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hereinantwerp
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 7:30am | IP Logged
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I started this book w/my kids today and I was surprised how GOOD it was! The language is vivid, exciting, detailed, literary, strong, just wonderful! The painted illustrations are nice tho not outstanding, but it is the language that is so good. Even my 6 yo boy was held riveted by these.
We read some of the Greek Myths from the Daulaire book, and though we love the art I was not excited about the retellings. They did not hold the interest of my younger son. We love their "Norse Gods and Giants", though. Not sure why the Greek one falls flat.
I plan to check out more books by this author! I find it rare to find a book so well-told.
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Angela Nelson
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Mary G
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We are reading El Cidby Geraldine McCaughrean. She's an excellent writer. She's also the one that wrote that cool book about The Jesse Tree - which we used for our own Jesse tree this year! She's a great author.
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MaryG
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Kathryn UK
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 11:59am | IP Logged
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We have just started on her Greek Gods and Goddesses book. I'm a big fan of Geraldine MacCaughrean, who IMO deserves to be better known. She has written a number of good retellings of classic literature (ranging from Gilgamesh to The Canterbury Tales to Bible stories) and collections of myths and legends.
Here is her website.
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Kathryn
Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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jdostalik
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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Wow, thanks for the recommendations Angela, Mary and Kathryn!
I have a voracious 10 yo dd who is hard to keep up with in book-reading! 
Can anyone offer a review of her children's fiction (found these titles at her site):
Gold Dust
A Pack of Lies
A Little Lower than Angels
The age for these was listed as 10+. Any comments on these?
Thanks!
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Jennifer in TX
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Kathryn UK
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Jennifer, I haven't read any of her fiction, only the retellings and short stories. I'd love to know what her children's fiction is like. I've seen a couple of books in book club catalogues that looked interesting, but never got round to checking them out.
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Kathryn
Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06) (11/07)
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christinalinz
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We just finished Gilgamesh, and my 5 and 7 year-olds were riveted. I did have to "edit" a little bit at the beginning with Enkidu and the dancing girl, but it was really not bad... I never actually enjoyed Gilgamesh before, but thanks to McCaughrean's adaptation, I came away amazed by the freshness of an epic that is thousands of years old!
We are now reading her "Old Testament" stories.
The McCaughrean books are turning out to be fantastic for bridging the read-aloud gap between my 3 - 7 age children... something that can be quite a challenge! Admittedly, the cartoon-style illustrations are poor, but I will have to live with that. (Gilgamesh illustrations are by someone else, and are actually very good!)
ChristinaGilgamesh
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stefoodie
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Another Geraldine Mccaughrean fan here! Discovered her through TWTM. My 15-yo is rereading her "Casting the Gods Adrift" for our second round of the Ancient Egypts. I've been looking around for a chronological list of her books to go with our history studies but I haven't found anything. Anyone know? Maybe we GMcC fans can put a list together?
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marihalojen
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All Right!  My library has 11 of her books! The Romans, the Greeks, Silver and Gold myths, including Not the End of the World which won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. Has anyone read it?
Summary:
Noah's daughter, daughters-in-law, sons, wife, and the animals describe what it was like to be aboard the ark while they watched everyone around them drown.
Sounds rather grim, but it is rather a grim subject, I suppose. Sounds like maybe we've found a book for a time period that doesn't have too much written about it? (unlike, say, Egypt. Overwhelming amounts there  )
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stefoodie
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Hi Jennifer, we borrowed this book too, but my 15-yo just finished it, and DIDN'T like it one bit. I'm disappointed because so far we've enjoyed all her books. Although, I'd love to know if anyone else read the book and liked it...
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stef
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marihalojen
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Thanks for the heads up, Stef. In the bit of the excerpt on Amazon it definitely had the - woe is me, I am female, history shall never remember a mere female - tone to it. I get a tad tired of constantly hearing how awful girls had it, get over it and tell the story already!
Anyone else read it?
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The Mari Hal-O-Jen
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momwise
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No Jennifer
I saw it at the library and something like that was in the book jacket. I brought it home but never got around to reading it. sorry. I know I've got something around here by her but I'll be darned if I can figure out what it is.
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Roman Myths, by Geraldine McCaughrean
