Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Małgorzata Musierowicz

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.Jeżycjada is a saga about life of succeeding generations of families from a district of Poznań, Jeżyce. It began in December 1975. Most of the volumes highlight problems of ado(...)

literary

YEAR: 1977

COUNTRY: Poland

TAGS: Aristophanes Aspasia Classical philology Cyclops / Cyclopes Great Fire of Rome Homer Horace Hydra Hypatia Ides of March Jove Laocoön Group Latin Latin literature Lotus-eater Marcus Aurelius Matricide Nero Ovid Pyrrhic victory Roman history Roman nose Roman wedding rituals Seneca Socrates Styx Sybil Virgil

Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson & The Olympians (Series, Book 1): The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson is the twelve-year-old protagonist of the series and narrates the events of the book. Percy is dyslexic and has ADHD, and his behaviour leads to his expulsion from a number of schools. His life changes dramatically after his maths teacher transforms into a fury during a school trip demanding Percy return something that has been stolen. This leads to Percy discovering that he is a demigod and that the gods, heroes and monsters of Ancient Greece are in fact real and that they inhabit(...)

literary

YEAR: 2005

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Ares Athena/ Athene Centaurs Cerberus Charon Chimaera Chimera Delphic Oracle Dionysus Echidna Furies Hades Heroic itinerary Iris Katabasis Kronos / Cronus / Cronos Land of the Lotus Eaters Lotus-eater Medusa Minotaur Monsters Nereid Olympus Pan Perseus Poseidon Procrustes Satyr Underworld Zeus

Sulari Gentill

The Hero Trilogy (Series, Book 1): Chasing Odysseus

This is the first book in the author’s Hero trilogy. The story of Chasing Odysseus starts in the final days of the Trojan War. Its heroes are three teenaged brothers (Machaon, Cadmus and Lycon) and their younger sister (Hero). Their adoptive father, Agelaus, is a leader of the Herdsmen, a fiercely independent community, allied to the Trojans, who live on the slopes of Mt Ida. The Herdsmen, traditional protectors of the Trojan people, have been secretly supplying the Trojans with food (...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Achilles Aeneas Aeolus Agamemnon Alcinous Amazons Arete Calypso Charybdis Cicones Circe Cyclops / Cyclopes Demodocus Eurylochus Gods Helen Hermes Island of the Sun Lotus-eater Menelaus Nausicaa Odysseus/ Ulysses Pan Pantheon Paris Penthesilea Phaeacia Polyphemus Priam Scamandrios Scylla Sirens Tiresias Troy Underworld

Cynthia Voigt

The Tillerman Cycle (Series)

The Tillerman Cycle follows the lives of four siblings – Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy Tillerman – abandoned by their parents and in search of a new home. Over the course of seven novels, spanning nearly a decade in the children’s lives, Voigt explores themes of family, home, resilience, and the relationship between individuals and society. Brief summaries of the novels are included below; for more detailed summaries, see the individual entries elsewhere in the OMC survey.Hom(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Alexander the Great Ancient Greek Dance Apollo Aristotle Circe Classics vs. Modern in education Cyrus the Great Daedalus Dryades Fall of Rome Hippocratic Oath Homer Horace Icarus Lotus-eater Mortal/Immortal Nemesis Odysseus/ Ulysses Odyssey Orion Penelope Persian Empire Phaeton Pleiades Polyphemus Scylla Sisyphus Trojan War Venus

Cynthia Voigt

Tillerman Cycle (Series, Book 1): Homecoming

Homecoming tells the story of four siblings – Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy Tillerman – who are abandoned by their mother (their father had already abandoned the family some years before). Led by the eldest, Dicey, the children make their way mostly on foot down the east coast of the United States. They come across a range of settings and characters with both realist and archetypal features including: runaway teenagers in the woods, students on a university campus, their bland(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Circe Homer Lotus-eater Odysseus/ Ulysses Penelope Polyphemus Scylla The Odyssey

Cynthia Voigt

Tillerman Cycle (Series, Book 6): Sons From Afar

Sons from Afar (1987) is the only Tillerman novel that focuses on two main characters, with the perspective alternating between James Tillerman and his younger brother Sammy. As they go through adolescence, the brothers (James in particular) struggle to cope with the lack of a father figure and begin a quest to find out more about their father, Francis Verricker. They visit Francis’s former schoolteachers and discover that their father was a gambler and a cheat. Eventually, the boys&r(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Apollo Homer Icarus Lotus-eater Orion Penelope Phaeton Pleiades Scylla Sisyphus