Pegasus: Marianna Mayer

Pegasus tells the tale of the winged horse and a young man named Bellerophon. Bellerophon was suspected of falling in love with the King’s wife, so the King sets up Bellerphon to die. He sends him to a neighboring king with the message “Put to death the bearer of this message.” The King of Lycia had grown to like Bellerophon, so he decided he would ask a task that would surely bring his death instead of executing him. The only way for Bellerophon to succeed was to become friends with the beautiful Pegasus and defeat the Chimera. The two began to trust one another and one day went to fight the terrible monster and defeated it in a great battle. Upon returning to the kingdom, the King of Lycia welcomed him with open arms and allowed Bellerophon to marry his daughter. Again, I feel like the illustrations in this book are amazing. The detail is within the story and the illustrations, and I think children of all ages would enjoy it. It fits with the Greek Gods and Goddesses material in fifth grade and small children would respond to it as a read aloud. The artwork makes the story so much more vivid and I feel children would really enjoy this.