The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus

Brandenburg, A. (1994). The gods and goddesses of Olympus. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishing

I chose the picture book The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki Brandenburg for the traditional literature selection. This particular text meets the criteria for traditional literature because it is a retelling of the oral tradition from the ancient Greek culture and has no known original author. I also chose this book because I teach a class on classical mythology and I am always interested in seeing how the stories differ slightly from orator to orator. This book covers the traditional creation story and stories of how the deities came to be in Ancient Greek society.

The format of the book varies from the normal format of a picture book in that this one contains 48 pages instead of the typical 32. Other than that, it follows the basic design. This book has pictures on every page. The book actually appears to be more of a series of pictures with captions under each one. With this type of formatting, the pictures really enhance the story being told. The pictures are framed, which means that they have borders and are contained to specific areas, except for the opening pages which are double-spread, meaning that the two opposing pages are actually form one image. On these pages the pictures actually surround the text, which gives it the illusion of framing the text, giving it importance. There is also a map of the area of the world from where the stories originated

The illustration type would be classified as cartoon of the graphic novel style. The pictures are not realistic, thus cartoon, but they are not done in a round and robust manner. They are more precise as to the actual images they represent. The shape of the drawings is complex with details given to both the subjects and the background materials, as is evident with the picture on page 11. In this picture everything is precise and detailed, even the objects in the background. The color is rich and adds detail to the illustrations. The line use is a combination of horizon and vertical/diagonal, depending on the mood of the scene being illustrated. In the illustration of the creation story (pg. 7), the lines are horizontal, which gives the picture an overall feeling of calmness and peacefulness. But in the illustrations on page 11, the vertical and diagonal lines give the impression of movement and action, which coincides with the content of the story (Rhea running to hide her baby and the scenes of Cronus swallowing the stone). The media use for the illustrations consist of pencil drawings. The drawings were then colored using washes of gouache paint and colored pencils.