Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

John Bankston

A Kid’s Guide to Mythology (Series): Hercules

This book is part of a series of eight on different Greek deities. It tells the story of Hercules, half-man, half-god who with his god-given strength was able to overcome great obstacles. However, he was not able to overcome the greatest internal obstacle of his own anger. Starting with the episode of Hercules’ cattle being stolen, Bankston launches into a discussion of myth and the place of the myth of Hercules in the ancient world. Each chapter contains selections of the myth with other (...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Admete Admetus Alcmene Amazons Amphitryon Apollo Apollodorus Apotheosis Arcadia Athens Atlas Augeas Cacus Cerberus Chiron/Cheiron Cithaeron Classical myth Constantine Constellations Deianeira Diana Diodorus Siculus Diomedes Electryon Erginus Erymanthus Eurystheus Eurytos Greece Hera Heracles / Herakles Hercules Hesperides Hippolyta Hydra Iolaus Juno Jupiter Lerna Linus Macedonia Minerva Minos Minyans Mythology Nessus Olympians Olympics Olympus Oracles Pholus Plato Pluto Prometheus Ptolemy Pythia Rome Sparta Thanatos Thebes Titans Virgil Zeus

Johnny Capps , Julian Murphy, Howard Overman

Atlantis (Series)

Jason, a twenty-first-century young man in search of his lost father, travels in a submarine through an under-ocean portal and ends up on the shores of the ancient city of Atlantis ruled by King Minos. He befriends a yet unrecognized mathematical genius/geek Pythagoras and a prizefighter past his prime, Hercules. In this version of the Minotaur myth, victims for the monster are picked from among the inhabitants of the city in a lottery. Pythagoras draws a black stone, but his friends try to save(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Admetus Aeson Alcestis Anabasis Ariadne Ariadne’s brother Atalanta Baby Oedipus Baucis Cassandra Circe Daedalus Destiny Destiny – prophecies, attempts to cheat them Furies Hecate / Hekate Heptarian Heracles / Herakles Hercules High priest of Poseidon Icarus Jason Jason’s mother Jocasta Katabasis Laius Medea Medusa Melas Melas’ adoptive daughter Minos Minotaur Oedipus Oracle of Poseidon Oracles Orpheus Pandora’s Box Pasiphae Pasiphae’s nephew Philemon Pythagoras Tartarean Campe Telamon Thanatos Therus Tiresias Underworld Underworld – souls of the dead

Elisa S. Amore, Kiera Legend

Demigods Academy (Series, Book 4): The Threads of Life

This is the fourth book in the "Demigods Academy" series, which follows 20 years Melany Richmonds, who enters the Demigods Academy and is recruited by Hades. Hades reveals to her that Zeus and his followers share a sinister plan to cause havoc on earth in order for humanity to worship the gods as saviours. After the great battles of the gods, in which Zeus and Hades perished and Ares and Aphrodite were defeated and locked in Tartarus, Melany Richmond is struck with grief. She and her f(...)

literary

YEAR: 2020

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aphrodite Ares Cassandra Demeter Fates Furies Hades Hypnos Nyx Persephone Thanatos Zeus

Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Goddess Girls (Series, Book 2): Persephone the Phony

In this installment we follow the adventures of Persephone, the a shy and reserved goddessgirl and her first encounters with Hades, a ‘bad boy’ godboy. Persephone’s overbearing mother, Demeter, heavily interferes with her social life until Persephone feels the need to rebel. The moral of the story here is that Persephone needs to grow up and a part of it is understating also the emotions of those around her, like her mother. Her mother also needs to understand her little girl i(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aphrodite Artemis Athena/ Athene Cerberus Charon Cyclops / Cyclopes Demeter Greek mythology Hades Hydra Pandora Persephone Pheme Tartarus Thanatos Zeus

Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams

Goddess Girls (Series, Book 22): Nyx the Mysterious

In this installment, we meet Nyx, the goddess of the night. 12 yrs old-Nyx is a loner. She lives alone in Hades, from where she ascends to the heaven to cover the world with a unique night-cape. Nyx is invited to MOA by Athena and Artemis as an “unsung hero”. She wishes to take this opportunity to educate the students and Zeus on the importance of night for relaxing and rejuvenating. She wishes to prove to them it is not frightening or alarming. She loves her job and is proud of it. (...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena/ Athene Echidna Eos Hades Hebe Hera Heracles / Herakles Hercules Hypnos Morpheus Nyx Oneiroi Persephone Phantasus Phobetor Tartarus Thanatos Zeus

Kendare Blake

Goddess War (Series, Book 3): Ungodly

As this novel is the third in the Goddess War series, it is the culmination of several plotlines developed over the course of the first and second books in this trilogy. Summaries for the previous two novels can be found here:Goddess War (Series, Book 1): AntigoddessGoddess War (Series, Book 2): Mortal GodsUngodly begins a month after the events of Mortal Gods in which the key characters, Cassandra and Calypso, Athena, and Odysseus, as well Hermes, Henry, and Andie are all separated from on(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Achilles Aeacus Andromache Aphrodite Apollo Ares Athena/ Athene Atropos Calypso Cassandra Clotho Fates Furies Hades Hector Hephaestus Hera Hermes Lachesis Minos Moirai Monsters Odysseus/ Ulysses Odyssey Persephone Poseidon Rhadamanthus Thanatos The Three Judges Trojan War

Anita Rejch

Greek Myths. Fairytales of the Ancients [Mity greckie. Baśnie starożytnych]

Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp., section by Barbara Krcha, pp. 294-295. The book is a collection of the most popular Greek myths adapted for children between 10 and 12 years old and written in an accessible language. The author compares mythical events to(...)

literary

YEAR: 2007

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Adonis Andromeda Aphrodite Apollo Ariadne Athena/ Athene Daedalus Demeter Dionysus Gaia / Gaea Hades Hecate / Hekate Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hypnos Icarus Kore Kronos / Cronus / Cronos Midas Minos Minos (King) Minotaur Moirai Narcissus Oedipus Orpheus Pandora Perseus Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Sisyphus Thanatos Theseus Uranus Zeus

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

Joan Holub, Craig Phillips, Suzanne Williams

Heroes in Training (Series, Book 3): Hades and the Helm of Darkness

This is the third book in the Heroes in Training series (see entry about Heroes in Training: Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom). The saved Olympians continue their journey following the Oracle’s directions. They now head to the underworld where they encounter the Titans Oceanus, Mnemosyne and the Furies. They are even almost captured by Thanatos. In the process they will discover who the real lord of the underworld is and Zeus gets another step close to understanding his own identity. (...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Cerberus Charon Cronus Delphi Demeter Elysian Fields Furies Hades Hera Mnemosyne Oceanus Oracles Poseidon Styx Thanatos Zeus

Nintendo Research and Development Team 1 , Project Sora , TOSE Software , Toru Osawa, Masafumi Sakashita, Masahiro Sakurai, Gunpei Yokoi

Kid Icarus (Series): Kid Icarus (Light Myth: Palutena’s Mirror) [Kid Icarus (Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami)] / Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters / Kid Icarus: Uprising ( New Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror) [Kid Icarus: Uprising (Shin Hikari Shinwa:

Kid Icarus The story begins in a land called “Angel Land” where humans and deities live in harmony. Two goddesses rule the land: Palutena, goddess of light and Medusa, goddess of darkness. The goddess of light liked the humans and helped them flourish, but the goddess of darkness hated them, so dried up their crops and turned them into stone. Palutena transformed Medusa into a monster and banished her to the underworld. Once there, Medusa gathered monsters and demons and assembl(...)

electronic

YEAR: 1986

COUNTRY: Japan

TAGS: Angels Athena/ Athene Cerberus Gaia / Gaea Hades Helios Hephaestus Hydra Icarus Medusa Olympus Orthos Overworld Pandora Poseidon Skyworld Thanatos Underworld

Grzegorz Kasdepke

Myths for Children [Mity dla dzieci]

The magical and amazing world of ancient gods and heroes shown in an accessible way in simple and amusing language. Each story focuses on a different god or hero.The ten presented myths include: Doktorze, pomocy! [Doctor, help!] about Asclepius, Śliczna i mądra – czyli Atena [Lovely and Wise – That Is Athena], Figlarz [Trickster] about Eros, Zakaz odwracania się [No Turning Around] about Orpheus, Proszę Pana [Sir Pan], Chimera, chi, chi [Chimaera, Ha, Ha] about Bellerophon, Głow(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Amphitrite Andromeda Aphrodite Apollo Arachne Artemis Asclepius / Asklepios Athena/ Athene Bellerophon Chimaera Coronis Dionysus Eros Eurydice Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Kronos / Cronus / Cronos Medusa Orpheus Pan Pegasus Persephone Perseus Poseidon Psyche Sisyphus Syrinx Tantalus Thanatos Zeus

Atlus

Persona (Series): Persona 2: Eternal Punishment; Persona 3

Persona is a role-playing game, which was developed by Atlus. In this game characters use Personas, who are the embodiment of the soul, taking the form of demons, gods or ancient heroes from mythologies and lore of many cultures, to protect a town from a catastrophe, friends from dangerous situations and their own lives from death. Without Personas, characters can do nothing because their enemies use Personas, or demons, and they cannot be easily killed by conventional weapons. At the beginning (...)

electronic

YEAR: 2000

COUNTRY: Japan United States of America

TAGS: Cerberus Eurydice Greek mythology Hades Hypnos Nyx Orpheus Prometheus Thanatos Titans Zeus

Nina Vasilenko

The Adventures of Aeneas the Cossack [Пригоди Козака Енея]

The film is an abridged version of Aeneid by Ivan Kotliarevsky (see here), fragments of which are read by a narrator. Although the animation exploits all the main themes, it omits many storylines of Virgil or Kotliarevsky. It starts with presenting the portrait of Ivan Kotliarevsky, dedicating the film to his anniversary. Then, we see a head of an ancient female statue, followed by a scene of three statues on the pedestals: Juno (in the style of Juno Barberini), Venus (a variant of the Venus de (...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1969

COUNTRY: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

TAGS: Aeneas Aeolus Hades Juno Jupiter Latinus Neptune Sirens Tantalus Thanatos Trojan Horse (wooden) Troy Turnus Venus Virgil

Rebekka Pax

The Heart of the Harpy [Das Herz der Harpyie]

The teenage girl Milena Weyergräber suffers every night from nightmares, in which she transforms into a harpy and guides the souls of the dead into the Underworld. One night, she watches a young man John Ossin dying. He is killed by a Mafia clan called Tsirpas. Although he is already dead, Milena manages to save his soul and bring him back to life. So the supervisor harpy Aello, who has big black wings, punishes her, because Milena has frustrated the rules of the Olympians. The gods do not (...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aello Ares Harpies Olympus Thanatos Underworld

Paul Shipton

The Pig Who Saved the World

This comic adventure novel is a sequel to The Pig Scrolls, starring a pig named Gryllus. Gryllus was one of Odysseus’ crewmen who was transformed into a pig by Circe. When the rest of the sailors were returned to their human form, he hid in the bushes, and after being found by Sibyl, a courageous prophetess, and Homer, an awkward teenage poet, goes on to (unwittingly and unwillingly) save the world.In the sequel, The Pig Who Saved the World, Gryllus and his friends go back to the isla(...)

literary

YEAR: 2006

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Circe Homer Labyrinth Midas Odysseus/ Ulysses Odyssey Orpheus Polyphemus Proteus Sibyl Sirens Sisyphus Thanatos Tithonus Underworld

Otari Dumbadze

The Rock of Sisyphus [Камень Сизифа]

The film is made as a hand-drawn animation with colourful schematic pictures that smoothly flow into one another, changing colour patterns. It starts with a white dot on a blue and brown background that evolves into the figure of a man pushing a rock. During the entire film the man is rolling the rock or lets it fall.In the first part of the film, we see the face of Zeus, and the narrator announces the verdict to Sisyphus: “Not for wisdom, not for royalty, not for the care of his peop(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1980

COUNTRY: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

TAGS: Aphrodite Greek mythology Nike Sisyphus Thanatos Tyche Zeus

Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Who Let the Dogs Out (Series, Book 3): Beyond the Odyssey

Beyond the Odyssey is the third book in the Who Let The Gods Out series by Maz Evans, and picks up the story of Elliot and his immortal companions a short time after the end of Simply The Quest. Elliot and the gods are still living at Home Farm, but Hermes remains in a coma and Elliot's mother's illness is getting worse. On top of all that, the school has a sent another "very scary letter’", saying that they are going to conduct a welfare visit to see how everything (...)

literary

YEAR: 2018

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Aphrodite Athena/ Athene Charon Greek mythology Hades Harpies Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hypnos Immortality Nyx Pegasus Sisyphus Styx Tartarus Thanatos Underworld Zeus Zodiac

Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Who Let the Gods Out? (Series, Book 1): Who Let the Gods Out?

Who Let the Gods Out? is the story of an ordinary boy, Elliot Hooper, who discovers that all of the Greek myths are true and that he is the only person who can save the world. Elliot has a secret: his mother, Josie, is unwell. She has trouble remembering things and is often confused. Sometimes she goes missing and Elliot finds her doing strange things, like planting vegetables in the middle of the night. And on top of it all, Virgo, the youngest member of the Zodiac Council, crash lands in the c(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aphrodite Athena/ Athene Cerberus Charon Erebus Gods Greek mythology Hades Harpies Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hermes' winged boots Hestia Hypnos Immortality Pegasus Sisyphus Styx Symbols of the Zodiac Tartarus Thanatos Underworld Virgo

Aleksei Bitskoff, Maz Evans

Who Let the Gods Out? (Series, Book 2): Simply the Quest

Simply The Quest picks up the story of Elliot and his mortal and immortal companions, a few months after the end of Who Let The Gods Out. In this instalment, the English boy Elliot Hooper’s troubles seem to haunt him still. Thanatos reawakens and wishes to get the Earth stone Elliot managed to take a hold off last time. Elliot’s mother is still sick, his history teacher is still out to get him and a mysterious incident on Christmas Eve has left the gods on house arrest.&nbs(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Aphrodite Ariadne Athena/ Athene Cerberus Charon Erebus Erebus gods Greek mythology Hades Harpies Hephaestus Hera Heracles / Herakles Hercules Hermes Hermes' winged boots Hestia Hypnos Immortality Jason Nyx Pegasus Persephone Sisyphus Styx Tartarus Thanatos Theseus Underworld Virgo Zeus Zodiac