Does your child love stories but find ordinary books boring quickly? Then Greek heroes is a must. It is full of drawings, some of which were also made by children. They bring the stories of Greek gods and exciting adventures of heroes to life.
There are plenty of children's books that deal with history, but these are often made-up stories that take place in earlier times. When it is not made up, children quickly find it too much like a textbook. The creators of Greek heroes have found something nice about that. They made a book full of exciting stories from classical antiquity. Children learn more about Greek myths, gods and heroes in a playful way.
Not for the little ones
The book begins with stories about the origin of the earth, the Greek gods and their quarrels. They're just like people… Then we descend via demigods &Greek heroes to the mere mortals that appear in mythical stories. The longer stories are sometimes a bit complicated, especially because of the many strange-sounding names from Antiquity. And here and there, as befits Greek mythology, it is a bit violent. This book is therefore not for the youngest.
There is no age indication, but I am thinking of the upper years of primary school. And if you want to read it before, you can also hop through the stories and pick out the easier parts or just look at the drawings. You don't necessarily have to start at the beginning. Because the book is so varied and colorful, it will also appeal to children who find it difficult to concentrate on long stretches of text.
Cyclope jab
The book Greek heroes is more like a holiday activity book than a reading book. It contains poems, stories, comics, a play to perform in the classroom, lots of drawings and games. And all this in the time of the ancient Greeks. How about Cyclops jab? Draw this ferocious giant with one eye, make three separate eyes for each participant and try to pin them onto the Cyclops blindfolded!
The short pieces of Greek ABC are a great example of learning through stories. With every Greek letter, including the pronunciation, there is a piece with surprising facts. This way your child will find out where Pandora's box comes from or how the slimy courtier Damokles ends up under a sword ... For parents, who know these expressions but not always the story behind them, this is also fun to read.
Illustration Competition
Greek Heroes is not only a book, but also a special project, which gives it an extra good factor for me. Children themselves contributed to it. The illustrations were created by children and beginning illustrators who took part in the international Start Award illustration competition. The text was created with the help of classicist Hein van Dolen, but here too children made their own contributions.
Greek Heroes is published by BoekieBoekie of the Autoped foundation, with the beautiful goal 'to challenge, seduce and encourage children and young people to rise above themselves through language and/or images and thus give them the opportunity discover their talent', according to their website.
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If your child is inspired by this beautifully illustrated book, they can also submit their own illustrations before January 7, 2019. Who knows, they might end up in the new BoekieBoekie of 2019 with the subject Pinocchio. The conditions can be found on the competition website (international so in English) start award.