and fantasy. This is the first of the stories of Nic, a slave boy working in the mines of Rome.  He is approached one day and commanded to go into an area of the mine where other miners have disappeared.  His task is to retrieve the bulla that used to belong to Julius Caesar.  A bulla is an amulet given to a baby boy when he is born.  It is dedicated to a particular god and shows the protection of that god until the boy becomes a man.  Then he puts aside the bulla, a mark of putting aside his childhood, and takes his place as a Roman citizen.

This particular bulla has magical powers which Nic can enhance because he, too, has magical powers.  He did not know about these powers until he comes in contact with the bulla.  Nic finds that the reason the other miners had not returned was that the treasure of Caesar was being guarded by a griffin. Nic calls the griffin Caela, since she is from the skies. She helps him escape because she recognizes his magical powers.

How Nic manages to thwart a powerful senator, how he survives the gladiator fight, and what he learns about the power struggles in Rome are the main themes of the story.  Even though the story does have a satisfactory conclusion, the promise of more exciting tales lies at the end of the book.

I was a little upset at the anachronism with the mention of “blasting” in the mines at the first of the book.  Blasting as a form of mining could not have occurred until after the 9th century when the Chinese developed gunpowder. The Romans sometimes used fire in mining as a way of making the rocks crack, but that is not the same thing as blasting.

I do recommend this for middle school readers.  It may get them to want to learn more about Roman mythology and/or history.

Evil Twins by J. Scott Savage

11 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Children's Books, Fantasy

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evil twins Getting boys to read is sometimes tricky.  They want to feel that they can identify with the main characters, and many books, let’s face it, are written with female protagonists.  I think they will become intrigued by the action of these middle school boys.  While I would have to characterize this as a fantasy, it is not set in a fantastical world, but in every-day U.S.A. It does have elements of German mythology in it also.

Evil Twins is the third book of the Case File 13 Series by J. Scott Savage.  Nick and his buddies Carter and Angelo go on an ill-fated camping trip with Nick’s parents.  Nick’s father is always messing up their plans.  This time he forgets to check his reservation for the campground before leaving home.  This results in their being turned away and having to find another campsite.  The one they choose just happens to be home to a homunculus and  doppelgänger. The campers end up taking the homunculus home with them and in doing so, release the evil doppelgängers into the world.  How they resolve this is the main plot of the story.

This book is an exciting read for younger boys ages 9-12.  The boys do get into trouble, but they find out that doing wrong things brings dire consequences. I recommend it as an optional purchase for the upper elementary or middle school library.

National Geographic Kids Everything Series

07 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by in Children's Books, Children's Non-fiction, science

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I was only given two books in the series to review: Everything Mythology and Everything Dinosaurs. However there are others titles available: Everything Ancient Egypt, Everything Big Cats, Everything Sharks, Everything Castles, Everything Rocks and Minerals, Everything Dolphins and Everything Weather.

While Blake Hoena is the main author of the series, he works with National Geographic experts and/or authors to create the series. These books are colorful, full of information and well-bound.  Each book is packed with beautiful photographs and drawings. Each has a very good index, a list of videos, movies, books and other places where the reader may want to look at to learn more. Along with those learning aides is an interactive glossary (a type of quiz that allows the reader to check what he/she knows about the unusual terms used in the book).

Each book, or course, is only an introduction, but the author has taken great pains to pique the interest of the reader into learning more. I like the flaps both in the front and in the back of the paperback books.  They allow the reader to hold their place when interrupted, or when checking out something in the back of the book.  These flaps appear to be sturdy enough to take many readers handling them.

The books are also available in reinforced library binding. I did note that the word “reinforced” was misspelled in each book as “reinfored.” I did not notice misspellings in the texts, but I may just not have been aware that they were misspelled. It does bother me though, that something that obvious had slipped though the editing process. Still, this series definitely has a place in elementary libraries and public libraries. Those of you purchasing for Christian school libraries need to know that they take a secular view in the content, but you might use them for discussions of the differences of opinion.