This is a retelling of the myth of Hercules’ 12 labours, aimed at children learning to read. The book is one of six books that form Short Tales Greek Myths series, which is aimed for children reading. The series is described in the editor’s website as “easy-to-read books to children in the hopes that they will acquire a love of reading that will last a lifetime”. So, the main purpose of the book is the educational one: to help small children in learning to read. This purpose evidently shapes the style of the book, which is extremely simple. 

The book started with the illustrated list of Greek gods. 

The language of the book is very simple, which is perfectly explainable by the fact that the book is aimed for the beginner reader. Consider the following examples of the style: “The second labor was to defeat nine-headed Lernean Hydra. The Hydra was a monstrous serpent. Its nine heads attacked with venom” (p. 7). Or: “Hercules continued on his quest. He was stopped by Antaeus, the son of the sea god Poseidon, and was forced to fight with him. Hercules won and continued on his journey” (p. 26). 

As can be seen from these examples, the style of the book is shaped by its target audience and by didactic purpose, namely the development of basic reading skills in children who still lack them.  The same can be said on the selection of the myth. This is limited to twelve labors of Hercules, with very short summary of background information, given in the chapter “Mythical Beginnings” (p. 4). Here the target audience shapes the narrative more than in any other chapter of the book. Consider, for example, the following retelling of the famous episode of the hero’s insanity: “Hera hated Hercules and used her powers to make him go insane. While under her spell, Hercules did some terrible things”. Neither the causes of Hera’s wrath nor the exact nature of those “terrible things” are told – obviously due to the fact that the authors want to spare children from  gruesome or “adults-only” details of the original myth. The same technique of reservation is used several times in the middle of the story. E.g.: “Hera played trick on Amazons and Hercules. This trick got both sides to fight each other.” (p. 19).  

The style of illustrations by Andy Kuhn is also shaped by the choice of target audience:  all the characters there look strikingly similar to the characters of Japanese comics. Even Hercules lacks his famous beard and looks like anime hero. The illustrations often depict the most violent moments of the episode and are full of movement, bright colors and details.

The toponym “Mycenae” is frequently misprinted as “Mycenea” (pp. 11, 12, 17, 28, 32). 

Illustrations by Andy Kuhn.