Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Kai Meyer

Arcadia (Series, Book 1): Arcadia Awakens [Arkadien: Arkadien erwacht]

A shy seventeen year old girl, Rosa Alcantara, comes from Brooklyn, New York, and is of Italian descent. After having been raped she had to undergo an abortion. One day, she travels by plane to Palermo in Sicily in order to attend the funeral of a leader of the mafia clan called Carnevares. Rosa’s situation within her family is complicated: her father died several years earlier and her mother, who left Sicily a long time before that, does not want to have any contacts with her relatives, w(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Lamia Lycaon Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia (Series, Book 2): Arcadia Burns [Arkadien: Arkadien brennt]

When Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare try to be intimate, they are transformed into mythical beasts, the moment they get too close to each other. The reason for this lies in the fact that they belong to different mafia clans, which have been adversaries for centuries. Therefore, their fate seems to be an eternal fight against each other. When they realize the problem, they stop trying to be intimate, Rosa moves to New York and after many years reconciles with her mother Gemma. Her mum esc(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphosis Ovid Metamorphoses

Kai Meyer

Arcadia (Series, Book 3): Arcadia Falls [Arkadien: Arkadien fällt]

During their search in Sicily for a peace bringing ancient statue, Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare are attacked by harpies, who look like big owls. Yet, it turns out soon that this mythical statue is missing. In their dreadful fight with the Harpies, one ally of Rosa and Alessandro called Quattrini is killed. In due course, it is revealed that the harpies are killers for hire and belong to their own clan, the Malandras. The leaders of the clan are two dangerous sisters, Aliza and Saffira(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphosis Ovid Metamorphoses

J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter (Series, Book 3): Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in J.K. Rowling’s series. As every summer, Harry Potter stays with his cousins, the Dursleys, struggling with life in the Muggle world. When the summer is almost over, and he is about to come back to Hogwarts (the school where he learns magic), Aunt Marge, an embittered sister of Vernon Dursley (Harry’s uncle and guardian) comes to visit. She pushes the young wizard’s boundaries to the point when Harry lets go and uses (...)

literary

YEAR: 1999

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Lycaon Thanatos

John Mackey, Sabrina Malcolm

Zeustian Logic

This is a YA novel in which tales of Classical myth (in connection with astronomy) help a New Zealand teenager come to terms with his father’s death. Zeustian Logic is about a family trying to deal with their grief, after the death of their father and husband. The novel is set in Wellington, New Zealand. Its protagonist is 14-year-old schoolboy and hobby astronomer Tuttle Theodorus, whose father Jamie has died in a mountaineering accident on Mount Everest. Jamie was a famous mountaineer an(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: New Zealand

TAGS: Achilles Andromeda Castor Centaurs Chiron Constellations Gods Hades Helios Heracles / Herakles Heroes Hygiene Jason Lycaon Mars Mercury Ophiucus Phaeton Pollux Saturn Sirius Venus