BookBairn received some post last week! Thanks @toppsta for the copies to review. In many ways, I'm disappointed to only have two of t...

MiNi Myths for MiNi Readers

Tuesday, October 06, 2015 BookBairn 1 Comments

BookBairn received some post last week! Thanks @toppsta for the copies to review. In many ways, I'm disappointed to only have two of these books to review, they are fantastic! 'Please Share, Aphrodite!' and 'Be Careful, Icarus!' are the two latest books in the Mini Myths series by Joan Holub with artwork by Leslie Patricelli. Similar to the collection of BabyLit books we reviewed previously (A Reply to the BBC: Do children still need to read the classics of English literature?these books are as much for grown-ups as they are for kiddies.

BookBairn enjoyed ripping open the parcel so much that she tore through the certificate of congratulations for winning the books! And she didn't stop there, we've had these books for a week and we've read them dozens of times already. The cartoon-style artwork is ideal for little ones and I particularly liked the colourful but plain backgrounds allowing BookBairn to focus on the pictures. This fun and simple approach to telling children's stories is fresh and places as much importance on stimulating illustrations with simple and concise text.

I like the fact that the author and illustrator have found a perfect balance between few words that truly tell a story and engaging illustrations for babies and tots. The stories are humorous and clever, retelling traditional myths whilst including a moral appropriate and accessible to their readers. For grown-ups and older children the final page of the book retells the original myth, which helped me make connections between the characters and the moral portrayed in the story. For those of you, like me, unfamiliar with the story of Icarus: he flies too close to the sun and the wings his father made melt so he falls down and splashes into the sea. In the Mini Myth version, Icarus and his father build a kite but Icarus isn't very careful and crashes it into a tree. With Aphrodite, in the original myth she gets into a stooshie (love a Scots word!) with Hera and Athena about who is the most beautiful and Zeus asks Paris to choose, they each try to bribe him with gifts. In the Mini Myth, Aphrodite wins the admiration of Paris by providing a toy as a gift and gets his (golden) apple in exchange; but then she is left out of playing with the other girls and has to share her prize to gain their friendship.

What a fantastic idea! I'm no classical-whizz but these books are adorable! Both in the re-telling of the myths and in the story-telling through words and pictures. These books are delightful and BookBairn is currently at the perfect stage to enjoy the illustrations but she will also be able to enjoy them again as she progresses to better understand the story and the morals, and, likely, she will enjoy them again when she becomes an early-stage reader due to the simplicity of the language. Great investment books to last several years!


Thanks for reading, Mummy and BookBairn xx
  

1 comment:

  1. Sorry Mummy was never read the story about Icarus (poor parenting) but I'm very glad BookBairn has been introduced to the Mini Myth. What a great idea.

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