This book was amazing to me the first time I read it and continues to touch me deeply....so much so that I just spent $90. for an old used copy so that I could own it and return to it again and again. It is the story of all women, women who are taken from their true selves to serve others, in places that are foreign to their souls. And, of course, the story of her return. A children's book, but one that speaks to all ages. Magical. Timeless. I have heard that this story has been told in many languages for many hundreds of years. I would welcome any information that anyone has about this.

This story has a gripping plot with a wonderfully poignant ending. Children will empathise with the dilemma facing the mother and her children in this tale.

I just want to encourage you guys to write more of those books.If you make more of those books I will make sure I'm there first to get the first book.How did Eve's children have kids and get married? By: Caitlin and Tara

It is time for the people of Athens to send seven young men and seven young women as tribute to Minos, king of Crete, to be fed to the Minotaur, his half-man half-bull son. However, Theseus, the son of Aegeus, vows to slaw the Minotaur and end the ghastly tribute. Like the epic poems of Homer, Warwick Hutton begins his retelling of the myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur" in media res, so there is nothing about the story of how Theseus came to Athens. In Crete, Theseus is added by Ariadne, daughter of Minos, whom he pledges to take her back to Athens as his bride.

There are two diverse stories in classical mythology of what happened to Ariadne on the voyage back to Athens, although all the tales agree that Theseus returned without her. One has it that she was seasick and went ashore to recover, only to have a violent wind carry the ship to sea. By the time Theseus returned, Ariadne had died. Hutton goes with the version less favorable to the hero, where he abandons her on an island. I admit I am curious as to Hutton's reasoning, although it could simply be that he only used one source. I would have thought the other version would better explain why Theseus forgot to raise the white sail before the ship came within sight of Athens. In his pen and watercolor paintings, Hutton works in authentic Minoan art, architecture and costumes, an attention to detail I certainly appreciate. This is something young readers should recognize, especially since this book might not only inspire them to read more tales from classical mythology but also because they might be interested in looking at some archeological books on the civilization on ancient Crete.

Whoever reviewed this book in "editorial" needs to have their eyes examined. Grotesque watercolors? Inept humor? What are they talking about? This is the FIRST version of the Tinderbox by H.C. Anderson, one of my favorite fairy tales that I've really found to be pleasing. The three dogs with humoungous eyes are delightfully fantastic, and the hero and heroine well rendered. The more bloodthirsty and amoral elements of the tale are changed (ie: the soldier doesn't lop off the witch's head but instead traps her in a deep pit) to its improvement, IMHO. Warhola's watercolors are cheerful, fairly realistic, quite appropriate for the lighthearted and rambunctious story.
A great introduction to an exuberant tale for the young, especially for boys. It's not a wimpy fairytale by any means, even if there is a princess and kissing at the end. Warhola and Thompson do a commendable job. Should be reprinted!

I should admit up from I am an "Iliad" person rather than an "Odyssey" person; I always thought Homer glossed over the most interesting parts of the epic, which was all the adventures on the way home. Warwick Hutton retells one of the most famous of those adventures in "Odysseus and the Cyclops," illustrated by his pen and watercolor illustrations. Hutton tells the story in an informal style that mutes much of the horror of Homer's version. I was thinking it was too bad that Hutton couple not tell more of Odysseus's adventures, but neither the episode with the sirens, the sorceress Circe, or Calypso, readily lend themselves to Hutton's series of mythological tales. Still, it would be nice to see Hutton take a try at the entire epic, because when they read this book they are going to be interested in finding out more about this Greek hero (who actually was considered more of a bad-boy pirate than an ideal hero by the ancient Greeks).

Warwick Hutton offers a simple and direct retelling of the myth of Perseus from being cast into the sea in a wooden chest as a babe along with his mother, to being tricked by an evil king into fetching the head of Medusa, to rescuing Andromeda from a sea monster. There is a sense in which the story of Perseus is more of a fairy tale than a myth, since Athena and Hermes give the hero magical items to help him with his task. The story was very popular with the Greeks, with references found in the works of Simonidees, Hesiod and Pindar. The entire story is told by both Ovid and Apollodorus. Hutton illustrates the story with watercolor paintings, with are quite effective except for the rather buffoonish head of Medusa we see on the cover. This is rather ironic since we never see the Gorgon's face throughout the book, until the very last painting where it adorns the aegis, the great shield of Zeus carried by Athena. However, expect children who have seen "The Clash of the Titans" to quibble with Hutton's different, but mythologically accurate, telling of the tale.

Anyone who is familiar with the ballad "Tam Lin" knows it's a story that is very much for grown-ups, or at least teenagers. Susan Cooper does a very good job here of adapting the old story so that it's suitable for any age. It requires changing a few plot elements, but the essential spirit of the story remains the same.

Margaret is tired of sewing and acting polite and talking about future husbands with the other girls at her father's castle, so she runs away to the woods of Carterhays to pick flowers. She has been expressly forbidden to go there, of course. There, she meets the handsome Tam Lin, and after arguing for a minute over who really owns the forest, they spend a pleasant afternoon talking and becoming friends in the woods. When Margaret gets back home, she's in big trouble--she has actually been gone a week! Her unlikely friendship with Tam Lin leads her to sneak out once again, to rescue him from the faeries during one of their processions. She has to hold on to him as he turns into all sorts of scary animals--and, well, you know the rest. Cooper does a wonderful job of depicting the feisty Margaret, and of adapting the story into something perfect for a little girl's shelf of fairy tale books.

I subtracted a star because I don't think the art really captures the magic of the story; it's too "cute" and too simple. But maybe I'm just spoiled by Kinuko Craft's cover for McKillip's _Winter Rose_. It just seems like the land of Faery requires absolutely lush artwork.