All in the Family

All in the Family: A Look-It-Up Guide to the In-laws, Outlaws, and Offspring of Mythology
By Steven Otfinofski
F. Watts/Scholastic, 2010. 128 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

What would Apollo's online profile look like? What would Aphrodite say if she had her own blog? Greek mythology hall of famers meet the modern age in a new series that brings the superstars of Greek myth to life with stories that put them in the pantheon. Complete with profiles, headshots, family trees, fascinating sidebars and irreverent surprises, Mythlopedia is for readers who love action, romance, power struggles and more.

This entry in the Mythlopedia series, directed at a young adult audience, profiles the lives (and usually deaths) of several non-Olympian heroes and mortals. At times, Otfinofski tries too hard to sound hip (Midas: “Aw, snap! Check this out, player—anything I touch turns to gold!”), but most of the information is provided in a concise, easy to understand format. The book is a good resource for anyone trying to understand basic plots of Greek mythology, but despite its attempts to make family connections clear, I still find the Olympian family tree a muddled mess.

LF