Classics for Cool Kids: Popular and Unpopular Versions of Antiquity for Children | Zendy

Sheila Murnaghan | Zendy

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Classics for Cool Kids: Popular and Unpopular Versions of Antiquity for Children

Author(s) -

Sheila Murnaghan

Publication year - 2011

Publication title -

the classical world

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.141

H-Index - 13

eISSN - 1558-9234

pISSN - 0009-8418

DOI - 10.1353/clw.2011.0049

Subject(s) - mythology , entertainment , wonder , literature , hostility , classics , art , psychology , history , visual arts , social psychology

Since Nathaniel Hawthorne's pioneering A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (1851) and Tanglewood Tales (1853), retelling Greek and Roman myths for children has been a widespread and influential means of popularizing classical material. While Hawthorne unabashedly appropriated the myths as entertainment for young readers, works by his contemporary counterparts (such as the "Myth-O-Mania" series, Greece! Rome! Monsters! , and the Percy Jackson series) display a more anxious and conflicted approach to the same material, caught between the aims of educating their readers about antiquity and appealing to their readers' presumed hostility to school and learning.

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