Greatest Greek myths by Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner

(The Comic Strip series). Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN 978 1408804490.
(Ages 7+) Humour. Recommended. At their bare bones, many Greek myths are bloody and downright nasty, and a comic strip version is just what is needed to garner interest from middle primary people, and who knows they may look further to read the complete myth in the many versions available. But this book stands firmly on its own, funny, clever, majestically drawn, the reader will be swallowed whole by the laugh a minute antics of the gods and their playthings.
The first few pages introduce the reader to the gods on high, Aphrodite. Hestia, Apollo, to name a few, with a well wrought phrase under each picture which sums up their character. Then on to the stories, beginning with, where else, the beginning, then on to Persephone and her time in the underworld, going on to Pandora letting the evils of the world escape form her box, and so on, until we reach the hapless Helen of Troy and the war unleashed in her name.
Possibly unknown to a younger audience, this introduction gives the bare outline of the stories in such a sharp and funny way that readers will not only be informed but delighted. This small, hard cover book with a strong binding is just right for this age group.
Fran Knight