Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons - Hardcover

Yolen, Jane; Harris, Robert J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060287365 ISBN 13: 9780060287368

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 2002

Synopsis

When the Amazons fall victim to an ancient curse, their thirteen-year-old princess must fight beasts and take on great challenges to get things back to normal for the people she loves.

About this title

About the Author:

Jane Yolen is one of the acknowledged masters of fantasy today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children and adults. Her young adult novel The Devil's Arhtmetic won the Jewish Book Council Award. Her children's book Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, was awarded the Caldecott Medal; her fantasy novels Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna were both short-listed for the Nebula; and she's won the Nebula twice for short stories. She has also won the World Fantasy Award, the Christopher Medal twice, and the Golden Kite Award. She has written two previous books in the Young Heroes series with Robert J. Harris, Odysseus in the Serpent Maze and Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons. Jane Yolen lives with her husband in western Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

From School Library Journal:

Grades 4-8--An Amazon princess learns about honor and family in this adventure set during the Golden Age of Greece. Hippolyta's mother, Amazon Queen Otrere, gives birth to her second son and refuses to kill him as tradition demands. When she is imprisoned, she turns to Hippolyta to save the baby and take him to his father, King Laomedon of Troy. The girl's mission is successful, but she is to be killed for offending Laomedon. Tithonus, the first son of her mother and Laomedon, saves her, and they return to the Amazon capital, only to find the Amazons cursed. Athena informs Hippolyta that to save her people, she must travel to their ancestral home and sacrifice Tithonus. The siblings survive adventure and enemies as they travel, and Hippolyta must decide whether her brother's life is more important than her goddess's command. While the gods play an important part in this story, historical detail creates a realistic background for a minor character in the mythology of the Trojan War. Hippolyta is a strong heroine who faces difficult choices and grows as the story unfolds, and secondary characters are also well defined. This is a detailed, compelling story, and its nonstop action will involve even reluctant readers. Yolen and Harris offer a unique look at what Amazon life might have been like in this quality addition to the series, begun with Odysseus in the Serpent Maze (HarperCollins, 2001).
Beth L. Meister, Queens Borough Public Library, Flushing, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060287365
• ISBN 13: 9780060287368
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248