How do we make our children fall in love with the highest and deepest of stories? Call them the great books, call them the classics – whatever terminology you desire to utilize, you may. Our purpose is one: to foster in our children an awareness of sublime meanings beneath the pages and a recognition of what is well-crafted. I’m so grateful they can hunker down and enjoy an easy, funny read but I also want them to relish digging into those tales that sum up our journey: the paths of mankind, the intricacies of human nature, the questions we continue to wrestle with, and the glimpse of our final end.
In this series of posts, I attempt to offer some ideas from my treasure trove, which I’m sure will continually expand each year of my life. These are some editions and adaptations of classics which have astounded me and enthralled my own children.
The Ancient World: Greece
This past year, I developed our homeschool’s history curriculum around the ancient world and in doing so, revisited some wonderful, old books I loved and discovered new friends amid the library shelves and my favorite online bookstores.
1. The Must-Have: D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
By Ingrid and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire / ISBN: 978-0440406945
This title will be familiar to most but I had to include it – this is one of the most beautiful books on our shelf and I consider it to be one of the most impressive of this talented couple’s work. The Greek myths are presented in all their beauty; the various tragedies and liaisons are dealt with delicately but truthfully. This volume covers all the major gods and goddesses, as well as the more noteworthy nymphs and demi-gods, and the most famous adventures of Greek heroes. Amazingly, the D’Aulaires have organized the stories so that each one flows into the next seamlessly. Accompanying the beautiful prose are the couple’s signature lithograph illustrations (which alone would warrant purchasing the book!). Although this book might best be described as a family read-aloud, I would recommend using it as the backbone of any Greek literature study, as it far surpasses even some of the middle school material available.
2. The Resource: The Kingfisher Atlas of World History
By Simon Adams / ISBN: 978-0753472941
We own far too many atlases, because each one seems to have a unique feature that seems indispensable at the moment of purchase. This one, I think, must be my favorite though because of its value to historical studies. Each region is presented as it appeared throughout history so students are able to trace the development of civilizations in their map-work. My children can glimpse Italy as a peninsula distant to the Mesopotamian empires, then as a place nearer to the empires of Egypt and Greece, followed by the center of the Roman civilization. They can then examine how the barbarian invasions impacted the regions, and observe the emergence of new countries throughout the medieval ages and modern world. Timelines are included with nearly every map and important cultural and historical events are highlighted in special feature pages.
This is my favorite resource for all of my history units, but our non-fiction list for our weeks on Greece included many other selections as well, such as The Greeks by Usborne and See Inside an Ancient Greek Town by R. J. Unstead.
3. The Sticker Chart! From A Child’s Introduction to Greek Mythology
By Heather Alexander / ISBN: 978-1579128678
This anthology fails to reach the heights of D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths but my children still enjoyed it immensely. Each Greek god and goddess is presented briefly with bullet points and the most famous myths are related in a more concise form. Whereas the D’Aulaire book appeals with artistry and lyrical writing, this one attracts with fun illustrations and quick reference pages. The pronunciation guide was quite helpful to supplement all of our readings, and most enjoyable was a foldout sticker poster depicting the family tree of the gods and goddesses. Our only disappointment was that stickers were not included for every god and goddess, but only for a few; the poster was not similar to a sticker-book with faces missing, but a finished work on its own.
4. For the younger ones: The Illustrated Usborne Odyssey
By Usborne / ISBN: 978-1409598930
My children have enjoyed the Illustrated Classics series from Usborne and this book is the perfect read for a younger reader (at about a third grade reading level) or a suitable volume to be read aloud as the chapters are relatively short and the language simple. It is a wonderful option for anyone who wants to make some of these epic poems more accessible to a younger audience.
5. The fun activity book: The Coloring Book of the Odyssey / The Coloring Book of the Trojan War
By Bellerophon Books
I love sprinkling our studies with some fun activity books. These are well-illustrated; the drawings imitate those found on the ancient Greek vases and snippets of the epic poems are included with the depictions. I was delighted to see that verses in the original Greek were even presented, along with a simple English translation. Who knows what new story elements my children garnered as their eyes drifted from their coloring?
6. For the intermediate: Black Ships Before Troy
By Rosemary Sutcliff / ISBN: 978-0385310697
Rosemary Sutcliff’s writings are perfect for the transitional students, who can grasp more of the drama and nuances of Homer’s stories but aren’t yet ready for a direct re-telling of them or the epics themselves. This is my favorite edition, because it comes in a larger book size – similar to the D’Aulaire or Alexander anthologies – and is enhanced by beautiful illustrations throughout. This book would be perfect for a read-aloud, though for the older middle school / dialectic student who might still find Colum’s retelling too dry, the paperback edition might be more suitable. Audiobook presentations of Sutcliff’s renditions of the Trojan War and the Odyssey are also available.
7. The Surprise: The Odyssey (Graphic Novel)
By Gareth Hinds / ISBN: 978-0-7636-4266-2
This comic-style book will not mesh with everyone’s homeschool or even parenting style, but my children loved the concept. I consider graphic novels more to be in the genre of entertainment, as often symbolism and subtler meanings are lost in the enhancement of plot and emotion. However, they can act as an enticing hook for children who are resistant to stories labeled as ancient or classic, or be perfect for those who are still focusing mainly on plot development. The adventure is certainly brought to life, and my daughter – who revels in melodrama – could not get enough of some of the chapters. This particular book follows through the entire Odyssey, and re-presents nearly all of its episodes. I highly encourage parental review before passing it on to your students though, as there is a lot of “red” used in the pages depicting the slaughter of the suitors and Odysseus is shown twice with scantily clad nymphs, one of these pictures being of the two sleeping in bed.
If you want a similarly fun but less explicit version to hand off to your children, Usborne has published a graphic novel version of the odyssey more suitable for younger eyes: The Odyssey (Usborne Graphic Legends), by Fabiano Fiorin & Russell Punter ISBN: 978-1474938099
8. For the advanced: The Children’s Homer
By Padraic Colum / ISBN: 0-02-042520-1
This book, which combines The Illiad and The Odyssey, is perfect for the dialectic or rhetoric student who is ready for the full story but might not be prepared for the complete poetic reading. Colum does a commendable job of portraying all the episodes and books of both epics; his prose even imitates the flow of the poetic verse in its rhythm. Students will still be stretched with the more antiquated style of prose but will also be able to start noting points of symbolism and connections between the characters and episodes. Padriac Colum’s translation of Homer’s verse to prose still remains the best rendition available to any student.
9. The academic: A Guided Tour of Five Dialogues of Plato
By Christopher Biffle / ISBN: 0-87484-840-7
Thus far, I’ve focused on literature in my recommendations but a study of Greece is incomplete without the inclusion of philosophy! Perhaps for our younger children, we might just want to allude to the names of famous philosophers but for our older children, this is the perfect opportunity to introduce ancient philosophy. This particular book is so helpful to the high school student in multiple ways. First, the dialogues of Plato are presented in a slim, easy-to-handle volume. Secondly, each dialogue is followed up with comprehension and discussion questions to help spark conversation with the student and grasp the significance of Plato’s work. My favorite feature though, are the tips and notes in the margins of the pages. Students are instructed what to underline in the text, and prompted to discover what the main ideas are in important paragraphs. Biffle leads them not only to an understanding of important philosophical principles, but teaches them the skills of how to read and take notes in an academic text.
10. For Mama! Homeric Moments
By Eva Brann / ISBN: 0-9679675-0
If any of you want to brush up on your Greek epics alongside your children, I highly recommend this delightful critique. Reading through Eva Brann’s musings on Homer reminds me of taking a fun course with a dynamic scholar! Familiarity with the basic plot of the Illiad and the Odyssey, as well as knowledge of the major Greek gods and goddesses is necessary to navigate the book’s chapters but through them, I was able to uncover many hidden meanings within the characters, symbols, and poetry even though it’s been a decade since I studied the actual texts.
