Atalanta: The Race Against Destiny

Atalanta: The Race Against Destiny

Author: Justine & Ron Fontes

ISBN: 082255965X

Publisher: Graphic Universe, 2007

Age: 9-12

Genre: Graphic novel

Summary: When Atalanta was born her father had two soldiers take and leave her at the top of a mountain because she wasn’t the boy he wanted.  A she bear found her and raised her as her cub and because of this upbringing Atalanta became a great hunter and outdoors woman.  She was found as a young child by three hunters that took her back and raised her as their own.  She could far outrun any person on earth and could out-hunt them as well.  Her parents heard of her fame and decided that it must be their daughter, so they brought here home and decided to find her a husband.  Having visited an oracle earlier she had decided not to marry, so she told her father that the man that could beat her in a foot race she would marry.  No one could beat her until Hippomenes used a trick from the goddess Aphrodite, but because he didn’t remember to acknowledge her help Aphrodite and they ended up being turned into lions to serve the goddess Rhea.

Read A-likes: Perseus: The Hunt for Medusa’s Head; Demeter & Persephone: Spring Held Hostage; Theseus: Battling the Minotaur; Psyche & Eros: The Lady and the Monster; and Odysseus: Escaping Poseidon’s Curse.

Personal Thoughts: I have found that I’ve enjoyed reading these books, even though my opinion of graphic novels is generally pretty low.  It’s been a fun way to get reacquainted with the Greek myths and legends.  What’s more, my 10 year old niece has seen them in my stack of books to read and has snitched them all and is reading them along with me, so she comes and asks questions frequently.  It’s made it a much more fun experience.  They are extremely popular to tweens and teens, and even though I am not one to purposely suggest graphic novels over traditional book reading, I would give these to a kid that wasn’t a big reader because of the content.