"Hercules" is about the journey taken to bring the monster dog that guards the Underworld to the real world to complete the twelve labors his mother is forcing him to do. The ideas in the book could be hard for children to understand until they get around eight or nine years old. Vocabulary and context is also difficult to understand. Within the book it's a bit violent so I wouldn't reading it as a bedtime story. Due to the violence and difficulty to understand what's happening within the story I only gave it three stars. ( )

I always enjoyed reading about Greek mythology so I decided to read this fiction book about Hercules. I think this book is very interesting and action packed with a good moral of the story. I found this book to be action packed because it talked about him fighting a dog with three heads called Cerberus.The book used a lot of visual language which made it a lot more interesting because it allowed the reader to imagine what was happening in the book.For instance, the book states, "appears a massive dog with three heads, each head covered with hissing snakes, and a tail pointed and jagged like a powerful spear." I also thought this book was inspirational for children because it stated that Hercules was afraid the he couldn't fight the dog but he believed in himself and he defeated the dog. This is important because this book teaches its readers to believe in themselves. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. One reason I liked this book was because of the really descriptive language that the author used to tell the story. Each event and setting of the story was told with great detail that helped readers visualize the story in their heads. For example, the author uses these statements to describe the beast that Hercules is fighting, “The high-pitched howls become whimpers and then whines. The great beast’s think legs go limp. It tumbles over, twists, and moans.” These sentences put a clear and vivid picture in my head of the fight between Hercules and Cerberus. Another reason why I liked this book is because of the illustrations. The book is laid out in a way that has a picture covering up most of the page. The text does not cover the page, instead an image of the actions or events covers the page and sometimes onto the next one. The images also give readers a great visualization of the events happening in the story. Because these events are not real and the characters are not real, the illustrations provide an actual image of what they might look like. The story was written to tell the great tale of Hercules. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked this book because I find greek mythology interesting. The characters in this book were all gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures. The book also had a chart that gave a description of each character in the book. I found this very helpful in understanding each mythical creatures powers. I did not like the illustrations in this book because they were not very colorful and had a strange style to them. I think if the pictures more engaging and detailed it would bring the story to life. The message of this story is retell the story of Hercules' last quest. ( )

This version of "Hercules" is retold by Robert Burleigh. He retells of Hercules' heroic labors and his final journey to defeat Cerberus. Hercules, in children book form is a great way for young readers to learn mythology. The illustrations strongly tell the story, which is great for young children to actually see the story. This retelling of Hercules does a great job of forming the story into one that is appropriate for young children. I love this version and definitely plan on having it in my classroom. ( )