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Yuyi Chen , Joan Holub , Suzanne Williams

Aphrodite & the Gold Apple (Little Goddess Girls, 3)

YEAR: 2020

COUNTRY: United States of America

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Title of the work

Aphrodite & the Gold Apple (Little Goddess Girls, 3)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2020

First Edition Details

Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, Little Goddess Girls: Aphrodite & the Gold Apple. New York: Aladdin Quix, 2020, 88 pp.

ISBN

9781534431119 pb

Genre

Fiction
Mythological fiction

Target Audience

Children (young children, 5–8 years)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, Lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il 

Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au

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Leaf pattern

Title of the work

Aphrodite & the Gold Apple (Little Goddess Girls, 3)

Country of the First Edition

Country/countries of popularity

worldwide

Original Language

English

First Edition Date

2020

First Edition Details

Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, Little Goddess Girls: Aphrodite & the Gold Apple. New York: Aladdin Quix, 2020, 88 pp.

ISBN

9781534431119 pb

Genre

Fiction
Mythological fiction

Target Audience

Children (young children, 5–8 years)

Cover

Missing cover

We are still trying to obtain permission for posting the original cover.


Author of the Entry:

Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il

Peer-reviewer of the Entry:

Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, Lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il 

Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au

Female portrait

Yuyi Chen (Illustrator)

Yuyi Chen is an American children’s book illustrator from Washington. She also did 3D modelling, design and texturing and animation. Her books include Doris the Bookasaurus and Going to Grandma's House.


Source:

Official website (accessed: August 11, 2020).



Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il


Photo courtesy of Joan Holub.

Joan Holub (Author)

Joan Holub is a prolific children's author from the USA. Graduated from college in Texas with a fine arts degree. Worked as an art director at Scholastic trade books in New York. She has written and/or illustrated over 150 children's books. She has developed a range of series for teenagers on mythological themes: Goddess Girls, set in Mount Olympus Academy, Grimmtastic Tales series, set in Grimm Academy, Thunder Girls, about Norse gods set in Asgard Academy, and Heroes in Training, in which the male Greek gods, as very young men, set out on a range of adventures. For pre-school children, Jan Holub has written on a range of topics including several works with religious and historical themes. These include: This Little President; This Little Trailblazer, Hooray for St. Patrick’s Day!, and Light the Candles: A Hanukkah Lift-the-Flap Book. Joan Holub trained in fine art and worked as an art director at a graphic design company before becoming a children's illustrator and then author.

 

Sources:

Official website (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the penguinrandomhouse.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).

Profile at the simonandschuster.com (accessed: July 2, 2018).



Bio prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk and Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Courtesy of the Author from her personal website.

Suzanne Williams (Author)

Suzanne Williams is an American prolific children's author and former elementary school librarian. She has written over 60 books for children.

She grew up in Oregon and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s in library science from the University of Oregon. She currently lives in Reno, Washington.


Source: 

Official website (accessed: May 29, 2018).

 


Bio prepared by Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com


Summary

In the third book of the Little Goddess Girls series, Athena, Persephone and Aphrodite continue to travel along the Hello Brick Road to Sparkle City, where they hope the mighty Zeus might grant their wishes. Athena wishes to return home, from which she was mysteriously carried away by storm and brought to this magical, Mount Olympus, land. Persephone hopes Zeus helps her overcome her bad luck. Aphrodite wishes for the gift of likability, for sometimes she says things to people without thinking and hurt their feelings. 

While on the road, the girls spot a poppy field beyond it. Persephone quickly runs to it, since she loves flowers. Athena follows her, and both suddenly fall asleep. It turns out that the mean Medusa, who desires Athena’s magic sandals, cast the spell on the filed in order to kidnap Athena and steal her sandals. Medusa even calls her army of stone animals to carry Athena. Medusa can zap animals into stone and make them her obedient soldiers, which can still move and talk. However, Aphrodite manages to stop Medusa and save her friends. Since Medusa cannot harm the girls on the road, she quickly retreats. 

Later, the girls enter a forest, when they hear a voice from one of the trees and an arrow is fired at Athena’s dog, Oliver. They discover a girl their age, whose name is Artemis. Artemis is scared of the dog and is also afraid to get down from the tree. Apparently she is scared of everything. While the girls help her, Aphrodite finds a golden apple near the tree and decides to keep it to herself. All the girls continue to travel together to Sparke City, since Artemis wishes Zeus to grant her courage. When they arrive at the city, they discover that it is surrounded by a glass wall; one boy tells them that no one ever saw Zeus and he quickly disappears into the wall. The girls try to find a way to enter, when finally Aphrodite reveals to them her gold apple. Artemis finds a way to use the apple as a key and the four of them enter the city and walk to the Thunderbolt Tower, Zeus’ residence.

The book includes characters’ list, word list, questions on the story and authors’ note, in which they briefly explain on the Greek goddesses Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis. 

This series may appear like a spinoff of the popular Goddess Girls series by the same authors, yet while the characters are similar (Greek goddesses), the setting and characterization is different. For example Medusa is not a bad character in the original Goddess Girls series (see here and here). This series is also aimed at early readers and not at adolescents.

The illustrations are cute and display the various scenes, thus helps the readers to better understand them.

Analysis

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s (by Frank Baum, Chicago 1900) influence continues in this book, combined with Greek mythology reception. Artemis, as the lion in Oz, wishes for courage. The twist here is that Artemis was the goddess of hunting and animals, hence making her scared of animals is ironic and a comical twist. Of course the young readers of this series are not necessarily aware of this fact, hence the authors aim their story to various readers, with multiple layers of knowledge. Those who are familiar with the mythological goddess may appreciate the twist, and those who are not will enjoy the story as is.

As in the previous books in this series (see here and here), the focus is on the relations between the girls and how each of them develops and gains more confidence as the result of their mutual friendship. In the previous book, Persephone gained more self-confidence. In this book, it is Aphrodite who receives the main focus. She slowly learns to control herself, and not to talk without thinking first. She is the hero who saves Athena and Persephone from Medusa and she also helps convincing Artemis to get down from the tree. Aphrodite is conflicted between being a good friend but also wanting to keep things for herself. For example, she finds the golden apple and wishes to keep it for herself. She is not sure how she should act. “She thought about showing the others the gold apple. But something made her keep is a secret. She’d found the apple so that meant it was hers….there was nothing wrong with that, was there?” (p. 55) at the endnotes, the authors explain that Aphrodite could be a jealous goddess. This explains why she is envious of Athena’s magical sandals and wishes to keep the apple, thinking it might be magical too. In each book of this series, the characters struggle with a moral dilemma or issue of character. For example in the previous book, Persephone had to find her own courage to fend off the daisies in the underworld. This is the educational aspect of the series aimed at the young readers. The illustration exemplifies her dilemma; she watches it uncertain, with question marks painted above. The question marks refer not only to the fact that Aphrodite is unsure about the meaning of the apple, but also to her inner conflict.

However if we look at the context of the story from the viewpoint of young, 8 years old readers (also the age of the goddesses in the story), then Aphrodite’s actions seem more acceptable. Why can’t she keep what she found? It is understandable that she wishes for the apple to be hers alone since she found it. However, by emphasizing her inner thoughts, the authors indicate to the readers that Aphrodite was acting selfishly and was in the wrong. In the end, the apple is revealed to be the key to enter the city and Aphrodite gives it up for the sake of the group, hence she ultimately does the right thing. It is okay to have your own private thing, but one should not fear that her friends might take them from her. What was wrong with Aphrodite’s behaviour was her possessiveness and her mistrusting her friends. 

Regarding the original myth of the gold apple, while the apple which Eris threw at Peleus and Thetis’ wedding caused mayhem, mistrustfulness and eventually war, the apple in our story, although it was also retrieved by Aphrodite, is ultimately a key to better things. With the help of the apple, the girls get closer to having their wishes granted from Zeus. The apple unites them and assists them instead of dividing them. Little Aphrodite, in contrast to the mythological goddess, managed to overcome her own selfishness and jealousy and share this gift, and the other girls accept it. It is only via cooperation and teamwork that the girls succeed in entering Sparkle City. The boy told them that the wall aims to keep troublemakers (such as Medusa) out of the city. Therefore, by working together the girls prove that they are innocent and benevolent.


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