Everyone loves Odysseus and his epic journey home from Troy via witches, ghosts, monsters, storms, and angry gods. But what about the other heroes fighting in the Trojan War – especially on the opposing side!? There’s an intriguing imbalance when it comes to kids versions of Homeric epic (Greek) and the later epic of Virgil, a Roman (Latin) poem telling the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas as he flees his burning city and seeks a new home. There’s endless retellings of Odysseus’s adventures, but much less to be found for younger ages when it comes to Aeneas. Okay, so, he might not be as feisty and fun a hero as Odysseus (sorry Latinists), but there’s still plenty of mischief and mayhem to discover. Plus, there’s much more interesting – and increasingly important – conversations to be had about refugees and displacement, as Aeneas is forced to flee his war-ravaged and doomed city. So when I spotted Virgil’s Aeneid for Kids by Federico Corradini and Silvia Baroncelli, I knew we’d have to investigate!
wee classics 