Overview
From acclaimed illustrator and author G. Brian Karas comes a witty tale about navigating family and finding one's voice-based on Greek mythology!This is the story of how young Zeus, with a little help from six monsters, five Greek gods, an enchanted she-goat, and his mother, became god of gods, master of lightning and thunder, and ruler over all. in doing so, he learned a lot about family. Who knew that having relatives could be so complicated, even for a god?
Synopsis
This is the story of how young Zeus, with a little help from six monsters, five Greek gods, an enchanted she-goat, and his mother, became god of gods, master of lightning and thunder, and ruler over all. in doing so, he learned a lot about family. Who knew that having relatives could be so complicated, even for a god?
Brian Karas says about his inspiration for this book, "I've been interested in working with myths, but I felt as though I needed a personal connection. I am of Italian and Greek descent so I started to think of my Greek heritage. But the world of Greek mythology was unknown to me and in a way felt inaccessible, until I learned more. The Greek believed their gods and goddesses to be, among other things, very human-like in their emotions and behavior. They had complicated family relations. They were flawed on many levels - they could be petty, impulsive and unreasonable. I started to recognize them. Then I travelled to Greece, I knew this place! This personal connection gave me what I felt I needed to work with a Greek myth. But which?
"I am also interested in the beginnings of things. When I started researching I kept looking for the ultimate source, the very first account, and largely drew from Hesiod's Thegony. Being interested in origins, I was also drawn to the Greek's version of the very beginning of things and it was here that I settled on the story of Zeus. There is much written about his reign as ruler of heaven and earth but very little about his youth and rise to power. The story of how his mother hid him on the island of Crete is a familiar one but there was a big gap in everything I read of what happened in between his life as an infant and his glorydays. Young Zeus is my account of how things might have gone for young Zeus and what led him to become the omnipotent almighty god that he was believed to be."
Publishers Weekly
Karas (On Earth) opens this spirited embellishment of Zeus's little-documented boyhood with an author's note explaining that he drew from early accounts of the Greek gods and “true to the nature of myths, imagined the rest.” Fans of Greek mythology will be familiar with the details of Zeus's childhood on Crete in the care of the enchanted goat, Amaltheia, hidden from his father, Cronus, who has swallowed his siblings. But Karas's imagination serves him well in making Zeus a relatable character (Zeus's motivation for rescuing the other gods is to be able to “play with my brothers and sisters”). Droll dialogue and asides mitigate the tale's dark undertones: after Zeus frees his siblings (who look “surprisingly good” for having been eaten whole), they bicker about who's boss, and a hungry dragon asks Zeus if he's “a sweet meaty treat.” Energetic, airy gouache and pencil cartoons playfully skew scale and also keep the tone light, as when the diminutive young gods pounce on gigantic Cronus (“Take that!”) before throwing him into the sea, and thunderbolt-hurling Zeus dispenses with the mammoth Titans. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)