Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Christelle Dabos

A Winter’s Promise [Les Fiancés de l’hiver] (The Mirror Visitor Quartet [La Passe-Miroir], 1)

When a cataclysm, known as the ‘Rupture’, destroyed the old world many generations ago, powerful ancestors known as ‘Family Spirits’ were entrusted with individual lands suspended in the sky, known as Arks. These Arks are governed by each Family Spirit and inhabited by their descendants who have been endowed with certain powers. On the Ark of Anima, a family-based, and pleasant Ark, the reigning Family Spirit is Artemis, the Mistress of Objects. Her ancestors are endowed (...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: France

TAGS: Arcadia Artemis Hero(es) Labyrinth Latin (Language) Persephone

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Burns [Arkadien brennt] (Arcadia, 2 [Arkadien, 2])

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 Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Falls [Arkadien fällt] (Arcadia, 3 [Arkadien, 3])

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 Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

Dean Hale , Shannon Hale , Victoria Ying

Diana: Princess of the Amazons

Diana is the only child on the island of Themyscira, where she lives with the Amazons (her mother, Hippolyta, and many Amazon aunts). She loves the island and its wildlife. However, as the only child, she feels isolated—everyone else on the island is a grown-up, and expert in their chosen crafts and activities.Her mother is too busy with statescraft, her aunts are busy with their soldiering (Dessa), exercise (Antiope), and teaching (Clio), and do not share her interest in the animals. One (...)

literary

YEAR: 2020

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Amazons Arcadia Circe Hippolyta Tartarus

Tom Anderson, Paul Halas, José Maria Millet Lopez

DuckTales: The Arcadian Urn [Rejsen til Epsilon]

Scrooge McDuck, his three great-nephews (Louie, Huey and Dewey) and Webby Vanderquack, the granddaughter of the triplets’ nanny, attend an auction where McMoney, one of Scrooge’s greatest enemies, sells an Ancient Arcadian vase for millions. Unhappy with how much money his rival has made, Scrooge decides to find Arcadia himself and bring back valuable artefacts. Bringing along his nephew, Donald Duck, and his personal pilot, Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge and the team set off to Gre(...)

literary

YEAR: 1994

COUNTRY: Denmark

TAGS: Arcadia Dragons Gladiator Games Gladiators Pottery / Vases Virgil

Josée Masse, Marilyn Singer

Echo Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths

Echo Echo is an anthology of fourteen palindromic poems retelling the standard heroic and moral tales from the corpus of myth, including Pandora’s Box, Midas and the Golden Touch, Daedalus and Icarus, Theseus and the Minotaur, Perseus and Medusa, Bellerophon and Pegasus, Demeter and Persephone, Orpheus and Eurydice, Arachne, and Atalanta, alongside less regularly retold stories drawn from Ovid, including Pygmalion and Galatea, and Echo and Narcissus. The first poem in the collection, entit(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Arachne Arcadia Atalanta Athena Bellerophon Chimera / Chimaera Daedalus Demeter Echo Eurydice Galatea Gods Golden Touch Hades Hero(es) Icarus Labyrinth Medusa Melanion / Milanion Midas Minotaur Narcissus Olympus Orpheus Pandora Pandora’s Box Pegasus Persephone Perseus Pygmalion Theseus Venus Zeus

John Bankston

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 myths 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 (Mount) Constantine Constellations Deianeira Diana Diodorus Siculus Diomedes (of Thrace) Electryon Erginus Erymanthus Eurystheus Eurytos Greece Hera Heracles Hercules Hesperides Hippolyta Hydra Iolaus Juno Jupiter Lerna Linus Macedonia Minerva Minos Minyans Nessus Olympians Olympic Games Olympus Oracles Pholus Plato Pluto / Plouton Prometheus Ptolemy Pythia Rome Sparta Thanatos Thebes Titans Virgil Zeus

Natalia Kapatsoulia, Filippos Mandilaras

Hermes. The god for all chores [Ερμής, ο θεός για όλες τις δουλειές (Ermī́s, o theós gia óles tis douleiés)]

The book begins by explaining that Hermes is known for helping the thieves, for serving as the messenger of the Olympians, for befriending heroes, and for travelling to the underworld. Zeus fell in love with the nymph Maia, who gave birth in a cave. While Maia was asleep, we are told, baby Hermes stepped out of his cradle and started wandering in the forest. Inventive Hermes made a lyre out of a turtle’s tortoiseshell. Soon, tired of singing, Hermes became hungry. In search for food, he wa(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Apollo Arcadia Hades Hermes Maia Nymphs Olympus Zeus

Wanda Markowska, Anna Milska

King Midas. A Greek Legend [Król Midas. Legenda grecka]

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.,online: http://omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/omc_catalogue. The myth about Midas is told in a very concise way, focusing on the consequences of excessive greed and conceit. It is a story with a moral and a message for children. Of (...)

literary

YEAR: 1985

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Apollo Arcadia Dionysus / Dionysos Golden Touch Midas Nymphs

Colin Thompson

Looking for Atlantis

Looking for Atlantis is a picturebook featuring a boy and his grandfather. As he is dying, Grandfather tells his grandson that he must look for Atlantis, a reference to the famous lost city of antiquity. Rather than being a story or a faraway place, Atlantis is all around you, or so Grandfather says. When Grandfather dies, the boy searches through his wooden chest and finds a door to Atlantis, pictured here as a surreal, magical seascape. The boy then tries to see the world with his grandfather&(...)

literary

YEAR: 1993

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Arcadia Atlantis Styx Titans Underworld

Burt Gillett

Playful Pan

As it is a short animation with no dialogues in it, the story has no elaborate content. The plot centers on the god of nature – Pan – who dances with plants and animals – brought to life by his magical flute. The party includes the whole world – also the sky and clouds on it, they start to dance with such intensity that it produces a lightning bolt. It strikes the tree and starts a fire. The trees that before danced with smiles on their faces, now are burning and turn to (...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1930

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Arcadia Pan

Mo Willems

Sheep in the Big City

A male (thus, referred to as “he” during the whole show) sheep – called Sheep, escaped from his owner, Farmer John, because a certain military organization (The Top-Secret Military Organization) owns a sheep-powered ray gun invented by The Angry Scientist (a scientist persistently called by mistake The Mad Scientist by the other characters, which of course makes him angrier). Sheep is the only sheep that can power the ray gun, because the weapon has a hole exactly his size. Thu(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2000

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Ancient Sacrifice Arcadia Calydonian Boar Centaur(s) Erymanthian Boar Greece Medusa

Christelle Dabos

The Missing of Clairdelune [Les Disparus du Clairdelune] (The Mirror Visitor Quartet [La Passe-Miroir], 2)

The Missing of Clairdelune, follows two narrative strands, the story of Ophelia and the backstory of Farouk. Ophelia’s story begins in the Gynaeceum on the Ark of the Pole, where she is now under the protection of Farouk (Family Spirit of The Pole and Master of Spirits) in the Gynaeceum. Farouk appoints Ophelia as ‘Vice Storyteller’. The Pole’s Ambassador, Archibald, a member of The Web (a clan of telepathically linked individuals), introduces Ophelia to her new guar(...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: France

TAGS: Arcadia Artemis Daedalus Helen Janus Labyrinth Midas Norse Mythology Ouranos / Uranus Persephone Pollux Venus

Robert (Bob) Blaisdell, Althea (Thea) Kliros

The Story of Hercules (in Easy-to-Read Type)

Hercules narrates his story, beginning with his birth as the mortal son of a god. He talks of how he was a child prodigy in warfare but failed at learning music. After killing the teacher that belittles him about failing at music, Hercules goes out into the world to learn what he can. After Hera challenges Zeus to prove Hercules is worthy of being immortal, Hercules jumps at the opportunity and completes twelve labours. (...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Achelous Achilles Admetus Aegean Sea Aeolia Aeolus Aeson Alcestis Alcmene Alcyonian Lake Althaea / Althea Amazons Amphitryon Antaeus / Antaios Aphrodite Apollo Apples of the Hesperides Arcadia Ares Argo Argolid Argonauts Athena Atlas Augeas Autolycos Automedusa Black Sea / Pontus Euxinus Calydon Castor Centaur(s) Cerberus Ceryneian Hind Chiron / Cheiron Cretan Bull Crete Cronus / Kronos Deianeira Diomedes (of Thrace) Diomedes’ Mares Echidna Elerion Enceladus Erymanthian Boar Erymanthus Eurystheus Eurytos Gaia / Gaea Geryon Giants Golden Fleece Greece Hades Hephaestus Hera Heracles Hercules Hesione Hippolyta's Belt Hydra Hylas Immortality Iolaus Iole Iphicles Ithaca Jason Linus Minos Minotaur Mycenae Nemean Lion Nephele Nessus Nymphs Odysseus / Ulysses Olympus Orpheus Pallene Pasiphae Peloponnese Perseus Pholus Pillars of Hercules Poseidon Rhea Stymphalian Birds Telamon Thebes Theiodamas (King) Themiscyra / Themyscira Thespis Tiryns Titans Troy Twelve Labours of Heracles Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Zeus

Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows

The story of Mole, Ratty, Toad, and Badger and their lives in and around an English river. Mole wakes one morning, aroused by the feeling of Spring in the air, and sets out into the wide world. There, he meets Ratty, a river rat, who invites him to join in a boating picnic. From there, it is a short jump to meeting Toad, a lively and affluent creature who lives at Toad Hall, and who careens through the landscape with careless abandon, much to the annoyance of Badger, old and crusty. Most of the (...)

literary

YEAR: 1908

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Arcadia Pan Rome