review: The One-Eyed Giant - Tales From the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne

genre: children's literature

What a FIND! This series of books is a retelling of that age old tale, The Odyssey. The text is swiftly paced but with a lot of detail and Osborne assumes that kids who will read it can handle it's...harshness? Yes, soldiers get eaten by the Cyclops. Yes, they gouge the Cyclop's eye out with a stake. My 7 year old adored this chapter book - the chapters are just the right length (I read aloud 2-3 chapters per evening) and although I would've thought it would be illustrated, it isn't. But it was okay, it's descriptive and explanatory and I really appreciated the pronunciation guide in the back. I also appreciate that she's written something so accessable for kids, to give them in introduction to this famous story.

I'll definitely be reading the rest of these, even for myself, since the Cyclops and the Sirens are about all I remember from my high school English class.