For our very last Mythical March entry, I have a giveaway for you – a brand new copy of Athena the Brain. It is one hundred percent mythological fluff. It’s also highly endorsed by a fourth-grader former student of mine who caught sight of it on my desk and said “oooh, those are goooood.” Not her most eloquent moment, but she got the point across.
Not being a fourth grade girl, I would rate my enjoyment in the “it was fine” range. There were parts I thought were cute, things that irritated me, but overall, I’d wager that this would be a bigger hit with young girls than the Pandora book I reviewed earlier this month.
This is a rather fanciful take on Athena’s role in turning Medusa from girl into nasty snake-headed creature. Athena receives a message that her father is Zeus. She is summoned to Mount Olympus to attend school with the other goddessgirls and godboys (file under: lingo that sets my teeth on edge). She must leave her dear friend Pallas (plus for accuracy – Pallas was Athena’s dear friend, minus for depressing – anyone who is familiar with the myths knows that Athena accidentally kills Pallas – although NOT in this book, I promise!) Athena quickly acclimates to her new life of bonding with Aphrodite, Artemis and Persephone and messing with the lives of mortals (one of my favorite parts – the students are assigned heroes and move them on a game board actually creating the Trojan War). In a rather weird twist Poseidon is the school hottie, this is weird of course, since Poseidon should be Zeus’s age, but I got over it. Also in my fun column was the character of Pandora who endlessly questions the other girls. And while Athena does want to fit in and tries out for the Goddessgirl Squad (think cheerleading), she still enters the invention competition and is secure enough to knit at the lunch tables. Extra bonus points for when she stops thinking Poseidon is cute because he asks her to be his assistant for the inventions contest. She’s got ideas of her own and is nobody’s sidekick.
Other things that vaguely annoyed me: why is their team called the Titans? The Titans are their enemies? Why are the lunch ladies random octopus like ladies and froggy looking ladies when a teacher is a cyclops and a hydra works in the office (teachers, quick poll – how many of you have a hydra in your office.)
How to Win: Leave a comment naming your favorite myth, god or goddess. The contest will be open until Monday, April 4th at 12:00am (that’s the middle of Sunday night folks). I will gladly mail the book to you in the US or Canada. I will pick the winner using a random number generator. Good luck!
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Pallas thinks Poseidon’s sculpture is cute. There’s much talk of crushing on people.
Profanity – “dumb,” “stink,”
Death, Violence and Gore – The heroes are at war, but it’s really not scary, violent or much talked about.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
I like Prometheus getting fire for people, even though it ends with him getting his liver eaten.
I’m still a fan of Pandora because I had it on record (dating myself) when I was little and a big deal was made of her releasing hope into the world (along with all the evils).