ALA Booklist (Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2001)

for reading aloud. Spires, author of The Mouse of Amherst (1999) makes ancient tales unusually vivid and immediate by recasting them as first-person accounts. Here, Arachne and Midas ruefully admit their mistakes, Pan fondly recalls encounters with mountain nymphs, and Sisyphus begs readers, Just . . . give . . . me . . . a . . . moment . . and . . . I'll . . . tell . . . you . . . why . . . I'm . . . here as he pushes onward. Readers also stand to gain a new appreciation, if that's the word, for Narcissus (Oh me, oh my, another boring day in the underworld! Which mirror shall I look in first today?), and sympathy for the usually silent Eurydice, who, despite local headlines (HADES DISPATCH: Stones Weep, Trees Bow Down at Poet's Grief), proves herself a better poet than Orpheus. Mordicai Gerstein's crosshatched ink drawings add touches of visual elegance to the stylish retellings. The distinct, individual voices Spires gives her various humans, gods, and demigods make this a promising source of monologue material as well as a truly memorable read-aloud candidate.

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-These tales are presented as first-person accounts, each one no more than six pages, accompanied by a lighthearted drawing that adds little to the story. The softest version is presented-Arachne does not kill herself; Pandora suffers no consequences for her actions; and Midas never touches his daughter, sparing her his golden curse. In addition, the author sometimes ends up spelling out details. Some of the segments are true to the ancient world, while others include anachronisms such as newspapers. It is difficult to determine who the intended audience may be, as the writing is simple, yet some of the versions are a bit sophisticated, and readers familiar with these myths will better appreciate the point of view adopted in the tellings.-Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Aloha, OR Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2002)

These brief, breezy retellings of myths are each voiced by one of its protagonists. Gerstein's full-page pen drawings are lively with action; like the text, they scrap heroism in favor of engaging humor. These piquant versions will attract a broad range of readers, while their playful manipulation of point of view is entertainingly provocative.

Kirkus Reviews

Each of these episodes from Greek and Roman mythology is only a few pages long, each is told in the first person, and most of them have the whiny and dissatisfied voice of adolescence. Of course, many of the protagonists were adolescents: Arachne bemoans her vanity in challenging a goddess to a weaving contest and is changed to a spider for her pains; Pandora has to open that box; Narcissus falls in love with the beautiful boy who is his reflection. People get changed to sunflowers (Clytie) or reeds (Syrinx) or stars (Callisto). Ostensibly a new way of looking at these characters—from their own points of view—the result is a flippant tone and a diminishing of the luster of the well-known stories. A bit of verse appears here and there; the illustrations are winsome or melodramatic by turns. A cast of characters (not very much more enlightening than their chapters) and places complete this small volume. Hard to say who the audience is, but kids who have memorized all the Hercules and Xena episodes might enjoy this. (Nonfiction. 9-12)