The Adventures of Achilles by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden

The Adventures of Achilles, by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden, illustrated by Carole Henaff.  Barefoot Books, 2012, 96 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages10-12

Maturity Level: 3 (10-12) and up

Bottom line: This retelling of The Iliad, illustrated in the classic style. serves as an effective introduction to the story for middle graders,  in spite of veiled sexual references.

Our story begins with the King of the gods gazing down at the doings of earth creatures: “Zeus wiles away whole centuries watching the little figures scurrying to their deaths.”  He has a well-known weakness for mortal or demigod women, and the latest to take his fancy is the sea-nymph Thetis.  But Thetis is destined to have a son who grows up to be greater than his father, and Zeus can’t have that.  So Plan B is to marry her off to a mortal, and after she conceives a son by that husband she’ll be safe for Zeus, because Zeus will be safe from any murderous progeny.  There’s some “lying with” in this retelling, so you might want to skim it first to make sure it’s suitable for your audience.  The paternity of certain characters is essential to the plot, which forms the backstory to the Trojan War.  For Thetis’s son is, of course, Achilles: the hero, if there is one, of that epic conflict.

The narrative is measured and slightly formalistic, as though we were listening to a blind poet in a smoky hall.  All the highlights and heroes of Homer’s epic make their appearance, in very stylized illustrations that echo the figures on Grecian urns–with generous dashes of modern fancy.  Both solid and imaginative, The Adventures of Achilles makes a good introduction to The Iliad for middle-schoolers.  A CD is included in the version I read.  NOTE: this volume follows The Adventures of Odysseus, published in 2010.  I haven’t seen that one–there was some “lying with” in that story too, as I recall, but it’s probably worth checking out.

Cautions: Sexuality

Overall value: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3
• Artistic value: 5

Categories: Middle Grades, Classics, Literature, Mythology

reluctant readers, mythology, Greek mythology, classics, literature, Homer, Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 9-12, Maturity level: 3 (10-12) and up, The Adventures of Achilles, Hugh Lupton, Carole Henaff, Daniel Morden