Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Greek Mythology - The Latest Trend in YA Literature


So says the Los Angeles Times recently in reviewing a couple Greek myth-based stories.

From the piece...

America seems to be a good place for Greek gods these days. Chiron, the centaur who taught Hercules and countless demigod heroes of legend, explains the migration of the Greek pantheon like this in the first Percy Jackson book: "The gods simply moved.… Like it or not — and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either — America is now the heart of the flame."

Whereas Riordan located the entrance to Hades' Underworld beneath a recording studio in Los Angeles, Meg Cabot locates it under a cemetery in the Florida Keys. Based on the myth of Persephone, "Abandon" (Scholastic/Point: $17.99 ages 14 and up) asks the question: What if Death and his mistress were American teenagers? The push-pull of attraction and resistance being a key element in the discovery of sexuality, there is a fantastic romantic premise in the story of a girl who is kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld but refuses to be his consort.

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