05.21.09
Posted in Interviews, Mythology at 9:32 pm by Janet
I recently spoke with my good friend Margaret Triandafyllis. I thought she could shed some light on the recent explosion of kids books related to Greek mythology. When I first met Margaret, way back when we started college, I thought she might be some kind of Greek goddess. She came from Greece, after all, and she is very talented. She is not in fact a goddess; she is a mortal librarian. (Same thing, right?) However, as I learned in a recent interview, she may have been looking to date a Greek god. Here’s what she had to say about Greek mythology, Rick Riordan, and fashion.
TW: My sources tell me you have climbed Mount Olympus. Did you see any evidence of Greek deities there?
MT: Yes, I have climbed Mount Olympus on several occasions. Usually I am too focussed on my own pain to be looking around for signs of Greek deities. I have run across (and sometimes over) goat droppings and have encountered a few donkeys carrying up provisions to the refuges. And although the refuges are a convenient stop over on the way to the summit of the mountain, they are certainly not providing you with ambrosia at dinner. I won’t even go into the state of the bathrooms. Although Hades might be pleased with them.
TW: As a Greek person, what was your reaction to Rick Riordan’s idea that Mount Olympus has moved to the Empire State Building in NYC?
MT: It is scandalous, to say the least. As well as the fact that the books state that Mount Olympus at some point moved to Rome. Everyone knows that the Romans were just bad copies of the Greeks.
TW: Do you know ancient Greek? How has it helped you in your work as a librarian?
MT: Well technically speaking, I took ancient Greek for several years in high school. Let’s just say that my modern Greek is much better. I can pronounce the names of all the ancient Greek gods and it also helped me do very well on my SAT test.
TW: What fashion and/or food tips can we glean from the ancient Greeks?
MT: The Mediterranean diet leads to eternal life. Togas will never go out of fashion. Have you noticed how popular gladiator sandals are this season?
TW: Which Greek god or goddess would you want to date?
MT: Ah, good question. Who’s to say I haven’t already dated a few? Although Ares appears as a rather unsavory character in Rick Riordan’s books, I always thought he would be an interesting character to date. Dating the God of war would have to be exciting.
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05.17.09
Posted in Mythology at 9:28 pm by Janet
I’m still waiting for The Last Olympian. I have been waiting for MONTHS. I am getting extremely impatient.
Uhhh…I guess I’ll keep blogging about other books with mythological ties… I think the market is saturated with these books right now. Like the vampire books that abound these days, these books vary greatly in quality. I have to say, I read a few bad ones. I discovered I’m not a fan of certain overt rehashings of myths in modern settings or wordy teen myth problem novels. Not naming any names here.
One of the good ones is Dusssie by Nancy Springer. Dusie wakes up one morning to find she’s got snakes for hair. Yep, she’s a gorgon, she learns, named after her aunt Medusa. Dusie tries to hide her snakes, like her mother the “sculptor” does. But she doesn’t get very far–on her way to school, she accidentally turns her crush to stone. Dusie sets out to find a way to get rid of her snakes and rescue her crush. Along the way, she finds that her snakes talk to her (!) and that she just might be able to live with them. But will she have to live with them? Like most books of this sub-genre, it’s totally far-fetched. But it’s also really fun. And you get to learn about various snake-related myths and legends. One warning: I for one don’t like snakes and started to rush through this so I wouldn’t have to look at the snakey cover. Ultimately, I decided it was worth it to slow down and try to ignore the icky snakes. I mean, at least they weren’t attached to my head.
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05.12.09
Posted in Mythology at 9:40 pm by Janet
Tap tap tap. Do you hear that? It’s me fidgeting while I wait for my copy of The Last Olympian. Hellllooo interlibrary loan department, would you please hurry up and bring me my book?
Hmphf. I don’t think they heard me. Well, since I have to wait for the last Percy Jackson book, I might as well blog about some other books with mythological tie-ins to make the time pass. With any luck, Bridget and some fabulous guests will join me.
One of my favorite myth-related books has its own specially made-up mythology. The gods in this book have nothing to do with Zeus or Thor or what have you. Scott Mebus’s Gods of Manhattan has got its own gods–Gods of Manhattan. There’s the God of Sample Sales, the God of Things Were Better in the Old Days, and the God of Excess. These gods are the incarnations of prominent (and sometimes not-so-prominent) departed New Yorkers. Young Rory encounters this hidden world after he starts seeing cockroaches riding rats and other oddities and discovers that he’s a Light–a living person who can see what’s going on in this alternate New York, known as Mannahatta. Rory and his bad-ass sister Bridget soon find out that there’s trouble in Mannahatta. The gods are sparring and the Munsee Indian tribe is trapped in Central Park due to centuries-old injustice. It’s up to Rory and Bridget–and a cast of oddball characters–to set things right.
Fans of The Lightning Thief will love this. It’s got a similar break-neck pace, bits of humor, and lots of adventure. I’m not sure it’s good enough to go on my list of Favorite Books about New York City that Are Read By Children, but it’s a darn good and fun read.
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05.07.09
Posted in Random at 10:20 pm by Janet
Last Friday night I went to that fake Charlotte Zolotow Lecture, the Zena Sutherland Lecture at the Chicago Public Library, to see Christopher Paul Curtis speak. I was so worried that CPC wouldn’t be as funny as his books. Thankfully, Mr. Curtis did not let us down. He told some hilarious stories and some poignant stories about his childhood, centered on his mother. Many of these stories inspired episodes in his books. The lecture, like some of his books, was humorous while dealing with serious topics and successful at it to boot. Thanks for being funny, Christopher Paul Curtis!
If CPC ever comes to your town, go see him!
An extra and fantastic perk of the event was seeing library school friends, coworkers, and my mom.
Coming soon, I promise: teen books with mythological tie-ins
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