Monsters

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This entry in the series delves into the subject of monsters as they appear in the mythologies of Greece, Persia, Africa, India, Scandinavia, and North America. Nardo delivers a scholarly and interesting book. Each chapter deals with a different culture and its stories; all begin with a very short introduction and go on to explore that culture's myths by examining the monsters and their battles with mortals and gods. A number of nicely captioned, black-and-white pictures accompany the text. Numerous, shaded sidebars present quotes from scholarly works or from religious epics while others expand on issues brought up by the tales. Not for casual readers or monster-story lovers, this book presents a good amount of information on the literature of ancient peoples. The writing can be a little dry at times; nevertheless, this would make a good choice for school libraries and large public libraries.-Timothy Capehart, Dayton & Montgomery County Public Library, Dayton, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.