Voyage with Jason

By Ken Catran

Book Overview

The story of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece remains a favorite with children. Ken Catran's version of the tale takes a slightly different tack from previous authors. Pylos, an apprentice shipbuilder, is rescued by Hercules from his cruel master and accompanies the Argonauts as the ship's boy and narrates the exciting events that happen during the three-year voyage: the sea battle with the Trojans, the harrowing passage through the clashing rocks, Jason's ill-fated romance with Medea, and the palace intrigue and royal rivalries that threaten to destroy the mission. Ken Catran's colorful characters, vivid dialogue, and dramatic narrative make this award winner a compulsively readable version of the classic myth.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0734401515
• ISBN13: 9780734401519
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: UNKNO
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

fascinating re-telling of a great myth

I saw this book when I was in Australia and immediately had to have it. I've had a lifelong love of Greek myths and legends, and while there are a number of recently published books re-telling stories from the Greek myths, I hadn't seen anything on Jason. I read this one in an afternoon. It's told not by one of the heroes but by Pylos, a boy shipbuilder rescued from a brutal overseer by a man who seems like nothing more than a big country bumpkin. When I found out who the man was, like Pylos I was quivering with awe (no, I'm not going to spoil it for you!). After this encounter Pylos is dropped straight into the strangeness that surrounds Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece with his company of heroes. That sounds grand and glorious, and it is, but Pylos views the great heroes of the Argo with a stranger's eye. The story he tells has not been prettied up and decked out with laurel branches and gold leaf. He describes legendary people who are all too human, countries where the gods still fight over who will be worshipped and who will be forgotten, women with deadly grudges, and kings whose motives are highly mixed. This is a wonderfully believable book about human beings who still manage to accomplish heroic things, and about the ways they find to trip themselves and one another. Catran makes adventure and glory both reachable and dark. I have to track down more of his books!