Get Lost, Odysseus.

McMullan, Kate. Get Lost, Odysseus.

1 August 2014, Stone Arch Books

E ARC from Netgalley.com

In this tenth book in the Mythomania series, Hades wants to set the record straight about the role of his brother Poseidon in the travails of Odysseus. Of course, Hades tried to get Poseidon to ease up, and spends a lot of time following Odysseus around because he’s such a good guy, but this is a sacrifice because the Underworld is a busy place AND he’s worried that something is wrong with Cerberus.

This book follows The Odyssey fairly faithfully, explaining a lot of things that students would not get from, say, Lattimore’s translation, and injects a good dose of humor into it by framing it with Hades’ point of view. There are some historical… liberties that bothered me (anything ancient Greek that mentions togas, and Hades method of travel, which is ZIPPPING—traveling to an area’s zip code, which they wouldn’t have had in Greece), but will not even come across students’ radar. This series has been hugely popular with my students, and the books are a good way to introduce myths to students in a fun way so they will actually read and remember them.