Book Review: A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publisher: Rupa Publications

Children love Greek Mythology because of the beautiful artistic depictions, relatable characters and the balance that these stories maintain between the good and the bad. Another factor that makes the children like them is that they do not actually impart any moral or lesson unless we decide to read between the lines and then decipher what’s not written! ‘A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls’ is a book that retells six mythological tales- The Gorgon’s Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher and The Chimaera- all with a different flavour, narrated with a different perspective.

The stories are not stand-alone stories but have been woven together using a parallel narrative in which an eighteen-year-old lad, Eustace, decides to tell these stories to his cousins. His way of story-telling is not only humorous but also impactful.

This book was first published in the year 1851. Since then it has been picked up by top-notch publishers and has been re-published with little tweaks here and there. The writing style is simple and it comes handy for the ones who dread reading the thick books on mythology. Some of the stories like The Golden Touch are also introduced in schools. I began with that story and then went back to Gorgon’s Head (I am not a great fan of Greek Mythology).

I think illustrations would have given this book a brownie point. But that is not a drawback; it is just a suggestion.

Overall, this book will definitely be liked by the millennial kids who are quite intrigued by the audacity and beauty of the Greek heroes!

Link to buy: Amazon