Odysseus And The Cyclops - Hardcover

Hutton, Warwick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689800363 ISBN 13: 9780689800368

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry, 1995

Synopsis

Returning home from the Trojan war, Odysseus and his men are trapped in a cave by the one-eyed, man-eating Cyclops called Polyphemus, and Odysseus must concoct a brilliant plan in order to escape.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

As in his previous retellings, Hutton (The Trojan Horse; Persephone) whittles down a vivid incident in Greek mythology to a length and level of complexity well suited to kids. Here, Hutton visits the Odyssey for the famous encounter between Odysseus and the one-eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus. Odysseus and 12 of his men are trapped in the Cyclops's cave, and the Cyclops has begun to devour his visitors two by two. Wily Odysseus realizes that he can't simply kill the Cyclops lest he and his crew remain trapped forever in the cave, so he devises a daring plan, gouging the Cyclops's eye and having his men escape from the monster's clutches by clinging to the bellies of his sheep when he leads them outside. The unassuming narrative has an appealing, conversational tone: when the crew disembarks on the island and one of his men asks Odysseus why he is taking along a jar of wine, the leader responds, "I don't know, but something tells me to take it." With its mild palette of gentled blues and grays, the watercolor-and-pen art tames some of the gore in this episode, too. Ages 7-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-9. For a younger audience than Leonard Everett Fisher's terrifying Cyclops (1991), this version is not as ferocious or as sad. In these casual, understated line-and-watercolor illustrations, the one-eyed giant confronting Odysseus and his men looks like a kid playing with toy soldiers, or like an adult towering over a child. As in Hutton's Trojan Horse (1992), the telling is simple and informal, bringing the myth into ordinary life. The story opens with some sailors blown far off their course and wondering "where they would end up." Then we discover that their leader is Odysseus and that they're returning from the Trojan War. As they move across the island into the cave of the Cyclops, the peaceful, sun-drenched landscape gives way to the tight darkness, in which the giant grabs and eats two men at a time, until cunning Odysseus tricks the monster and sets them free. Kids will be held by the elemental adventure. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0689800363
• ISBN 13: 9780689800368
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Hutton Warwick