Persephone the Phony (Goddess Girls) by Suzanne Williams and Joan Holub

Goddess Girls is a cute series for young girls about goddesses from Greek mythology, namely Persephone, Athena, Aphrodite and Artemis. This is the first book I've read in the series and I was drawn to it because I've always liked the story of Persephone and Hades, and though the story is called 'The Rape of Persephone' I've always considered it to be more of a forbidden love story than Hades taking her against her will.

The goddesses in this series are 12, the supposed age of the potential reader and all of the gods and goddesses interact mostly at god- school, with Zeus as the principle. Persephone is a shy girl and always goes along with what her friends want to do or are interested in instead of saying what she would like to do, and because she is always going along with her friends and hides her real feelings she starts to think of herself as being phony. Then one day after school, Aphrodite convinces Persephone and Athena to go shopping with her. She is convinced to buy a ball of yarn (among other things) and on her way home she drops the yarn and it unravels and falls down to earth to a cemetery. Persephone goes after it and when she gets to the cemetery she is intrigued by it, as she has never been to one, and she finds that she feels very calm in this place. Then, the ground shakes and opens up and out comes a young Hades on a black stallion. They get to talking and Persephone finds that Hades is quite a nice person and inspires her to say what she's really feeling, but alas the meeting is interrupted by Demeter, Persephone's mother, who gets angry at Persephone for not telling her where she had gone. As the story progresses, Persephone and Hades have a few more chance encounters (almost every time someone warns her away from him) and Persephone starts feeling like she should stand up for herself more. Aphrodite asks her to go shopping again and this time she refuses and goes to see Hades instead, but on the way there she sees a pomegranate orchard and stops in for a bite.  Hades comes up and they have some fun spitting the seeds but as it turns out her friends were spying on her and tell her mother what she's been up to. Persephone is angry at everyone for this invasion of privacy and runs away to the underworld with Hades (instead of being dragged) and tells him that she's tun away and wants to live with him. In contrast to the myth, he actually sends her back however, telling her that the underworld isn't a place for her and that her mother would be worried. Persephone has a talk with her mom and then seeks Hades out at school the next day and he asks her to go to a dance.

It's not exactly the myth, but the main pieces are in the right place. They meet on earth, and Persephone's making a daisy chain at the time, so she's still interacting with nature at some level when he meets her. The pomegranate is still the turning point in their relationship, after that she begins to act more in her own interest instead of going along with what other people say, and after that point they end up getting together. And she did go down into the underworld, she was just sent swiftly back to mount Olympus. Overall it was an enjoyable read and a fun interpretation.. and maybe an introduction for some kids, to some of the more well-known female goddesses in Greek mythology. I haven't read any of the other books, but this one was pretty good so I would think those are ok as well.

Dragon's Milk by Susan Fletcher

Dragon's Milk (the first book in The Dragon Chronicles) is the story of a girl named Kaeldra who goes in search of dragon's milk to save her sister from a life threatening illness.

Kaeldra was something of a social outcast, even within her own home. She was adopted into the family and is of a race at war with the race of the family that took her in. She was different both in appearance and mannerisms from the other women in her village and family and because of her 'foreignness' was sometimes blamed behind her back for unfortunate events. Kaeldra was also the owner of green flecked eyes, and it was rumoured that people with green eyes could communicate with dragons, troublesome monsters that stole livestock and killed people.

Kaeldra's young sister Lyf comes down with a life threatening fever, and Grandmyr, the matriarch of the family, tells her that the only hope of a chance they have at saving her life would be to get her some dragon's milk. Grandmyr informs her that one of her own ancestors was also deathly ill and was left for dead at a cave, but after a dragon took pity on her and nursed her, she fully recovered, and received a pair of vibrant green eyes. So Kaeldra goes up the mountain near her home and in exchange for the milk, watches the dragon's children while she goes out to hunt. On one of these outings the mother gets killed by a dragon hunting party and the draclings are left in Kaeldra's care. She then goes on a quest to ensure that they are put into the care of another dragon before they too are slain.

This was a really good read. The writing was surprisingly intellectual for the age group (pre to early teen) and was truly a pleasure to get through. I thought that even though Kaeldra was a very unwilling heroine, she undertook her quest with bravery and strength and thankfully didn't whine her troubles away. This is the first book of a trilogy with a fourth novel soon coming out, and I have to say that this is one of the best dragon books I've read. All who love fantasy and adventure will surely fall in love with this book.

I Dream Dragon

I have loved dragons all my life. Here are some fictional books that have enhanced my love and have helped to paint the world in which they live.

Harper Hall of Pern Trilogy - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums- great trilogy about a young girl who lives in a place where music is forbidden to girls and dragons are only for dragon riders, until one day she runs away from home and stumbles upon a clutch of small dragons that bond with her.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles- Dealing with Dragons, Seaching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons- amazing series about a princess who was captured by a dragon... and doesn't want to be rescued. Instead she befriends the dragon and they go off on adventures. The old covers look so much better than the new ones.

The Dragons Chronicles- Dragon's Milk, Flight of the Dragons Kyn, Sign of the Dove - a collection of books about girls who can speak with dragons in a time when dragons are being hunted down and killed. These girls try to save the dragons.

Song in the Silence - story about a young woman who falls in love with a dragon. Not as cheesy as it sounds.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader- chronicles of Narnia. book 5. One of the selfish children gets turned into a dragon.

The Ice Dragon- story about a girl who loves the cold and because of her inhuman tolerance and love of it, creates a bond with the legendary ice dragon.

The Book of Dragons- great collection of short stories by E. Nesbit, a classic children's author.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher- a young boy escapes some bullies by running into a magic shop and comes out with a dragon egg.

How to Train Your Dragon- story about a viking boy who isn't very good at being a viking, but his strange dragon training techniques may just save his town.

Kira (Shadow of the Dragon)- after the capture of their family, two sisters befriend a dragons and go about fulfilling a prophecy about bring down an unwelcome kingdom.

Dragon Slippers- Taking a few notes from Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, this is a story about a girl whose aunt offers her to the local dragon so that a prince will come to save and marry her. When the prince comes she blows him off and goes her own way, but takes a pair of shoes from the dragon's cave. She meets with another dragon later on and befriends it.

Dragon's Blood- boy tries to train a dragon

Dragonhaven- boy takes care of a dragon. Not as good as her other books, but not horrible.

The Paper Bag Princess - classic story book about a princess who goes off to save her prince from a dragon. After she outwits the dragon and saves him however, she realizes that he's not worth the trouble and leaves him in the dust. All of his stories are better when you hear him read them, so look up the audio... it might be on his website.

Tell Me A Dragon- This book doesn't really have a plot, it is more a collection of different people saying what kind of dragon they have, and by dragon I would assume they mean imagination. It goes through many different kinds of dragons, fire breathers, ice dragons, big dragons, etc. and is more a kind of book to inspire you to take pride in your own imagination than it is taking you through someone else's.

Eragon- farm boy finds a dragon egg and forms a bond with the dragon when it hatches, they go on adventures.

Dragonheart- Great movie about a dragon who gives his heart to save the life of a prince.. and it backfires. Two words. Sean Connery.

Pete's Dragon- An orphan and his dragon friend, who is invisible unless he so chooses, meets a nice lighthouse keeper and his daughter.

The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn

I read this book back in elementary school, and I enjoyed reading it at the time.

The story follows this orphan girl named Rose who is sent to live with relatives after the death of her grandmother. Rose is something of a tomboy and doesn't really have any friends, so doesn't feel like she fits in when she arrives and spends a lot of time by herself. One of the places she likes to spend time in is a root cellar near the house, and one day she goes into it only to find herself transported back in time to the 1800's. There she meets a boy and a girl with whom she becomes friends. At that time the Civil War was going on, so the boy goes off to fight in it, and the sister and Rose then go off in search of him.

It's a good story about a girl finding a place for herself to be accepted and needed, and be finding that she gains a little more self-confidence by focusing more on how to help others. It's fun and adventurous and even throws a bit of history in there as well.

The Wild Irish: A Novel Of Elizabeth I And The Pirate O’malley by RobinMaxwell

I got this book anticipating adventure, excitement.. something amazing. Two powerful and notable women from English/ Irish history are coming together, there's potential for a great story. Instead this book was written like a documentary... a very slow paced documentary. I lost interest after the first couple of chapters but dragged myself to the halfway mark, and at that point I could care less about the characters and wasn't at all involved in the story line, so dropped it for something better. History is such a fascinating topic but is destroyed for a lot of people by teachers who make it very much less than it should be. Because of my expectations, this book was the equivalent of that teacher.

As I do enjoy the actual history, I suppose I could see how someone could get something out of the book... not too much, but something about two notable historical women. This is definitely isn't my ideal for a good fiction book, nor a good representation of stories and historical figures who were actually extremely fascinating and worth writing about.