Ford, Christopher. The Wrath of Zozimos.Philomel, 10 May 2012
Zozimos is back, and his Uncle Nestor is trying to get him back to Sticatha quickly so he can take over the kingdom from the evil witch Krata who killed his father and turned his sisters into crows. Nestor thinks that Zozimos has been dallying, helping his friends Atrukos and Praxis on their quests. He has also been distracted by Alexa, on whom he has a crush. When Nestor is killed, he helps his friends and then makes his way to Sticatha, where he finds that Krata is a beloved queen. Nestor has lied, and in order to get on Krata's good side and regain his rightful throne, Zozimos must travel to obtain a golden feather and bring it back. There are wrinkles in that journey, too. Will Zozimos make it back in time?
Strengths: My students love the first book in this series, and the books are a funny retelling of a new version of the Odyssey.
Weaknesses: My concern is that students will not be able to tell the Classical version of the Odyssey from this-- some things are changed, but others are not. I would have preferred, for the sake of clarity, that characters and timelines of the Homeric version were kept, with the addition of stick figure drawings and humor. Still, a must have for graphic collections in elementary and middle school.
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