Herakles was one of the greatest of all Greek heroes, and his exploits have been celebrated in paintings, songs, poetry, and sculpture for thousands of years. Now it's time for him to have his own children's book, one devoted exclusively to his labors and adventures. Written by John Harris and illustrated by artist Gary Baseman,  Strong Stuff tells the amazing stories of the Stymphalian Birds (defeated by crashing cymbals), creepy King Geryon (with three heads AND three bodies), the Augean Stables (don't ask), and nine other labors that Herakles performed. This is a one-of-a-kind account of the great mythological hero in action. Stong stuff! With a super-helpful map and a pronunciation guide for those sometimes-hard-to-pronounce classical names. Grade 2-4–This simplified version of the 12 labors of Hercules (Herakles as the Greeks called him) will delight young children with its gory stories. Each labor is allotted a spread with bright and bold illustrations featuring Herakles locked in mortal combat with the monster of the moment, accompanied by a chatty, humorous commentary. Reducing the complicated actions and themes of Greek myths is difficult, but the author handles it well. Each verso corner has a How's that again? box with a guide to pronunciation of major characters and places, and the endpapers offer a map of Greece that shows the main locations of the labors. The illustrations, while cartoonish, nevertheless faithfully reproduce the salient points of each incident. A fun look at an ancient hero. –Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Gr. 4-7. The author of Greece! Rome! Monsters! (2002) offers another irreverent look at the ancient world in this recap of Herakles'labors, or "super-difficult jobs." Harris maintains an infectious tongue-in-cheek tone while still adhering to the traditional myths in each brief account. On Herakles'slaying of the Hydra, for example, Harris writes, "It's really tough, if not impossible, to kill an immortal head," and he describes Cerberus, the ferocious, three-headed guard dog to the underworld, as "a handful." Emphatic words and phrases such as "disgusting!" and "freaked out" enliven the text even more. Animator Baseman contributes wildly colored, energetic cartoon paintings of the "original he-man" and his monster foes as well as a map of ancient Greece, which is printed on the book's endpapers. Hilarious and instantly accessible, these are winning selections for children encountering the myths for the first time and for those with some familiarity. Older students may want to use these as models for their own retellings of fairy tales, myths, and classic lore. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved With a super-helpful map and a pronunciation guide for those sometimes-hard-to-pronounce classical names. John Harris is senior editor at Getty Publications. He is the author of Greece! Rome! Monsters! Gary Baseman is the three-time Emmy and BAFTA award-winning creator of the animated series and film Teacher's Pet . Dumb Luck , a book of his art, was published in 2004. New Mint Condition Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon Guaranteed packaging No quibbles returns