More of my Tween Tuesday posts.
Athena the Brain by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Series: Goddess Girls #1
Release Date: April 6, 2010
Publisher: Aladdin
Pages:160
Received: Library book
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Author's Page
Amazon Page
Goodreads Page
Summary
Athena thought she was a regular human girl until she receives a letter from her father, Zeus the king of the gods (and principal of Mount Olympus Academy). Zeus requests that Athena come attend MOA and, hoping her eccentricities will fit in better with the other god boys and goddess girls than they do with mortals, she happily accepts. While at school, Athena quickly makes friends--and enemies--with the other god boys and goddess girls and learns how to adjust to life as a goddess.
Review
This book is so cute! Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much with this book, especially when I opened it up and saw large, double-spaced text. I figured the characters and maybe a few locations would recall Greek myths, but I thought that would be the extent of things. This would have been fine and cute for the middle-grade audience this is intended for, but it would have been less interesting for me.
Luckily, the references to Greek myths went well beyond the characters' names! The entire book--the characters, their interactions with one another, the plot events--it all ties in to the famous (and less famous) myths. I had a blast seeing how the authors seamlessly wove in the events in a bunch of different myths with the more modern and spunky story set in a school for gods and goddesses.
The writing style is definitely middle-grade. I think kids, particularly girls, will love the way this book is written. Athena is a sweet girl who struggles with problems regular kids deal with too (mean girls, worrying about school work, making friends, moving, etc). Her feelings are expressed in a way that I think kids will find easy to relate to, almost like they are talking to one of their own friends. As an adult, I found the almost over the top writing to be cute and funny. The plot is overly simplistic, but it was fun and sweet.
I was entertained while reading this book and I will be checking out the other books in the series soon. Very much recommended to kids, but I think adults interested in Greek myths can also find something to appreciate here.
Hey! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love your set-up here! This book looks really cute. While I don't spend too much time reading Middle Grade books, I always find that there's a lot to be said for their often clever writing and energetic characters. This sounds like a cute book--both educational and enjoyable in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds super cute. Maybe a bit too young for my liking but I think it would be perfect for my teenage neices. Great review.
ReplyDeleteBea, You're welcome, and thank you!
ReplyDeleteNic, It is very cute, but it is most certainly a middle grade book. Some MG books are written at a level that doesn't "feel" MG, but this one does.
Hey, great review! I know you don't accept awards anymore, but I just wanted to know that I awarded you one! It's the Stylish Blogger Award, and I love your blog =]
ReplyDeletehttp://cheezyfeetbooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-blogger-award.html
Have a great week, and happy reading =]
This sounds so cute, and I'm glad you reviewed this because I probably would have overlooked it due to the cover. Great review! :)
ReplyDeleteI've heard really good things about this series. I think I'll have to add them to be TBR pile. I love Greek mythology and I'm glad these books do it justice.
ReplyDeleteJust from the cover I could tell that it would be a fun, cute read. Thanks for the review :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the book is a cute and fun to read as the cover.
ReplyDeleteI love Greek mythology, who doesn't, and now I'm looking forward to maybe reading this one with my little cousin because it does reference the actual know myths.
Very cool. Great review.
I'm so glad you liked it!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite of the series, so far, is the one about Persephone (book 2), but over all it's just such a sweet series.
I'm currently reading book 4:D
Cute! I love Greek mythology and I've been looking into reading more MG so I think I would like this. And The Percy Jackson series that I still haven't read yet.
ReplyDeleteBella, Thank you for thinking of me!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I think the cover is cute, but I probably would look over this one based on it because it looks very young.
Lisa, I thought they did it justice. :)
Jenny N., You’re welcome!
Anime Girl, I’m going to request the Persephone book soon. I’m glad to hear the rest of the series is as good as this first book.
Aylee, I really want to read the Percy Jackson series too. Hopefully this year!
Missie, I think this would be a really cute book to read with your little cousin. It is a nice spring board for you to expand on the myths.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I hope you like them. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice review! Joan Holub and I are having a lot of fun writing the Goddess Girls series. We're about to begin Books 7 & 8!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome. That's wonderful! I didn't even realize this series was going to be continued to so many books. Excellent!
ReplyDelete