Stories like this one can get the imagination going and spark the young critical thinker. The reader learns the ancient myth of how the seasons came about. The illustrations are very nice, ink and watercolor. They resemble ancient greek drawings and color palates. The message isn't immediately clear, there is no moral or answer, but it is something which will stick in one's mind, which I think is the value of myths.

This Ancient Greek myth is also a pourquoi tale explaining how summer and winter came to be. Lonely Hades searches the earth for a wife because no woman wants to live in the dark, desolate underworld willingly. He finds Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter, and steals her away to the underworld. Both Persephone and Demeter stop eating out of despair, and Demeter also stops making the plants and flowers grow. Zeus intervenes, sending Hermes to tell Hades that if Persephone has not eaten, she must be sent back to her mother. Hades tells Zeus that Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds. Because of this, Zeus decrees that Persephone is to be returned to her mother now, but must go and live with Hades for six months every year. The six months that she is with Hades marks the fall and winter seasons as Demeter neglects her duties out of grief. Spring and summer are marked by Persephone's return to her mother.

The story was simply told, making it easy for young children to understand, and the watercolor illustrations go well with the story. The characters are introduced in accordance with their positions in Greek mythology: Zeus as chief of all the gods, Poseidon as the god of the seas, Hades as the god of the underworld, Demeter as the goddess of growing things, and Hermes as the messenger. It makes for interesting pourquoi tale, as well as an introduction into Greek mythology. Appropriate for ages three and up. ( )

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