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Mythology & Folklore

It's easy to dismiss myths simply as lies. After all, did Apollo really pull the Sun around in a chariot? Did Coyote really create the Indian tribes by flinging a defeated monster in several directions? Did Onamuji really die twice and have to be rescued by his mother? Who on earth is Onamuji? As children of the Enlightenment we have little patience for such absurd stories, condescendingly studying them (if we pay attention at all) as artifacts of primitive societies, or simply transforming them into comic book adventures.

Which is probably exactly what most of the originators of the myths would have wanted, at least the comic book part. As the great Roman poet Ovid demonstrated in his masterful Metamorphoses, myths aren't about telling what actually happened or describing the physical realities of the world so much as they're concerned with renewal, transfiguration and change.

There is a sense in which myths are intended to explain some perplexing aspect of the known world, as when the Scandinavians attributed lightning and thunder to Thor charging around in his goat-drawn chariot. But there's another sense in which it didn't really matter if they believed the stories they told at religious gatherings or by the fire at night; the mythologies of the Greeks, Chinese, Sioux tribes, Congolese and Slavs were all intended to impart to their listeners particular ideas about the world, about justice, about life and death, and about themselves.

Postmodernists like to call this sort of thing metanarrative, a universal story that imparts meaning on the chaos of existence. Men like G.K. Chesterton and J.R.R. Tolkien preferred to call it a search for truth. It was in this sense that Chesterton called the Christian Gospel a Myth—not because it was in any sense not true; quite the opposite, because it is perfectly true. Old mythologies worked hard to discover truth, while the Christian myth (the only completely true myth, as C.S. Lewis would say) is truth.

This is not to undermine the Christian narrative as found in the Bible, nor is it to apotheosize the ancient myths. There's plenty the old mythologists got wrong, and nothing untrue in the Word of God. Not only that, whereas the old myths are complete fabrications, the narrative of Scripture presents real historical events that actually transpired.

What is also true, however, and what is often ignored, is that what the Bible does for real, the myth-writers were trying to do. They wanted understanding, and the often bizarre stories they conjured weren't weird for the sake of weirdness: they were attempts at building a framework that would make sense of everything they knew existed, its origins, and its ultimate destiny.

Folklore shares a similar goal, though it's generally less universal, more homespun and culture-specific. Zeus is a mythic figure; Paul Bunyan is a folk hero. The folk hero is generally a national symbol, a human distillation of the peoples' spirit, someone they can identify with while looking up to them at the same time. Mythology and folklore often merge, especially in places with a long and deep heritage. The United States has no mythology, but its people have developed a rich folklore to make up for it.

At its best, mythology promotes noble conduct, self-sacrifice, and peacefulness. At its worst, it depicts a universe at the hands of capricious deities with appetites only different from ours in that they're bigger, more depraved, more destructive. We don't suggest building a worldview out of ancient myths, but if you have any desire to understand how people of the past thought and what motivated them, we do suggest starting with their stories.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Hardcover
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.74
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Leonard Vosburgh
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 3rd-6th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales for 3rd-6th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Readers #8
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2 (Cover 1)
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2 (Cover 2)
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen and illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Andersen's Fairy Tales / Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Ardizzone's Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
from Atheneum
for 3rd-8th grade
Babar the King / Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jean de Brunhoff (Babar); Rose Dobbs (reteller, Grimm), Illustrated by Gertrude Elliott Espensheid
from Random House
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$32.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Tales of Oscar Wilde
by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Egmont
for 3rd-8th grade
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$25.46
ECL: Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Brigitte Bryan
from Classic Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Sleeping Beauty and other Tales
by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Wayne Brown
from Classic Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Egyptian Myths
by Jacqueline Morley (reteller), illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
from Peter Bedrick Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
Emperor's New Clothes
Folk Tale Classic Library
by Virginia Lee Burton (designed and illustrated), Hans Christian Andersen
from Clarion Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.49
Enchanted Book
by Janina Porazinska, translated by Bozena Smith, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 2nd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Enchantment Tales for Children
by Margaret Evans Price (reteller & illustrator)
from Rand McNally
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Eyewitness Classics: King Arthur
by Rosalind Kerven
from DK Children
for 3rd-6th grade
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold
from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
Fairy Tales and Stories
by Hans Christian Andersen, Edited by Signe Toksvig, Illustrated by George and Doris Hauman
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
$9.60 (1 in stock)
God Beneath the Sea
by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, illustrated by Zevi Blum
from Pantheon Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Maya
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 1st-4th grade
in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
Greek Myths
by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 3rd-6th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Children's Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Noel Pocock
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 3rd-8th grade
Grimms' & Andersen's Fairy Tales Set
by Hans Christian Andersen & the Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel and Arthur Szyk
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 3rd-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Companion Library
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Adele Werber
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Don Daily
from Applesauce Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.11
Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Michael Adams
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Hansel and Gretel
by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Berta & Elmer Hader
from Weiser & Weiser
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
How the Moon Began
by James Reeves, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
from Abelard - Schuman
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Kaleidoscope of Fairies & Fables
by Hans Andersen, Aesop, Kipling & the Brothers Grimm, retold by Robert Mathias
from Hamlyn
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Korean Children's Favorite Stories
by Kim So-un, illustrated by Jeong Kyoung-Sim
for 3rd-6th grade
Legend of El Dorado
by Written & Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal, Adapted by Nancy Van Laan
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Little Mermaid
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Charles Santore
First Edition from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Neil Philip, illustrated by Isabelle Brent
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
$15.30
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Little Prince - Russian language edition
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Eksmodetstvo
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in Russian (Location: FL-GEN)
Little Red Riding Hood
by Trina Schart Hyman, retelling Grimm
from Holiday House
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1984 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Lon Po Po
by Ed Young
from Philomel Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
Caldecott Medal Winner 1990
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Nightingale
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Demi
First Edition from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Nightingale
by Hans Christian Andersen; retold by Stephen Mitchell and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Norse Myths
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-8th grade
Norse Myths
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-8th grade
Odin's Family
by Neil Philip, illustrated by Maryclare Foa
from Orchard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Of Beasts, Birds and Men
by Anne Terry White, illustrated by Ted Schroeder
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Peter and the Wolf
by Sergei Prokofiev, illustrated by Erna Voigt
from David R. Godine
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Puppets of Spelhorst
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Julie Morstad
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$15.29
Random House Book of Fairy Tales
by Various Authors
from Random House
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
$19.54
Scottish Fairy Tales
from Bracken Books
for 3rd-Adult
Seven Tales by H. C. Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Eva Le Gallienne and illustrated by Maurice Sendak
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-6th grade
Sixty Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Brothers Grimm, translated by Mrs. Edgar Lucas and illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Weathervane Books
for 2nd-6th grade
Sleeping Beauty
by Charles Perrault & Madame d'Aulnoy, illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Gustaf Tenggren and William Robinson
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 1st-6th grade
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Sally Holmes
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Jean Hersholt and illustrated by Sanna Annukka
from Ten Speed Press
for 1st-3rd grade
$13.60
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Tasha Pym
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Anthea Bell and illustrated by Yana Sedova
from Minedition
for 1st-3rd grade
$16.99
Snow Queen
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Naomi Lewis and illustrated by Angela Barrett
from Henry Holt and Company
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Queen OSI
by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Neil Philip and illustrated by Sally Holmes
from Armadillo Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow White
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Charles Santore
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$14.41
Steadfast Tin Soldier
by Hans Christian Anderson, translated by M.R. James, illustrated by Marcia Brown
from Atheneum
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1954 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Tales from the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, compiled by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-6th grade
Tanglewood Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tanglewood Tales
Windermere Series 2
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tanglewood Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tanglewood Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Thunder of the Gods
by Dorothy Hosford, illustrated by Claire & George Louden
from Henry Holt and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tomie dePaola's Favorite Nursery Tales
by Tomie dePaola
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Treasury of French Tales
by Henri Pourrat, translated by Mary Mian, illustrated Pauline Baynes
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
1st edition from Barnes & Noble
for 2nd-6th grade
Two Brothers
by Eugene Schwarz, illustrated by Gabriel Lisowski, translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood
from Harper & Row
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Usborne Greek Myths
by Heather Amery
from Usborne
for 2nd-3rd grade
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 1
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 2
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 3
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 4
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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