Synopses & Reviews
An Interview with Jane Yolen Q. What inspired you to create the Young Heroes series?
A. To begin with, our editor came up with the general idea of the series and asked me if I would like to do it. Would I!!! It seemed to have everything I loved to read as a kid myself - adventure, heroes, magic, monsters.
But I knew it was such a bit idea, I would need help. And having just finished writing an historical novel and several short stories with my friend Bob Harris, who had a degree in classics (i.e., Greek and Latin) from the University of St. Andrews, I immediately asked if he was interested in working on the books with me. If I jumped at the idea, he positively leaped. The one big change we made, though, was to insist that fully half of the books were to star girl heroes.
Q. And what did the editor say to that suggestion?
A. She leaped, too. For joy.
Q. Was there a particular reason you started the series with a tale on Odysseus?
A. Yes - Odysseus is in some way the prototypical Greek hero. Everyone knows his name. And because of his long, rambling, episodic adult life story, we thought it would give us the most open story to use as a basis for our first book.
Q. How did you decide on the heroes you are writing about (Odysseus, Hippolyta, and Atalanta)? Is there a reason you have not picked someone like Jason, Hercules, or Aeneas?
A. In each case, we are looking for heroes - male and female - who have interesting adult lives that we can plumb for clues to a childhood. And we want each novel to be different from the preceding one.
In fact, Jason is our next pick. We have stayed away from Hercules because of the TV show. And Aeneas has simply notcome up. We are looking at Theseus, Ariadne, Perseus, Medea, and Achilles.
Q. How did you determine the amount of "fiction" you would add to the "facts" for "Odysseus in the Serpent Maze and "Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons? Were you concerned with remaining as faithful as possible, within the confines of the story, to the actual mythology?
A. We are trying very hard (unlike the TV Hercules and Xena) to stay within the confines of heroic and historic Greece. Any additions will be more on the mythic side (gryphons, satyrs, etc.).
Q. You have called yourself a "storyteller." Could you explain what that means to you?
A. It means that I can start with a once-upon-a-time premise and, like Sheherazade, keep you up until morning with the power of my tale.
Q. Your writing has been described as being about magical things. What has drawn you to this genre?
A. I adored fairy tales as a child and have never grown out of it.
Q. Hippolyta and Atalanta are both such strong, independent characters. Have you felt a responsibility to portray female characters this way in your writing?
A. I have a responsibility to write truthfully. And one of those truths - which was long hidden in adventure stories - is that girls have been heroes too.
Q. You have written over 200 books for young readers. Where do you find the inspiration to continue adding to your body of work?
A. Curiosity, a need to find out how my stories end, and a great joy and love of telling tales.
Q. What do you think about the state of children's literature today?
A. I think we have the possibility to be one of the great ages of children's books ... if we are not overwhelmed by themarket driving the stories instead of the stories driving the market.
Synopsis
Odysseus, Prince of Ithaca, has always been safe, sheltered, protected -- and bored! The Age of Heroes is past. The wars are over. The monsters are slain. Or so he believes. Are there any adventures left for a thirteen-year-old boy who wants, more than anything, to be a hero?
His time comes when Odysseus, his best friend Mentor, a spoiled princess named Helen, and her outspoken cousin Penelope are kidnapped by pirates. After a daring rescue and a journey on a mysterious ship to the ancient island of Crete, Odysseus must face the deadly secret at the heart of the Labyrinth, where the Minotaur once struck terror into the hearts of all who were unfortunate enough to enter. Now another, more deadly monster roams the maze. There the boy destined to fight in the Trojan War and survive the perilous voyage of the Odyssey discovers the hardest part of being a hero: living long enough to tell the tale.
Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris have written a fresh and exciting adventure that introduces the boy who would later become one of ancient Greece's most renowned legendary heroes.
About the Author
Jane Yolen is one of the acknowledged masters of fantasy today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children and adults. Her young adult novel The Devil's Arhtmetic won the Jewish Book Council Award. Her children's book Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, was awarded the Caldecott Medal; her fantasy novels Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna were both short-listed for the Nebula; and she's won the Nebula twice for short stories. She has also won the World Fantasy Award, the Christopher Medal twice, and the Golden Kite Award. She has written two previous books in the Young Heroes series with Robert J. Harris, Odysseus in the Serpent Maze and Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons. Jane Yolen lives with her husband in western Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.