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roseleaf24's review against another edition
4.0
I appreciate this collection of creation stories. They are very well written here, with the ones I'm familiar with very close to original wording and definitely in line with original intent and meaning. Shared in a classroom or as a family, this may work as young as 3rd grade, but I think it lies more in the upper ages of the Newbery range. I would prefer to have the explanation of what culture the story is from at the beginning instead of the end of each story; I felt a little disoriented reading without that anchor. I am not a fan of the illustrations; they're beautiful and powerful, but definitely on the dark and creepy side.
epagelhogan's review against another edition
1.0
Disappointing and clearly outdated. I enjoyed learning about the different myths but the obvious treatment of the Christian origin story as “sacred” while other origin stories are presented as interesting yet somehow childish is really a shame. Sad this was an honor book and perpetuated Judeo-Christian and Western racism.
veritas19's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good book. There were creation myths from places I haven’t even heard of and it was interesting. There were also some myths that I have heard of or read about many time and love to hear over and over again. Some of my favorite myths are the myths of the Greek god like Zeus and the Titans. I have heard of Prometheus but I had never actually heard his story. I didn’t get the whole story granted but I know more about him then I ever did before. I also had heard about Pandora’s box but to be completely honest, I didn’t actually know the whole story or never really gave the myth much thought. This was a fascinating myth. I also love Egyptian myths and had heard part of the story but not how Ra came to be. There were many other myths that I had never heard of but also liked. I liked Nyambi and Olorun and the Other Gods. They are both African myths and I had heard of Olorun but never knew much about him. They were both fun to read! I was also intrigued by the watercolor illustrations. Some of them were so intricate and colorful. It really brought the creatures, gods and places to life on the pages.
boxcar's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.5
amazing small book to read before going to bed; a few stories gives you a glimpse at how different cultures viewed the world alongside a pleasingly tranquillizing tale.
tamarayork's review against another edition
3.0
Read aloud to my kids as part of a prehistory unit, from the Big Bang to recorded history. This was an interesting collection of creation myths from around the world. It got repetitive and there was a lot of overlap between the stories, but that led to some interesting discussions with the kids. We found that man was often created from dirt or generated from a god’s armpit. We all thought dirt was the preferable method. The Christian creation story is included along with the other cultures. It was very similar to other myths, which was an interesting teaching point for our secular family. The illustrations left much to be desired. I think the reading experience would have been vastly enhanced with some more kid-friendly illustrations.
autumnalreads94's review against another edition
This is a good introductory text for older children to creation myths.
tealmango's review against another edition
3.0
Read the full review here: http://newberyandbeyond.com/newbery-roundup-january-2017/
Creation myths from cultures around the world. Lovely illustrations plus great explanations and commentary by the author.
Creation myths from cultures around the world. Lovely illustrations plus great explanations and commentary by the author.
jedi_indyjones's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really fun read. I know it was a 1988 book and perhaps there are updates, but it was still really cool to read all the origin stories from religions around the world, past and current. It also happens to serve as a great supplemental read to Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It feature's so much cool imagery that it actually inspires me to want to draw some of what I imagine. There were also some cool images provided. This is a cool intro to creation stories that anyone can enjoy.
kaylana's review against another edition
4.0
Great introduction to various world creation myths and thus cultures. The illustrations are fun too. My son enjoys looking at the drawings. The text is pretty simplified.
Some of the author's comments are not super helpful (she comments after each myth), and she is biased toward Christian mythology, though not unexpectedly.
But overall a great addition to our library!
Some of the author's comments are not super helpful (she comments after each myth), and she is biased toward Christian mythology, though not unexpectedly.
But overall a great addition to our library!
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