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Zeus

The King of the Gods, powerhouse of the Pantheon, Zeus is the ultimate rags to riches story. Sixth child of Cronos, the First One, Zeus found his life in danger before it even began. Acting in accordance to a prophecy that his children would rise up against him, Cronos had consumed each of his previous offspring, much to the dismay of his wife, Rhea. Zeus narrowly escaped the fate dealt to his older siblings when his mother spirited him away from the heights of Mount Olympus and placed him in the safekeeping of a common shepherding family. When he came of age, the pariah prince returned to his rightful home, and conspired with Rhea to free his siblings and overthrow his father. Disguised as a service boy, an unrecognizable Zeus presented his father with a concoction noxious enough to overcome the strongest constitutions with sickness. Upon drinking the devilish elixir, Cronos erupted, spilling out Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. The emancipated siblings rallied around their youngest brother and overthrew their father, just as prophecy predicted. As the instigator of the uprising, Zeus assumed his place as the ruler of the Pantheon, and oversees most happenings from his heighty throne. Though occasionally quick-tempered, and seemingly never satiated, Zeus is a main player in the majority of Greek mythological iterations.

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Hera

Hera and Zeus married shortly after her liberation and his ascension to the throne (old habits die hard among the Gods). Their quarrelsome relationship is the stuff of legends—Zeus continually enraging her with his infidelities, Hera incessantly irritating him with her suspicions. The Queen of Intriguers, she often outwitted her busy husband and exacted some form of retribution for his adultery. She birthed three children: Ares, the God of War; Hephaestus, the Blacksmith God; and Eris, the Goddess of Chaos. Always jealous of Zeus’s extramarital affairs, Hera went to great lengths to blot out all symbols of his infidelity, most notably Hercules!

Athena

Athena is the first of Zeus’s children, born from her father’s skull. Because of the nature of her birth, she became masterful in the intellectual domain, teaching man how to provide for himself, strategize before battle, exact fair and honest judgment, and pursue higher knowledge. She preached that compassion was the highest form of wisdom, a sentiment misunderstood by the Gods but appreciated by mankind. Sovereign over owls, crows, and other birds, the goddess would use her avian comrades to monitor the comings and goings of Poseidon, her sea-faring uncle. Perhaps the most beloved in the Pantheon, it is to her that man dedicated their grand city of Athens, a mecca of human innovation.

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Poseidon

When Zeus ascended to the seat of power atop Mount Olympus, he divvied up the remaining realms of the Earth amongst his siblings. Zeus himself would rule the air, while his sisters would share dominion over all land. Unlucky Hades would rule the Underworld, which left the sea to Poseidon. With a disposition as unpredictable as the tides, the sea god was quarrelsome and difficult to please (you don’t have to tell Ulysses twice). But if won over, his favors flowed freely and the beneficiary would receive most generous gifts. Ever the creator, Poseidon was once challenged to craft the most beautiful creature on land—out of his realm—in order to win the affections of another goddess. From this trial came the camel, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, and the zebra, until he finally molded the most divine creature the goddess had ever seen: the horse.

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Hades

Cruel and unrelenting, Hades was well-suited to rule the Underworld and right to be feared. For those who had offended the Gods, he fashioned cunning punishments. One unfortunate soul was made to push a boulder up a hill until he reached the very top. But each time he made it halfway, the rock would split in two, rumbling to the bottom and condemning the laborer to an eternal uphill battle. Another soul was cursed with eternal thirst and placed next to an ever-shrinking stream that prevented him from drinking. In his devilish domain, Hades erected a terrifyingly magnificent citadel made of onyx and pewter—his own deviant throne to preside over the dark kingdom. He was prone to violence and possessiveness, at one point kidnapping his sister’s daughter in order to make the lively young woman his Queen.

Artemis

Also known by her Roman name Diana, Artemis quickly earned passage into the Pantheon, despite her illegitimate birth. A clever child who put no stock in her prescribed gender role, Artemis would ask for bows, arrows, and dogs in her childhood and developed such an affinity for the hunt that she and her assembled troupe of scavenging maidens would travel throughout the forest, striking fear in the hearts of boars, stags, and indecent men . . . all suitable prey. Famous for her vows of chastity, Artemis took her modesty, and the modesty of her nymphs, quite seriously. Which was unfortunate for a young man named Actaeon, who met his untimely demise after stumbling upon the maidens while they were bathing after a hunt.

Apollo

Twin brother of Artemis, the handsome Apollo was god of the sun, patron of music and poetry, and eventually promoter of prudence. But it seems more than anything that Apollo was the saint of smooth-talking, seamlessly navigating around the repercussions for the erratic and trademark savage behavior of his youth. It was only after his sophomoric tempers evened out that Apollo was able to gain an appreciation for and love of the arts, a development that has repeated itself countless times over the course of history.

Aphrodite

The Goddess of Love, Aphrodite might be one of the most professed of the Pantheon, besides Zeus himself. A product of primal cruelty, the goddess emerged out of the gore of war and betrayal, inciting life and joy with her every step. Fields bloomed with brightly colored flowers wherever she walked, and dried sands turned lush and green. When she first entered the Pantheon, Hera insisted that Zeus orchestrate a marriage match for her, posthaste. The beautiful divinity had many handsome and charismatic suitors, but selected the humble and homely smithing god, Hephaestus, to be her husband. But passion being her all-consuming hobby, the convincing offers of her other suitors did not go to waste—she was fortunate that her husband worked late.

Want to learn even more about the classics and mythology? Our Bernard Evslin titles are great for young, inquisitive readers and parents alike! We recommend Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Mythsand Gods, Demigods and Demons to get started. 

It's World Space Week! Unfortunately, private space travel is still a distant dream for most of us, but these books can help ease the pain a little bit. Each takes the reader behind the scenes of the space program and brings us one small step closer to the cosmos.

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Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings
by Jay Barbree (1007987)

A revised edition of the New York Times bestselling classic: the epic story of the golden years of American space exploration, told by the men who rode the rockets

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation’s most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA’s effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the twentieth century’s greatest feat—landing humans on another world.

Collaborating with NBC’s veteran space reporter Jay Barbree, Shepard and Slayton narrate in gripping detail the story of America’s space exploration from the time of Shepard’s first flight until he and eleven others had walked on the moon.

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Martian Summer
by Andrew Kessler (1007987)

Get up close and personal with science as Andrew Kessler narrates his hilarious journey inside NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission—a historic enterprise manned by a motley crew of rocket scientists

The Phoenix Mars mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian arctic. Its purpose was to find out how climate change could turn a warm, wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold, barren desert (read: Mars). Along the way, Phoenix discovered a giant frozen ocean trapped beneath the north pole of Mars, exotic food for aliens, and liquid water, and laid the foundation for NASA’s current exploration of Mars using the Curiosity rover.

This is not science fiction. It’s fact. And for the luckiest fanboy in fandom, it was the best vacation ever. Andrew Kessler spent the summer of 2008 in NASA’s mission control with one hundred thirty of the world’s best planetary scientists and engineers as they carried out this ambitious operation. He came back with a story of human drama about modern-day pioneers battling NASA politics, temperamental robots, and the bizarre world of daily life in mission control.

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Thirteen
by Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. (1007987)

“Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”

On the evening of April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were just hours from the third lunar landing in history. But as they soared through space, two hundred thousand miles from earth, an explosion badly damaged their spacecraft. With compromised engines and failing life-support systems, the crew was in incomparably grave danger. Faced with below-freezing temperatures, a seriously ill crew member, and a dwindling water supply, a safe return seemed unlikely.

Thirteen is the shocking, miraculous, and entirely true story of how the astronauts and ground crew guided Apollo 13 to a safe landing on earth. Expanding on dispatches written for the New Yorker, Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. brings readers unparalleled detail on the moment-by-moment developments of one of NASA’s most dramatic missions.

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Challenger: An American Tragedy
by Hugh Harris (1007987)

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seventy-three seconds after launch, the fiery breach of a solid motor joint caused a rupture of the propellant tanks, and a stunned nation watched as flames engulfed the craft, killing all seven crew members on board. It was Hugh Harris, “the voice of launch control,” whom audiences across the country heard counting down to lift-off on that fateful day.

With over fifty years of experience with NASA’s missions, Harris presents the story of the Challenger tragedy as only an insider can. With by-the-second accounts of the spacecraft’s launch and a comprehensive overview of the ensuing investigation, Harris gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the devastating accident that grounded the shuttle fleet for over two years. This book tells the whole story of the Challenger’s tragic legacy.

 

Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1927–2014) was a three-time Newbery Honor–winning author of adventure and fantasy novels for children. Her smart, honest, and accessible narrative style has made her books beloved by generations.

Tim Travaglini, Director of Children’s Acquisitions, remembers Zilpha Keatley Snyder and the impact her stories had in school and throughout his career in children’s publishing.

When I was 10 years old and in the fifth grade, my teacher read to us a book that stayed with me for the rest of my life. That book was Black and Blue Magicby Zilpha Keatley Synder. The story of a boy who is granted, miraculously, for a short time, the ability to grow wings and fly through the night—not that he’s particularly adept at it (hence the title). Not only did this story mesmerize me at the time, but it fixed itself in my imagination so strongly that I would frequently recall the book’s scenes, its characters, its tone, the ending—especially the ending. It was one of those books that I can credit as inspiring a lifelong love of reading.

Since I began my career in children’s publishing—20 years ago now—I always include Black and Blue Magic in my lists of middle-grade favorites, in my lists of must-reads. No matter that the year Black and Blue Magic was published was the same year Zilpha also published The Egypt Game, the first of her three Newbery Honors. No matter that her novels The Velvet Roomand The Changeling are easily as popular and as widely read as The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. For me, Black and Blue Magic was the book that should be a part of every reader’s collection. On my list of recommendations, it sits amongst infinitely better known, and more successfully published, standards. I always had to add the caveat that Black and Blue Magic was a "must-read; if you can get your hands on a copy."

I had barely been Open Road’s director of children’s acquisitions a week when Zilpha’s longtime agent, George Nicholson of Sterling Lord Literistic, came in to our offices with a stack of her books. There on the very top of the pile was Black and Blue Magic. Without hesitation, without even reviewing the full body of work he was offering us, I brashly proclaimed that we would publish them as ebooks. I felt a momentary twinge of apprehension that my bosses who sat in that room with me would think me rash, but Zilpha ultimately epitomizes everything I love so much about my job: preserving legacies, breathing new life into backlists, and introducing great authors and great works to ever-expanding new audiences.

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The Alpha Deceptionby Jon Land

A space-borne super weapon rains death down on an American small town, and Blaine McCracken races to learn who pulled the trigger before the fearsome beam turns on Washington.

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Trouble Is My Nameby Stephen Marlowe
A missing politician sucks Chester Drum into the three-ring circus of Cold War Germany.

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In the thick of the Cold War, Sam McCain investigates death threats against an alleged red.

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The Pale Betrayerby Dorothy Salisbury Davis

Grand Master of crime fiction Dorothy Salisbury Davis delivers a thrilling tale of Cold War–era espionage and murder.

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The Kennedy Imperativeby Leon Berger

While the construction of the Berlin Wall challenges JFK with the first major crisis of his presidency, young CIA agent Philip Marsden is sent into East Berlin on his first mission.

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An assassin targets the political leaders of the United States, causing a domino effect that could bring down the government and alter our way of life forever.

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At the height of the Cold War, Captain Jake Grafton becomes entangled in the hunt for a spy selling high-tech military secrets to the Soviet Union.

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Combining the narrative drive of the best of Clive Cussler with the knowledge of Tom Clancy, Rockets’ Red Glare is the techno-thriller of the year about an ingenious coup that would change the balance in the world’s arsenal forever.

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A trip to the West Coast lands Jack LeVine in a tangled Hollywood murder web.

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October is Depression Awareness Month, and October 10 is World Mental Health Day.

In 1989, the writer William Styron became one of the first celebrities to publicly acknowledge his battle with depression, in a magazine article that would, the following year, be extended into the memoir Darkness Visible. People suffering from depression around the world appreciated Styron’s act, and many wrote to him to say so. His description of his experience spoke to people in a profound and deep way, and over the following decade, the author of Sophie’s Choice and other bestselling novels became an advocate for and prominent face of the depression awareness movement.

This month, we’d like to share some of the most resonant passages in Darkness Visible, based on highlights from ebook readers. Perhaps one or more of these will resonate with you, too:

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On what depression is: “Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way it becomes known to the self—to the mediating intellect—as to verge close to being beyond description.”

On the origins of his own depression: “Loss in all of its manifestations is the touchstone of depression. . . . I would gradually be persuaded that devastating loss in childhood figured as a probable genesis of my own disorder; meanwhile, as I monitored my retrograde condition, I felt loss at every hand. . . . One dreads the loss of all things, all people close and dear. There is an acute fear of abandonment. Being alone in the house, even for a moment, caused me exquisite panic and trepidation.”

On how depression feels: “In depression this faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come—not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute. If there is mild relief, one knows that it is only temporary; more pain will follow. It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.”

On the struggle: “In the absence of hope we must still struggle to survive, and so we do—by the skin of our teeth.”

On the manifestations of depression: “Of the many dreadful manifestations of the disease, both physical and psychological, a sense of self-hatred—or, put less categorically, a failure of self-esteem—is one of the most universally experienced symptoms, and I had suffered more and more from a general feeling of worthlessness as the malady had progressed.”

On the physical side of depression:“The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained.”

On educating others: “The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain. Through the healing process of time—and through medical intervention or hospitalization in many cases—most people survive depression, which may be its only blessing; but to the tragic legion who are compelled to destroy themselves there should be no more reproof attached than to the victims of terminal cancer.”

On recovery: To quote Dante, as Styron does at the end of Darkness Visible, “And so we came forth, and once again beheld the stars.”

To further explore the memoir, download the book club guide for Darkness Visible here.

Open Road Integrated Media is celebrating LGBT History Month by publishing the fictional works of William J. Mann, including The Men from the Boys,Where the Boys Are,The Biograph Girl,and All American Boy.Best known for his historical Hollywood biographies of Katharine Hepburn, William Haines, and Barbra Streisand, Mann has the ability to crossover from nonfiction to fiction effortlessly. His investigative career began as a journalist for Hartford Monthly magazine, later freelancing for Architectural Digest, Men’s Fitness, Frontiers,the Boston Phoenix,and Metroline magazine.

Mann’s first nonfiction account, Wisecracker: The Life & Times of William Haines, won a Lambda Literary Award in 1999. His interest in Hollywood’s history is both personal and vital for the LGBT community. In an interview with Ragemonthly.com, he states:

“The gay experience and involvement in Hollywood was tremendous on so many different levels. . . . My struggle was, I want to document this as best I can. To do it without sensation or scandal and really try to study it as seriously as somebody who would study the Jewish experience in Hollywood or the experience of women in Hollywood, to look at it with that same kind of reasoned and open-minded consideration. I think it’s important to give someone his or her full due.”

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Mann’s first novel, The Men from the Boys,describes Provincetown, Massachusetts, a gay destination in the 1990s during the midst of the AIDS epidemic. Through the relationships of Jeff, Lloyd, and David, the reader is immersed into the minds of three gay activists who fight together in friendship, love, and sickness. The sequel, Where the Boys Are,continues to explore the lives of Jeff and Lloyd after David loses his battle to AIDS. Reintroducing this time period to a newer audience helps the younger gay community recognize and understand the struggles of the men and women before them.

All American Boy explores the return of Wally Day who must face the dark truths of his family after leaving his hometown for 20 years. The use of All American Boy to describe Wally complicates what the term has come to mean in everyday language; dismantling the idea that there is only one way of measuring what an American boy can be.

Lastly, The Biograph Girl is a blend of fiction and nonfiction, describing the life and times of Florence Lawrence, a vaudeville star, in the early 20th century. Once her initial stardom wears off, Lawrence’s struggle to stay relevant consumes her entire being, ultimately leading to suicide. The tale is told through twin brothers Richard and Ben Sheehan as a part of a documentary project.

William J. Mann’s dedication to exposing LGBT involvement in the history of Hollywood and his explorations of gay culture in fiction are what makes him a pivotal member in the community. Both sides of his writing offer the same level of investigation into his characters and the surroundings that shape them. He is a historian in every sense of the word, using his writing to expose parts of the past that are often overlooked and bridging the gap between generations in the LGBT Community.

No career path or level of celebrity immunizes those affected by depression—professional athletes in peak physical condition and writers who have enjoyed incredible critical acclaim experience illnesses just as the general population does. Many find strength in sharing their stories to help destigmatize mental illness.

In the summer of 1985, author William Styron (Sophie’s Choice) became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide could engulf him.

Styron went on to share with readers the story of his recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed the lives of so many great writers before him. For those suffering from mental illness, Styron represented the hope that it was possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and “once again behold the stars.”

Open Road Media is proud to recognizeWorld Mental Health Day.

Additional Resources:

• Information and Facts about Depression from Screening for Mental Health
• More about World Mental Health Day via the World Federation for Mental Health
• PsychCentral’s World Mental Health Day 2013 Coverage
• More inspirational books from Open Road Media

Watch Now: 

Watch renowned psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, discuss her friendship with writer William Styron, author of Darkness Visible, and learn about his personal struggle with depression in this touching video.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time where we remember victims of domestic violence, celebrate survivors, and connect those who work to end violence with the ones who need their help.

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FEMALE QUOTAS

In 1998, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) started an initiative to encourage teenagers and young adults to utilize library resources and become regular readers. Hosted annually during the third week of October, Teen Read Week celebrates the formative Young Adult literature crucial to shaping the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and innovators. These dreamers will build our reality—let’s have it be fantastic!

Have you ever been so taken with a story that you can’t escape the world of the book, even when you turn the final page? A casual walk to the bus stop becomes an adrenaline pumping flight to Rivendell. Air circulation aside, the attic suddenly seems like the most enticing place to enjoy an after-school read, with a book in one hand and an apple in the other. The wildest imaginings become reality through the realms of the novels you read. This Teen Read Week, we’re showcasing stories that highlight the unexpected and unimaginable, and offering teen favorites for $1.99 each through October 18!

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Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Since they were children, cousins Kate and Cecelia have been inseparable. But in 1817, as they approach adulthood, their families force them to spend a summer apart. As Cecelia fights boredom in her small country town, Kate visits London to mingle with the brightest lights of English society. At the initiation of a powerful magician into the Royal College of Wizards, Kate finds herself alone with a mysterious witch who offers her a sip from a chocolate pot. When Kate refuses the drink, the chocolate burns through her dress and the witch disappears. It seems that strange forces are convening to destroy a beloved wizard, and only Kate and Cecelia can stop the plot.

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The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The last three years of Robin’s life have been very difficult. She’s had to move with her large, poor family multiple times as her father seeks jobs as a migrant worker. Now, her father has a new job at the McCurdy Ranch. Nearby is the Palmeras House, an old abandoned building that Robin is told not to explore. However, when she finds herself inside the building, she discovers the one place it seems she has always been looking for: the Velvet Room. Robin is fascinated and enchanted, but she can’t help but wonder: Why is it there?

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Ransom by Lois Duncan

Valley Gardens is known for its wealthy families, perhaps the richest in town. Marianne, Bruce, Glenn, Dexter, and Jesse have no trouble guiding the new bus driver to the last stop of the day—but the strange substitute keeps driving. Soon the five teenagers are hostages deep in the mountains. Their kidnappers demand stacks of money from their families, even though most of the students aren’t as well off as the abductors assume. Without hope of raising the ransom money, the five teens must find a way out or face terrifying consequences.

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Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul by Chicken Soup for the Soul

This first batch of Chicken Soup for Teens consists of 101 stories every teenager can relate to and learn from—without feeling criticized or judged. This edition contains important lessons on the nature of friendship and love, the importance of belief in the future, and the value of respect for oneself and others, and much more.

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Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

“Hank” is 17 years old and has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything—who he is, where he came from, why he’s running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David—or “Hank”—and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of—Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.

What are your favorite YA reads? Share them in the comments section below! And visit our website for more Teen Read Week recommendations and deals. Happy reading!

In celebration of LGBT History Month, author M. E. Kerr shares insight into the importance of writing her novel Night Kites, and the impact it had on her life during a time when she was losing friends to the AIDS epidemic in the early 80s.

“When I wrote Night Kites in the early 80s there was no book—hardcover or paperback—featuring gay men with AIDS. There were a few about blood transfusions and the early belief in a Haitian connection, but Night Kites was the first book to deal with AIDS transmitted by homosexual men. I felt frightened and brave writing it, and I know my editors felt the same way. I had already lost several close friends and my story was important to me: that I tell it well and hope it would be received that way. Ultimately it was, but it took awhile for people to realize that we would lose friends and loved ones, that AIDS would change us all, one way or another.” —M. E. Kerr

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Night Kites by M. E. Kerr

What do you do when your whole world is blown apart? A 17-year-old confronts love, betrayal, and his brother’s illness in this brave, deeply compassionate novel.

M. E. Kerr was born Marijane Meaker in Auburn, New York. Her interest in writing began with her father, who loved to read, and her mother, who loved to tell stories of neighborhood gossip. Unable to find an agent to represent her work, Meaker became her own agent, and wrote articles and books under a series of pseudonyms: Vin Packer, Ann Aldrich, Laura Winston, M. E. Kerr, and Mary James. As M. E. Kerr, Meaker has produced over 20 novels for young adults and won multiple awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime contribution to young adult literature.

Explore more LGBT books, with select titles on sale for $2.99 each through October 31!

Praise for Alan Jacobson’s brazen FBI profiler Karen Vail:

Consider the following excerpt from Jacobson’s The 7th Victim as an example of Vail’s character:

Karen Vail proves an exemplary female heroine not only because she speaks her mind, unabashedly slipping in an expletive here and there, but because she’s also a physically dominant, agile, and skilled FBI agent. Vail can talk the talk (as many literary characters do) and walk the walk (which many a literary character cannot). Her skilled combat capabilities compliment her strong, sometimes abrasive, personality—making her a force to be reckoned with in every way. Vail is helping to pave the path for well-rounded female heroines, not only in literature but other forms of media, too. With her help, we can hopefully say goodbye to the notion that a female heroine can either be quick-witted or strong, pretty or tough. Jacobson’s Karen Vail isn’t only breaking bones—she’s breaking boundaries. 

The latest in the Alan Jacobson's Karen Vail series is titled Spectrum and it's out now.

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Before they were heroes, they were kids! Stories that speak to the adventurer in us all, the Young Heroes series by award-winning author Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris are great for readers eager to burn the midnight oil with the tales of yesteryear.

Stories about the classics are wonderful foundations for any bookish kid to enjoy, laying the framework for movies, television, and the cultural scripts of our everyday lives. Iron Man and Captain America aren’t the only Marvels your child could be reading.

Go on an exciting journey with:

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 Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast

Abandoned by her parents and raised by bears until the age of four, Atalanta has led a life of adventure. After her adoptive father is slain by a ferocious beast, the 12-year-old Atalanta sets off on a journey of revenge, accompanied by the bear she sees as a brother. She discovers that a monster is terrorizing the land of Arcadia and that the king has assembled a party to track it down—led by the legendary huntsman Orion. Atalanta wins a place at Orion’s side, but the hunt for the beast is also a hunt to uncover the secret of her own past. And that may prove to be the greatest danger of all.

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 Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons

An ancient prophecy states that any Amazon who bears two sons must kill the second, lest he grow up to destroy all the Amazons. But Queen Otrere can’t bear to sacrifice her baby, so she gives him to her daughter, 13-year-old Hippolyta, begging her to take the child to his father, Laomedon, King of Troy. In order to save her baby brother’s life, Hippolyta must find a lost city and lift a goddess’s curse. Along the way, she will need help from an unexpected source: a newly discovered brother. But can Hippolyta bring herself to trust a boy in order to save the Amazons?

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Jason and the Gorgon’s Blood

Jason is an orphan training to be a warrior under the instruction of the centaur Chiron. But when wild centaurs steal Chiron’s most precious possessions—two jars of Gorgon’s blood, one with the power to heal any wound and the other a poison deadly enough to massacre multitudes—Jason must recover the blood before it can destroy the city of Iolcus. As he undertakes the quest with a band of unruly companions, Jason learns he’s actually the true heir to the throne of Iolcus. Only by proving himself worthy of leading this troop of young heroes can Jason stop the savage centaurs and save his city from slaughter.

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Odysseus in the Serpent Maze

Young Prince Odysseus longs to be a hero. But when he and his travelling companions are captured on their way home to Ithaca, Odysseus learns that being a hero isn’t always easy. Now he must fight dastardly pirates, survive the enchanted songs of sirens, slay monsters, and defeat a treacherous king. Worse still, Odysseus has to deal with girls: snooty, spoiled Princess Helen of Sparta and her companion, the annoyingly sensible Penelope. Odysseus must use his strength and cleverness to save his friends, and he must sacrifice more than he ever expected to become the hero he is destined to be.

Did you read the classics when you were growing up? What were your favorite stories? Comment below or share using the hashtag #MythMarvels on Twitter.

Delight trick-or-treaters and party guests with homemade Halloween confections. These spooky desserts come from master pastry chef Gesine Bullock-Prado's Sugar Baby. (Bonus: You can download it for 75% off through Halloween!)

As we gear up for the 2014 midterm elections, remember that being the president is a tough job! If you don’t believe us, here are pictures of American Presidents at the beginning and end of their terms.

To help you get a firm footing in American political history before November, select ebooks are on sale for $1.99 throughout the month of October.

 Abraham Lincoln, 1861 and 1865

Theodore Roosevelt, 1902 and 1908

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 and 1942

 John F. Kennedy, 1958 and 1963

 Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963 and 1968

Richard Nixon, 1968 and 1974

George H. W. Bush, 1988 and 1993

Hillary Clinton in 2013. Could she be next???

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“Except for names of people and places, Hardcastle is more fact than fiction. It took some years of research before I could even begin to write. And even after I had read all I could find about coal mining, coal companies, the efforts of the miners to unionize, mine guards, company stores, and the rest of it, I still couldn’t begin until I took time off and went down to Kentucky to interview all the old-timers I could find who had lived through those hard and dangerous years. One of them—whom I met in a one-room post office—patiently, generously, and with incredible integrity, answered my questions for almost five years. A great many of his experiences—like, for example, cutting off his toes with his wife’s sewing scissors after a loaded coal car ran over his foot—became the experiences of one or more characters in the novel. In many ways, this modest, genuine, and deeply religious man became the soul of the book.

“I was very nearly born in the coalfields of Kentucky where my father worked during the dark days of the Depression—would have been but for my mother’s determination to be taken back to North Carolina, which involved a desperate car ride while she was in labor. She hated the coalfields, so my father never went back, and instead, took a job as a lineman for Watauga Light and Power Company for 10 cents an hour. But he told me many stories about his times in Kentucky, and they ultimately cost me seven years of hard labor to produce Hardcastle.”

You see it every time you’re on an airplane taking off from city to city: those few houses with crop circles in the backyard. You wonder how people got there, or maybe you don’t. You close the window shade and rest your head on the seat, thinking about the city that awaits you. John Yount keeps the shade open, tracing his roots with ink. He is considered one of the best sentimental realists of our time. Yount is a champion for the forgotten American, sharing the dreams and aspirations of families in houses on forsaken roads.