Adventures of the Greek Heroes

Stories of the Greek heroes and their many adventures have been continously told for over 2,500 years. They are beautiful stories that still resonate in the modern world. These are foundation stories and educated people need to be famliar with them. There is nothing like introducing people to these stories in their childhood. Most of the great heroes are present in "Adventures of the Greek Heroes". This volume serves as a great introduction to the tales of Hercules, Perseus, Theseus,Orpheus, Meleager and Jason. The stories are reduced down to their key elements and are best suited for young children. Whenever you pare classic stories down to their basic elements, there are plenty of legitimate grounds for criticism. This book is best understood as a gateway into the world of Greek Mythology. I look forward to reading more about these heroes in other books.

This was the first book I read as a 6-year-old after the basic learn-to-read primers. It sparked a love for Greek myths and other classics that has lasted to this day. There are some changes in the text, but it puts the plot in terms a child can understand without embarrassing a parent. Came back to buy the book for my own daughter.

A resource/reading teacher at the third grade level for almost three decades, I have used Adventures of the Greek Heroes to great effect at the beginning of the year. The book is on a beginning third grade level. The controlled vocabulary will annoy older readers, but suits young readers. A great introduction to the Greek myths, and surprisinly detailed in its accounts of the six or so heroes on which it is mainly focused: Prometheus, Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Orpheus, Jason. It's about 170 pages and well-illustrated. Adventures of the Greek Heroes is by no means comprehensive. For that you need D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, which is on about a fifth grade level. A wonderful book that is indeed encyclopedic. It begins with the origins of the gods and proceeds roughly chronologically to the Trojan war.Wiseman and McClean's Adventures of the Greek Heroes, nonetheless, is a very valuable introduction for younger readers, eight and nine year olds, particularly for boys, who, as we all know, are less inclined to read. This book motivates third grade boys like few others.

... The purpose of a children's book on mythology is not tooffer adult versions of the myths in any didactic manner, but topresent the myths in a manner that would interest a child, and Iremember reading this book over and over when I was young and lovingit. The stories are exciting and the drawings very nice, and while Inever really became interested in Greek myths later, I still have mycopy of this book thirty years later. For a child, this is a fine bookof adventure stories, and it need be no more.

My daughter read this book when she was 6, and it really got her excited about Greek mythology. True, it's not the most comprehensive account of most Greek myths, but then the stories have to be boiled down quite a bit for very young readers. Complications of the original stories--such as sex and violence--have to be soft-pedaled. I think this books is a good first encounter with Greek myths. After all, it's hard to go wrong when you have those great monsters and heroes.