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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: 7th grade (Ages 12-13)
Adventures of Robin Hood
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
1991 Edition from Reader's Digest
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Harry Rountree
from Gallery Books
for 3rd-9th grade
$14.00 (1 in stock)
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)
$14.99
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
by Anonymous, illustrated by William Heath Robinson
from Everyman's Library
for 6th-9th grade
$17.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Alex O'Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves
by Regina Doman
from Chesterton Press
for 7th-10th grade
Ancient Egypt: Life, Myth, and Art
by JoAnne Fletcher
First Edition from Duncan Baird
for 5th-9th grade
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Valdemar Paulsen
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-8th grade
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Annotated Hans Christian Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Arctic Twilight
by Samuli Paulaharju
1982 Edition from Finnish American Literary Heritage Foundation
for 7th-Adult
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Ardizzone's Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
from Atheneum
for 3rd-8th grade
Argosy of Fables
by F. T. Cooper (editor), illustrated by Paul Bransom
from Frederick A. Stokes Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$64.00 (1 in stock)
Aztec and Maya Myths
by Karl Taube
from British Museum Press
for 6th-12th grade
in Ancient America (Location: HISW-ANAM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Beautiful Stories of Life
by Cynthia Rylant
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
$17.99
Best-Loved Folktales of the World
by Joanna Cole
from Anchor Books
for 7th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Bulfinch's Medieval Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Fairy Tales
by Peter Opie & Iona Opie
from Oxford University
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Classic Tales of Oscar Wilde
by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Egmont
for 3rd-8th grade
Complete Fairy Tales
Penguin Classics
by George MacDonald
from Penguin Classics
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
3rd edition from Bantam Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.00
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm
from International Collectors Library
for 5th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$35.00
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris, retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
from Dial Press
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$50.00
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$19.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths - Audio CD
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
$25.00 $14.00 (1 in stock)
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)
$29.95
Diamond Path
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Eternal Cycle
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Margaret Tarrant
from Gallery Books
for 4th-8th grade
Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Famous Legends Adapted for Children
by Emeline G. Crommelin
2022 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 5th-9th grade
$7.99
Favorite Folktales from Around the World
by Jane Yolen
from Pantheon Books
for 4th-Adult
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Favourite Tales from Grimm and Andersen
by Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Jirí Trnka
1983 Printing from Paul Hamlyn
for 4th-8th grade
$18.00 (1 in stock)
First Houses: Native American Homes and Sacred Structures
by Jean Guard Monroe, Ray A. Williamson, illustrated by Susan Johnston Carlson
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-12th grade
in Houses & Homes (Location: HISMC-HH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Forests of the Vampire
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
Gifts of the Child Christ - 2 Volume Set
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 5th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Gilgamesh (retold)
by Bernarda Bryson
from CreateSpace
for 4th-8th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$24.95
Glittering Plain
by William Morris
from Newcastle Publishing Co
for 7th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Gods of Sun & Sacrifice
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Heritage Press
for 4th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
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
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Viking Press
for 4th-8th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, selected & edited by Louis & Bryna Untermeyer and illustrated by Lucille Corcos
from Easton Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from SeaStar Books
for 4th-8th grade
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Readers #4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
1954 printing from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 1
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 3
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Windermere Series 4
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Hope Dunlap
from Rand McNally
for 4th-10th 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
Sterling Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Puffin Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-7th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Calla Editions
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Calla ed from Dover Publications
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Louis Rhead
from SeaWolf Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.95
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Penguin Classics
for 5th-10th grade
Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
by Hans Christian Andersen, Translated by Erik Christian Haugaard
1983 Anchor Books Edition from Anchor Books
for 2nd-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.00
Heroes & Monsters Of Greek Myth
by Bernard Evslin, Dorthy Evslin, ned Hoopes
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-7th grade
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Heroes of the Dawn
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
Howard Pyle King Arthur Series
by Howard Pyle
from Dover Publications
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Iliad (retold)
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Macmillan
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: Legends of Charlemagne
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Macmillan
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry
by Thomas Bulfinch, illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
from Macmillan
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Illustrated Treasury of Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Grimm Brothers, illustrated by Daniela Drescher
from Floris Books
for 4th-8th grade
$24.95
Imitation in Writing: Greek Myths
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
2nd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$15.00
Imitation in Writing: Greek Myths
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
3rd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$20.00
It's Perfectly True
by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Paul Leyssac and illustrated by Richard Bennett
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jack Tales
by Richard Chase
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Journeys through Dreamtime
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-12th grade
King Arthur and His Noble Knights
by Mary MacLeod, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
King Arthur and the Round Table
Dent & Dutton Children's Illustrated Classics
by A. M. Hadfield, illustrated by Donald Seton Cammell
from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
King of Elfland's Daughter
by Lord Dunsany
Fourth Printing from Ballantine Books
for 7th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
King of Ireland's Son
by Padraic Colum
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-7th grade
$14.95
King of Men
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Ellen Raskin
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Kingdom Far and Clear
Calla Edition
by Mark Helprin
from Dover Publications
for 6th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Land of the Dragon
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Legends of the North
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Edouard Sandoz
from Houghton Mifflin
Norse Myths for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
$18.00
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lost Realms of Gold
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Medieval Fables
by Marie de France
from Book Sales Inc.
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
by Howard Pyle
from Dover Publications
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$16.95
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
by Howard Pyle
from Living Book Press
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mother Earth, Father Sky
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Grand Central Publishing
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Little, Brown & Company
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.99
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.99
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