From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—This book should prove enticing for both myth lovers and seekers of scary stories. Boughn retells stories from many cultures on every continent except South America, including quite a few from Mesoamerica, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Readers will find heroes who have traveled to and returned from the underworld as well as the gods and monsters who dwell there. Full-color and black-and-white illustrations, including reproductions, photos, and plenty of graphics of skulls, appear on every page. The author does make some odd selections. He includes a few passages on magical realms populated by fairy folk rather than the dead, a page about a British Web site showing photos of supposed doors to hell located in the United Kingdom, and the Jabberwock in the section on monsters of the underworld. He treats stories from Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions with equal weight to those of Gilgamesh and Anansi. Overall, this is a book that many young people may find appealing.—
Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Library Binding
edition.
Review
Enticing for both myth lovers and seekers of scary stories... a book that many young people may find appealing. (Eric Norton
School Library Journal 200701)
Lush and beguiling legends and gloriously gory descriptions... rich with color... will rivet all but the most squeamish readers. (Cymbre Foster
Foreword )
A visual tour of netherworld mythology. (
Our Choice 2007, Canadian Children's Book Centre )