I found The Mythmakers at my local Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago. (So, Tolkien fans, perhaps check your local physical bookstore.) It’s a compellingly presented biography with excursions into genre-study. I really like it. (I’ve found a few typos, though! A failure of editors there.)
Also, I wouldn’t call The Mythmakers a children’s book. It’s a graphic novel (well, graphic biography), and I had hoped it would be something I could share with my elementary schooler in a couple of years, but the print is tiny and the content is too academic/intellectual for youngsters. The main figures might be a lion and a wizard, but the information (especially the academic asides about genre—myth, fairy tales, fantasy) are more geared for college-aged and above. I’m still only halfway through the book, but I recently recommended the book to my Inklings literature class I’ve been teaching this semester at my university. I honestly think they’re (older teens to college students) the right audience for this “children’s”/“middle-grade” book. Just my two cents. But it’s a cool book!
I asked my husband to get Mythmakers for me for Christmas, and I’m pretty sure he did!
I found The Mythmakers at my local Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago. (So, Tolkien fans, perhaps check your local physical bookstore.) It’s a compellingly presented biography with excursions into genre-study. I really like it. (I’ve found a few typos, though! A failure of editors there.)
Also, I wouldn’t call The Mythmakers a children’s book. It’s a graphic novel (well, graphic biography), and I had hoped it would be something I could share with my elementary schooler in a couple of years, but the print is tiny and the content is too academic/intellectual for youngsters. The main figures might be a lion and a wizard, but the information (especially the academic asides about genre—myth, fairy tales, fantasy) are more geared for college-aged and above. I’m still only halfway through the book, but I recently recommended the book to my Inklings literature class I’ve been teaching this semester at my university. I honestly think they’re (older teens to college students) the right audience for this “children’s”/“middle-grade” book. Just my two cents. But it’s a cool book!