Into the World of the Dead: Astonishing Adventures in the Underworld [Paperback]

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.

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 )

A compelling and visually stunning tour of the netherworlds.

Into the World of the Dead takes preteens on a tour of the deep and dark places that haunt their dreams. Dramatic retellings of legendary tales and striking photos of artwork and artifacts reveal the forces and events that have challenged humanity to envision this most forbidding of environments.

Each short chapter thematically explores underworld concepts in various cultures. Topics covered include:

• Underworlds
• Otherworlds
• Who went
• Who ruled
• Getting there
• Getting back
• Guardians and monsters.

Readers will meet hellish inhabitants, such as Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess with a skirt of serpents and a necklace of skulls. They'll witness ways into the underworld, like the giant serpent's mouth leading to the Mayan realm of Xibalba, and ways out. And they'll learn that the underworld has its own set of laws, often learned at the peril of those who dare make the journey.

By taking readers on a voyage of nightmarish proportion, Into the World of the Dead allows them to explore their own fears and imaginings, and ultimately to tame them.

(2007)

Michael Boughn is an author and poet with a PhD in English from State University of New York. His previous works for young people include a series of sports biographies. He lives in Toronto.