For Classical Studies this semester, we are reading our way through D'Aulaire's Greek Myths.  I also wanted to read a children's version of the Iliad or the Odyssey with the girls too.  Only I was afraid it might be too  boring, or scary or they might be unable to connect with the story.  I checked the first two books out from the library any way. Just to give it a try.  

Yesterday, we began reading Book One:  The One-Eyed Giant in the Tales from the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne.  The girls were captivated!  After each chapter they wanted to read "just one more!"  We stopped just before Odysseus and his men escaped from Polyphemus' cave.  They didn't want to but Daddy came home for lunch.

Odysseus in the Cave of Polyphemus

Today, we finished Book One.  We looked at the map (in the front papers of the book) and traced Odysseus' route from Troy to the Land of the Lotus Eaters to the Cyclop's cave.  At the end of the first book - I was amazed at the girls response.  They weren't bored or scared.  They were moved by  Odysseus' love for his family - so close to home . . .

"As Odysseus stared at the hazy horizon, grief threatened to break his spirit.  But each time he thought of Penelope and Telemachus, the fire of his determination to return to Ithaca was rekindled.

I will find my way back to my family again, he promised himself.  And he leaned toward the horizon, yearning for home."