Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
As a past educator I am aware that trying to change what a child has first learned is not easy. Yet I also know that children respond to and remember what is funny and even sometimes ridiculous. Information is more easily absorbed if it is related to the child’s activities.
Author, Jol Temple, and illustrator, David Conley, are both cognisant of what creates a good book for children and have been working in this field for some time so I will err on the side of catching a child’s interest even if it does seem a bit absurd at times.
The information in Ludicrous Legends – Myths with a Twist is presented in text, illustrations and comic form, in black and white. The creators have chosen an eleven-year-old schoolboy as their focus point who wants to be just like his hero, Heracles, when he grows up. He is studying all about myths in preparation for Mr Socrate’s upcoming test when he is joined by his best friend, Hylo, who has not done her preparation for the test.
Hylo is a young female centaur, and they get into conversation as to information that could be on the test. She argues that, in the Trojan War, it may not have been a horse that saved the day. She suggests it could have been a cow. The cartoon that follows provides her argument.
Discussions continue about the differences between a minotaur and a centaur and what gorgons, satyrs ‘another weird Greek mashup’ (72) are. When discussing Medusa there are speculations on how she would cope going to the hairdresser.
When they enter the classroom, they find that they have a substitute teacher, Ms Medusa. She should certainly have no behaviour problems in her classroom.
Separate double pages are set aside to answer the question What is or Who is Heracles, a centaur, the Trojan War, a minotaur, a satyr and a gorgon? Also provided is a find-the-path puzzle and Mr Socrate’s Legendary Test.
Information on the back cover of the book states that this story is: A ludicrous, light-hearted and very loose retelling of three classical legends and I cannot disagree with that. The book is well presented in a style to grip the attention of primary school children.
Ludicrous Legends, Myths with a Twist
(2026)
Author: Jol Temple
Illustrator: David Conley
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 978-1-4607-6771-9
$12.99; 112pp