The Iliad/The Odyssey Boxed Set Hardcover – Picture Book, October 10, 2017

Read this to my 7 and 10 year old kids. The 7 year old had no knowledge of Greek gods, but even he enjoyed the story. We were not in love with the drawings (kind of brutal and a tad creepy looking), but they seemed to suit the mood of the tale. Such a classic that I felt my kids ought to hear and was so glad it kept their attention. Starting the Odyssey tomorrow and both kids are excited to listen to that one too.

Fabulous adaption for grade school children to learn the timeless story of The Iliad and the Odyssey. It is broken down into chapters that can be read each night at bedtime. If you want to design a framework for your children to place facts and history into a relevant order and timeline, this is where to start. Predates any Christian stories by 7-800 years and Roman by 200 to 400 years. (Only Egyptian writings would precede this in literature. These books are a wonderful and memorable beginning to appreciation of literature. Percy Jackson would be read next.

Excellent retelling with wonderful illustrations. Highly recommended!

Gillian Cross has produced a rare work, an excellent distillation of both the Iliad and Odyssey that isn't an anachronistic oversimplification. The Iliad itself is a difficult work for almost anyone to plot through, with most recent assistance for adults courtesy of Fitzgerald's or Fagles' versions.For kids -- it's either rushed and distilled, with some emphasis on the Trojan Horse, or sanitized to the point of being inane. Cross has struck the balance of showing the fervor, ego, divine intervention, and unrelatable Bronze Age warrior culture with great writing and storytelling. She captures events like the bizarre Odysseus and Diomedes night raid, Achilles' and Patroclus' heroics, and Hector's efforts to preserve Troy whatever fate might dictate. For good reason -- this is a kids' book -- she omits ancillary characters like Ajax the Lesser and his depredations within Athene's temple that led to destruction of the Greek fleet.Cross's writing is lively and compelling. Your child may be subjected to you going into "summer stock" mode as you shout out stirring rallies and speeches, and scorn for the enemy as you speak through Hector and Achilles.Cross's Odyssey follows similar form. She shows the nuances of Odysseus, his cunning and brilliant command, along with his failures during his 10-year trek home to Ithaca that include the loss of his crew.I'm typically a book cheapskate. However, the dual-edition hardback set has longevity for your child's reading and rereading, and possibly for their children as well.Adults benefit from reading this to their child. It acts as a study guide as one returns to the classics long after high school and college. The Odyssey is more straightforward than the various excursions and armor-materiel fetishism the Iliad dives into.On my wish list, no criticism intended, would have been for Cross to expand her Iliad retelling beyond an epilogue. Homer's Iliad ends with Achilles' return to combat and the death of Hector. One has to piece together numerous sources for the remainder of the tale, such as Philoctetes' return to battle to snipe Paris, the sacking of Troy, and what befell the conquerors after their brief enjoyment of a hard-won victory.

As with any book, what is fine for one child is not for another, but this should open up the possibility of reading the Odyssey and the Iliad to students at a much younger age. There is no sex portrayed, but there are numerous mentions of battles and fighting. This could be enjoyed as a read-aloud for kindergarten and up, but I would recommend reading it ahead to see if you think it is suitable for your child.

Same review for both the Iliad and the Odyssey by this author/illustrator: perfect renditions of the classic stories for young readers. I read both books aloud to my 10 year old, 7 year old, and 4 year old sons, and we all enjoyed them. (Note: the four year old did not always make it through each reading session, he was in and out. It's hard to be the youngest). True to Homer's classic version, this is the (violent and dramatic) story of the Trojan War. The violence worried me a little bit, but my sons seem exceptionally indifferent to descriptions or depictions of violence, much to my chagrin. They made faces and complained about the few love/romance parts of the story. My primary criticism of this book is the illustrations. While I appreciate the impressive artistry on an intellectual level, I simply hated most of the pictures. My sons didn't like them, either. Weird body proportions, ghostly white skin on most of the human characters, creepy, grotesque faces even on characters that are supposed to be "handsome" or "beautiful". Art is a very personal thing, so perhaps some people will find the illustrations to be a strength of this book rather than a shortcoming, but not me. For example, see attached photo: Paris and Menelaus as creepy disfigured ogres. No like. Five stars because we loved reading this rendition of the story, and even though we did not like the pictures, Neil Packer is clearly a talented artist.

We LOVE the books! Gave 4 stars, because it came damaged on one corner.