Welcome back to Book Break! In today's video we are going back to a topic that we have learned
from the comments you guys just can't get enough of, and I'm right there with you,
and that is ancient myth retellings, from the ancient greeks and beyond. So I have
got a stack here of book recommendations that are myth retellings of mythologies from all
around the world. So starting with the Greeks, I have here A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes.
This is a feminist retelling of the Iliad, which is a story famously told by Homer but that had
been passed down through the generations before that. So in the Iliad we get to learn about so
many of the Greek gods and goddesses, and the role that they played in this epic war between
the Greeks and the Trojans, which all started when one goddess promised the prince of Troy
that he could marry the most beautiful woman in the world. The problem being she was already
married. That woman was Helen of Troy, also known as the face who launched a thousand ships, because
when Paris, the prince of Troy, ran away with her, the Greeks declared war. And this war went
on for ten years. So in the Iliad you get so many different stories, and then in A Thousand Ships
we get to hear these stories over again but from the women's perspectives.
Next I've got Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. So Tomi Adeyemi was inspired to
write this after learning about the Orisha deities that are a strong part of West African mythology,
but also still worshipped as part of living tradition today. So in this book Adeyemi
has taken some of the real Orisha clans, but then used her own creative license to create this whole
amazing world, and this story about a girl called Zelie who has magical powers that she has to hide
after a cruel king outlawed magic. But Zelie is determined to restore magic to her land. So it's
a really original brand new story that weaves in the original mythology in really creative ways.
Then for something a bit different I've got a horror story recommendation,
The Good House by Tananarive Due. So in here you will find references to Haitian vodou
and deities like Papa Legba, which again are part of a really strong mythology, but also still part
of a living religion. So The Good House is about the legacy of a family who upset these deities,
and then many generations later we find acts of violence springing up in the community around
the Good House where this family lived. And the author really does dive into the real
belief system behind vodou, so you'll learn a lot from it. I thought it was absolutely terrifying,
but then again I'm a wimp so you might not find it too scary, but it's also this really moving story
about the family, and the relationships between these characters, as well as being about racism
and prejudice as well. Next, Mulan is a figure that a lot of people know from the Disney movie,
but before that she was a Chinese legend that dates all the way back to the 4th century:
a woman who disguised herself as a man and served in the army in her father's place. And I've got a
really lovely children's book here that introduces readers to this story for the first time,
with beautiful illustrations by Yi-Hsuan Wu, and it's really interactive and good fun. The
Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt is inspired by Finnish mythology of the soul bird that carries souls to
the land of the dead, Tuonela. So this book is set in an alternate London called The Rookery,
and it's about a girl who all her life has been haunted by these visions of birds,
and one day a mysterious stranger arrives at her door and tells her that what she's been seeing are
these nightjars, the birds that guard our souls. But it's unclear if we can really trust this
man or not. So it's a really fast-paced magical story that borrows a lot from Finnish mythology,
but creates a whole new magic system of its own. Next I've got The Palace of Illusions by
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which is based on The Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic about
two branches of a family embroiled in a war. The Palace of Illusions is a retelling of this story
through the eyes of Panchaali, who was the wife of the brothers in the original story.
Yes, I didn't say that wrong ,she was the wife of all of them, they took turns one year at a time.
So this book is a combination of myth and magic and history, and goes through this woman's life.
Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas is a YA novel about a trans boy trying to prove his gender to his
very traditional Latinx family and accidentally summoning a ghost he can't get rid of. So this one
draws on Mayan mythology, and really goes into the history and culture behind day of the dead
and a lot of the traditions there. And it's also a romance that involves a ghost! So that's fun.
My next book is The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey. So The Rainbow Serpent is a deity from
aboriginal Australian religion. It's often seen as the creator god, and this is actually one
of the oldest continuing religious beliefs in the world. So Dick Roughsey was an aboriginal
Australian artist from the Lardil language group, who was very prominently involved in the revival
of Lardil culture, and he created several picture books retelling aboriginal stories for children.
And one of the best known of these is The Rainbow Serpent. For a classic fantasy that
actually came out the same year as Lord of the Rings but is nowhere near as well known,
you could read The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. So this one is about a Viking who kills the family
of a Saxon witch, and as punishment his son is stolen from him by the elves, and replaced with a
non-human changeling. And there ends up being this big battle between the son and the changeling. So
this is a really epic fantasy with a magic sword called a Tyrfing, and everyone loves books with
a magic sword! And then finally, a book to combine many of those and beyond, there is Love in Colour,
by Bolu Babalola, which retells love stories taken from mythology from West Africa to Ancient Greece
to the Middle East. Some of them are brought into present day, some of them are historical,
but it's this really diverse expression of love in many forms in different cultures, so really a
book that will make you smile. Before I wrap up, I wanted to quickly mention three 2021 releases
for you to get excited about. I might have to do a follow-up of this video when those books are out
so we can talk about them properly, but just to get you excited there is going to be a book coming
next year called How to Be a Hero by Cat Weldon which is going to be a children's book about Norse
gods and Viking heroes. Sistersong by Lucy Holland is going to be a retelling of a British folk tale
about two jealous sisters, but this time told from the perspective of a third sibling. And Rumaysa by
Radiya Hafiza is going to be a retelling of a few fairy tales from a Bengali-English perspective.
So do leave a comment letting us know which of those you're most excited about,
and as always I would love to hear any more of your recommendations on this theme. I will
link a playlist here of all our videos about ancient mythology, we've done quite a few now,
and we'll just keep them coming because you always seem to love them. And we'll see you next time!