Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad by Rosemary Sutcliff - OPTIONAL

Sutcliff, Rosemary Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad, 128 pages. Illustrated by Alan Lee. Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (Quatro), 2017 (2005). $20.

Language: G; Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.  

Paris hears of a beautiful woman named Helen and so he travels to see her.  Paris falls for Helen and gets her to come away from her husband, King Menelaus, to go home to Troy with him.  Menelaus is furious and gathers a whole big army to take against Troy.  The fighting lasts over ten years with a lot of bloodshed and brave leaders killed.   The Greek Gods favor certain people which makes the war last even longer.  Eventually Odysseus, tricks the people of Troy with the Trojan horse and Helen is returned to her original home.  

This was not an easy read for two reasons: first, there were so many names it would have been great to have a character list; second, the poetic writing style makes it so you have to read it slow and even re-read passages.  The illustrations are quite graphic and the scenes are gruesome battles where the victor tends to desecrate the body of the dead (Hector’s death is especially upsetting).  This book is broken down into different stories for each chapter, but there is a lot covered so this might be best used by a teacher in a Greek unit.  

MS, HS – OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.