Heroes of Olympus

Freeman, Philip. . Heroes of Olympus.
Adapted by Laurie Calkhoven from Oh My Gods.
1 May 2012, Simon and Schuster.

Myths and stories about the ancient Greeks and Romans have been popular at my school for a long time because I was a Latin teacher in a former life. I was an early fan of Rick Riordan (breathlessly awaited Sea of Monsters back in 2006) and will take any opportunity to foist ancient stuff on kids.

But I'm torn about this one. I really want it, because other than Edith Hamilton, where can I find the story of Scaevola or Lucretia? On the other hand, it's honkin' long (342 pages) with tiny text, and just not as exciting as I thought Calkhoven would make a book of myths, given her excellent work with The Boys of War. It's the sort of book that students will pick up because it's got a guy in a toga with a lightning bolt on the cover, but it will be back by the end of the day because it reads sort of like a Loeb translation.

Probably buy it for the directory, glossary, and index.

Now I'm sad. I have to go watch Claudius, a Boy of Rome and translate some sentences from Jenney's First Year Latin.

And I probably knew this, but one of the authors of this, Eric Baade, died back in 1999. I met him at a conference, and he was the nicest man. Was relieved to know that Thomas K. Burgess, whom I also met, is still living.

I miss teaching Latin.