Rewriting Greek Mythology

Every night, the kids gather around and I read to them. Being kind of a nut about classics, history, and meaningful learning, I was scouring our overfilled bookcases for something meaningful that they would actually enjoy. In Mark’s bookcases (which are usually off limits to us; he’s kind of obsessive about his books!) we found a book about Greek heroes. It took about a week to read every story, and they loved them.

I then supplemented with another book about Greek mythology directed for younger audience.

Max now has been asking me to read Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth. The dialogue between Moyers and Campbell is a little over Claire’s head, but Max is REALLY into it. So far, he’s really interested in how the creation story is similar across different cultures. However, when he starts asking for more specifics about an indigenous mythology, I’m a little lost on answers.

Claire is missing her Greek heroes, so she decided to write her own stories. At age 4, she’s re-writing some of her favorite stories. Perseus, noted as the killer of Medusa, is now only allowed to kill wild boars. Atalanta, previously a killer of wild boars and destroyer of misogyny, will now be the slayer of Medusa. Apparently, Claire has bigger plans for Atalanta. She has her own little book she made from pieces of white copy paper stapled together. And here’s what she wrote:

I helped her with spelling, and of course some of her letters are a bit challenged, but the girl certainly has some initiative. Here’s hoping she didn’t make Zeus upset by demoting his demigod son!