The Wanderings of Odysseus

My 5-year-old son adores this book--and so do I. He's been through it 3 times already--at his request. I bought it for him, intending to read it when he was older--and when he first asked to read it I was a bit skeptical about whether or not he was ready. I was game to try, though, and he just ate it up. He also loved Sutcliff's Black Ships before Troy, and we're just starting our second reading of that. You wouldn't believe him running around making bows and arrows out of sticks and playing Odysseus on the playground at school! He knows the whole thing by heart. But the real reason I offer my kudos to the many already here is that, again at my son's request, we recently started Padraic Colum's old children's Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy. We got a few chapters into Colum, and the somewhat dated language wasn't too much of a problem, or at least it wasn't the real issue... but eventually we just stopped and both realized how much we both preferred Sutciff. Her telling is just much more powerful and moving, and her language is beautiful. She handles the narrative much more effectively. Granted, Sutcliff employs highly stylized language for a kid's book--but it is suggestive of the original (not that my 5-year-old cares)--and it has some of the magic of true poetry, and my 5-year-old does care about that, even if he can't put his finger on it yet. Alan Lee's illustrations also are simply some of the finest I've seen in any children's books. Really, no child should go without reading these books. Given the fact that so many of us are stressing how much our kids love these books, I do want to mention how much I have enjoyed them as well. I'm a professor of American literature, and I love reading these books to my son because I have all the joy of reading the Odyssey and Illiad again. It is a wonder the way Sutcliff manages to make her work accessible to kids and truly poetic, without dumbing things down. I think my son senses this as well, and I think that's one reason he loves these books so much.

This was a great book. It tells you about Odysseus and his great adventures with the Cyclops, Circe, and more. It is among my favorite books. I sat down every time I wanted to read it and went into his world. I had a blast reading this book. I also think you will.

The greatest book on Homer's "Odyssey" that I have ever read, and I tell you that I have read lots of books on the "Odyssey" and they were junk. This book was really great and I think that Rosemary Sutcliff and Alan Lee should write and illustrate books about the other heroes of the Trojan War, like the death of Agamemnon, and the wanderings of Menelaus in Africa, and the death of Agamemnon's wife murdered by her children. They, then fled away and only the City of Athens allowed them to be there and be judged for what they had done. Alan Lee and Rosemary Sutcliff did a great gob on both books they wrote: "Black Ships Before Troy" and "The Wanderings Of Odysseus". Both books were marvells and I bought both as soon as I saw them, and now I read them all the time! I love to read books about Ancient Greece and I really loved these books that they wrote as a team. ACHILLES

This version of The Odyssey is beautifully illustrated, but even if you do not show them the pictures, your children will sit spellbound by the poetic language used by Rosemary Sutcliffe. The many adventures of Odysseus on his way home from the Trojan War were thrilling to my 6- and 8-year-old children, and I often found them acting out the day's reading with their stuffed animals later in the afternoon. This is not a "dumbed-down" version of the Odyssey-- it is appropriate for adults as well as children. The poetic style of Homer's original is continued by Sutcliffe. I heartily recommend this book, as well as her book, "Black Ships Before Troy", which is her version of Homer's "The Iliad".

I just finished reading the Wanderings of Odysseus to my five year old. Most people would hesitate to read something so complex to one so young, but Ms. Sutcliff breaks up the scenes into manageable bits, which are beautifully illustrated. And while I did need to simplify and explain many of Ms. Sutcliff's words to my little one, she actually looked forward to reading it. I guess the best compliment that I can pay to this version, is that I read it 3 years ago to my oldest child who was then 5. As I read it to my younger one, my older child would come in periodically to find out what part we were on. He still remembered it quite well and even stopped to listen to it frequently. There are precious few books that appeal to so many ages.