Teens Only | Be Careful What You Wish For

With all the great books of fiction featuring gods and goddesses, not the least of which is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, you're no doubt very familiar with all those famous gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman legend.

 

But do you really know those gods and goddesses? There are some cool (and some cruel!) stories you might very much enjoy.

 

And so allow me to recommend A Gift From Zeus: Sixteen Favorite Myths by Jeanne and William Steig. (P.S. William Steig is the author of the first book I ever read all by myself: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.) But back to gods and goddesses.

 

The Steigs have put together 16 stories that will inform and entertain you. Seriously. You'll learn something.

 

Case in point: you've heard the warnings about opening Pandora's box, right? Bad things will happen if you do. But what was in Pandora's box, after all?

 

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Pandora was warned not to open the box, but curiosity got the best of her. She thought she could risk just one quick peek. But when she opened the box, just a crack, out flew a myriad of hideous things which were, according to the Steigs:

 

Carbuncles, Quagmires, and Jiggery-Pokery,

Colic, Depravity, Lummoxes, Louts,

Barbed Wire, Insomnia, Practical Jokery,

Treachery, Lechery, Deluge, and Droughts,

 

Truculence, Toothache, and Dandruff and Thuggery,

Blight and Sciatica, Gallstones, Tight Shoes,

Sinkholes and Nigglers and Nits and Skullduggery,

Anchovies, Avarice, Dudgeon, The Blues.

 

Hey Pandora: thanks a lot!

 

This book is a fun read. I'm so enjoying learning more about Zeus, Venus, Perseus, Orpheus and all the rest. And for those writers out there, think about writing a short story with one of these gods or goddesses living in the modern world. Can you just imagine?

 

Happy Reading...and Writing!