Based upon the fourth Homeric Hymn, this picture book relates the tale of the the birth of Hermes, and the incredible adventures of his first day of life. Born at dawn, inventing the lyre at noon, and stealing Apollo's cattle at evening, Hermes starts off with a bang, and never slows down...

As those who follow my reviews will know, I am always greatly offended by unattributed folktales, fairy-tales, and myths. The omission of any reference to source, is in my estimation, an indication of contempt for the material. It divorces a tale from its cultural context, and sometimes prevents the reader from investigating further. This last makes it especially obnoxious in a children's book.

That said, Penelope Proddow's three adaptations from the Homeric Hymns (other titles are devoted to Demeter and Persephone and to Dionysos), not only include an explanation of the source material at the back, they also present these tales in something approximating their original literary form. As far as I know, they are the only versions of the Homeric Hymns specifically meant for children that have ever been published. The illustrations by Barbara Cooney, two-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, have a "vintage" feel to them - charming, and a little different from a lot of the work you will encounter these days.

As I mentioned in my review of Demeter and Persephone, these books are based on poems written more than 2000 years ago in dactylic hexameter. Though they have been abbreviated and simplified, the reader should be aware that they are in non-rhyming poetic form, and use vocabulary with which young children might not be familiar. Though they would make a poor introduction to the topic, these are excellent books for the child who already has an interest in Greek mythology... ( )