We always enjoy a Greek myth storybook with a bit of humour to it, so we were delighted to discover The Clash of the Titans by Tom Knight as part of the World Myths series by the fantastic Faros Books. It tells the important story of how Zeus and his regurgitated (no really) siblings seized control from their father Cronus and the terrible Titans..
Cronus is the huge, powerful ruler of the cosmos and he would do anything to keep his throne. So when he finds out one of his own children is destined to overthrow him, he comes up with a plan: he eats them when they’re born. Having watched him gulp down five already – Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon – his wife Rhea comes up with a plan.
She hides the sixth child, Zeus, away on the island of Crete and feeds Cronus a rock swaddled in baby blankets instead. Cronus notices nothing – the illustration of him chomping on the cute lil rock was one of our favourites in the book! Hidden away on Crete, Zeus grows up and returns to challenge his father – but first he has to retrieve his siblings!
The battle between the Olympians and the Titans rages and the book introduces us to a variety of mythological characters – including our old pals the Cyclopes, who forge Zeus’ thunderbolts, Poseidon’s trident, and Hades’ helmet of darkness. The book sticks with Cyclops rather than Cyclopes for plural to keep things simple which is understandable for the reading level, but I do enjoy the fun of saying the former (sigh-cloh-peas!) Will these newly forged tools help the Olympians defeat their rivals? You’ll have to find out..
We really enjoyed reading The Clash of the Titans together. The 7yo could read it independently without too much bother beyond a couple of tricky to pronounce names. The sentences are clear and nicely formatted for littler eyes, and the illustrations are fantastic! It’s a great introduction to one of the more complex myths from the Ancient Greeks – which, if you’re into obscure words, is known as the titanomachy (tie-tan-o-mack-ee), literally the battle of the Titans. Even the Ancient Greeks told stories about it – some of which still survive, like Hesiod’s Theogony (one for the older kids, perhaps…)
wee classics 