Medusa Jones

Publishers Weekly

In the same family as this season's Pandora Gets Jealous (Reviews, Jan. 21) but for a younger audience, this witty romp through Greek mythology pictures Medusa in childhood, persecuted by the popular crowd-Theseus, Perseus and "gorgeous but pessimistic" Cassandra. The self-styled Champions torment "freaks" like Medusa, who has snakes instead of hair, and her friends Chiron the centaur and the bullish Minotaur, whose dad got carried away adding on to the house, which is now so complicated that Mino can go for days without finding his parents. Medusa has the family ability to turn her enemies into stone, but her sensible parents won't let her: "You have to work out other ways of dealing with people who get on your nerves," they counsel in characteristically contemporary language. In his first novel, Collins (Alvie Eats Soup) extends the joke with plenty of brio. Medusa doesn't like to read, because "her headsnakes had a habit of turning the pages back when one of them had missed an important plot point"; Medea appears as a nasty teacher; and the three-headed dog, Cerberus, plays a vital role as Medusa's pet-but readers don't need to know the myths to enjoy the rousing plot. Imaginatively laid out pages that incorporate energetic b&w illustrations of varying size welcome readers. Ages 9-12. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007Reed Business Information

Children's Literature

Medusa Jones lives in Ancient Greece. She is a gorgon with live snakes for hair. She has the ability to change people and things into stone but her parents tell her that doing so would be impolite. Medusa’s pet dog Cerberus has three heads which triples his appetite and his amount of drool. Medusa’s best friends are Chiron, a young centaur with the torso of a boy and the body of a foal, and Mino, a Minotaur with the body of a boy and the head of a bull. The bane of the three friends lives are the Champions: Perseus, Theseus, and Cassandra. When these six classmates end up on an overnight field trip, an emergency ensues and Medusa feels impelled to use her unusual powers. Numerous ink-line drawings add to the understanding and humor of the story. Middle school readers with a basic understanding of Greek mythology (who get past the gory scene in a beauty salon with a scissors wielding stylist) may enjoy this modern day parody. Reviewer: Phyllis Kennemer, Ph.D.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5
Medusa is picked on by the other children at Acropolis Academy. After all, having snakes for hair offers up many opportunities for taunts. When she and her friends are paired up with the three biggest bullies in the school for a chaperone-less overnight camping trip up Mt. Olympus, it's her biggest nightmare. However, she and her pals prove their strength of character as they help out one another and then rescue the bullies. The story is engaging, and Medusa is a sympathetic character. However, readers who aren't familiar with the mythology might miss some of the humor, such as Mino the Minotaur constantly getting lost in his own home. Some liberties are taken with Medusa's character. She's a Gorgon but her parents have forbidden her to turn anyone to stone. She does, however, turn a tree into stone to create a stable bridge. The troublemakers are rather one-dimensional and it is odd to see Perseus and Theseus portrayed as whining bullies. Still, the story is fun and the black-and-white line drawings, many full-page, are expressive and humorous. Medusa's friend Chiron may be half horse, but the human half carries a backpack, has messy hair, and wears glasses. Cerberus, Medusa's three-headed pup, is appealing even when scaring the bullies. Offer Medusa Jones to mythology fans who aren't quite ready for Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series (Hyperion/Miramax).
—Kelly RothCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.