Myths -cultural books for 5 year old with advanced reading level

November 5, 2015 6:54 AM

Hi My nephew is 5, starting school in 2016 January (southern hemisphere semester.) He reads above the average for his age, and his interests vary greatly week to week. Neither of his parents, or Grandparents or extended family have any interest in Mythology or literature at all. He does have some though. He grasps the narrative structures of cartoons and TV shows he likes. He also really enjoys books of classic Fairy Tales like Grimm and Aesop, told for children. He seems like he is ready for Roald Dahhl...

I would like to give him the gift of Mythology; stories from Greek, Roman, Norse, African, the Indo-Pacific region, Asian including Indian, Chinese and Japanese, and indigenous North and Central-South-American mythology. Can you please recommend books or resources I can buy him? Paper and glue books preferred but other suggestions welcome too. I would like him to understand 'myths' as a concept but also enjoy the 'stories' of mythology.

posted by esto-again to Writing & Language (19 answers total)

I was a mythology loving kid, and enjoyed Roger Lancelyn Green's mythological retellings. Also Isaac Asmov's Words from the Myths although I don't know how that book would translate to age level.
posted by PussKillian at 7:07 AM on November 5, 2015

I was utterly fascinated by D'Aulaires Greek and Norse Myths as a precocious young reader.
posted by miratime at 7:15 AM on November 5, 2015 [14 favorites]

Response by poster: He is a bit frightened of sci-fi (mum exposed him to ET and it traumatised him). So classic myths are what I am after so it wont scare him. Egyptian, mesopotamian, Persian, anything really.
posted by esto-again at 7:16 AM on November 5, 2015

This previous Ask may have other good ideas.
posted by miratime at 7:17 AM on November 5, 2015

Seconding D'Aulaires: In addition to the Greek and Norse myths, also the Book of Trolls.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:20 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if your comment about sci-fi was because of my Isaac Asmov recommendation? Words from the Myths isn't fiction, it looks at the stories of the myths and shows how words from them have become incorporated into the English language. Titans to titanic, the Achilles tendon, things like that.
posted by PussKillian at 7:24 AM on November 5, 2015

Response by poster: Pusskillian: no. My comment was an afterthought about my nephew's peccadilloes. :)
posted by esto-again at 7:33 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: At the risk of deletion, thanks for the other thread suggestions guys.
posted by esto-again at 7:35 AM on November 5, 2015

Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales are a series of anthologies (so far Europe and Africa, working on Asia now) by indie cartoon artists. I have both of the ones out so far and they are excellent but I'd give them a read yourself for age appropriateness of a 5 year old.
posted by jillithd at 7:49 AM on November 5, 2015

Gareth Jones graphic treatment of the Odyssey enthralled both of my kids aged six and eleven. Christopher Ford's Stickman Odyssey is a funny and ultimately tender take on the classic. Rosemary Sutcliffe's take is a pitched at older kids but is gorgeous.
posted by firstdrop at 7:57 AM on November 5, 2015

The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends has hauntingly beautiful re-tellings of Greek and Norse myths. The illustrations are fantastic.

Or that's how my childhood self remembers it, anyway.
posted by clawsoon at 8:04 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

D'Aulaires Greek Myths is an absolute necessity.
posted by babelfish at 8:13 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I still have my battered copy of D'Aulaires Greek Myths. It's one of my prized posessions. So I'm suggesting that, too.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 8:28 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not books, but Jim Henson's The Storyteller and The Storyteller: Greek Myths are marvellous half-hour dramatisations, using a mix of actors and Creature Shop puppets, of various European folktales and Greek myths respectively.

Dark in places, but an utter delight (from one who remembers watching them as a kid the first time around!).

There are low-res videos of episodes on YouTube here and here* if you want a taster.

* N.B.: Hardcoded Greek-language subs on the Myths.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 8:56 AM on November 5, 2015

Let me recommend the two TOON Graphic classical myth titles, both by Yvan Pommaux: "Theseus and the Minotaur" and "Orpheus in the Underworld".
posted by mfoight at 9:02 AM on November 5, 2015

I was traumatized by Roald Dahl's book The Witches as a five-year-old. Tread carefully there!
posted by yarntheory at 9:23 AM on November 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Children Just Like Me: Our Favorite Stories could be a good starting point for folk tales; it has ten stories chosen by children from around the world. It provides a good amount of cultural context and has beautiful illustrations.
posted by earth by april at 9:42 AM on November 5, 2015

> I was traumatized by Roald Dahl's book The Witches as a five-year-old. Tread carefully there!

I agree. Even the original Grimm's fairy tales were pretty gruesome. Cinderella's step-sisters' feet were cut off in different ways to fit in the shoe, bad-doers were nailed into a barrel and rolled down the hill...
posted by jillithd at 1:10 PM on November 5, 2015

I was utterly fascinated by D'Aulaires Greek and Norse Myths as a precocious young reader.

Me too- read it over and over again for years. A really excellent book.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:03 PM on November 6, 2015