Gods New and Old: Greco-Roman Myths in Young Adult Literature

This month the S-Collection blog has already focused on how to find fictionalized mythology outside of Greece and Rome — but there’s nothing wrong with the classics! Readers who love the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses are in luck; young adult authors never seem to tire of the tried-and-true myths. To find updated, novelized, or revisited Greek and Roman mythology, use a subject term of “juvenile fiction” combined with a subject search of “mythology, Greek” or “mythology, Roman.”

You can also combine your “juvenile fiction” subject search with a key word search for a particular story or character (for example: keyword search of “Hermes”). Below are some suggestions to get started.

Abouzeid, Chris.
Anatopsis. 2006.
Princess Anatopsis’ mother, Queen Solomon, wants her to be chairwoman of the Amalgamated Witchcraft Corporation; Ana wants to be a knight-errant. Her first opportunity for a quest comes when she discovers that her new tutor, the demigod Mr. Pound, has some unpleasant plans for her…and the entire world. On her quest she will need the help of Immortals, ancient gods, and the last dog in the Universe.
[SSHEL S Collection S. Ab769a]

Angelini, Josephine.
Starcrossed. 2011.
When shy sixteen-year-old Helen Hamilton starts having vivid dreams about three ancient, hideous women and suddenly tries to kill a new student at her Nantucket high school, she discovers that she is playing out some version of an old tale involving Helen of Troy, the Three Furies, and a mythic battle that continues in sequels Dreamless and Goddess.
[SSHEL S Collection S. An435s]

Ashton, Brodi.
Everneath. 2012.
Regretting her decision to forfeit her life on Earth to become an immortal on Everneath, a world between Earth and Hell, teenaged Nikki is given the chance to return to the Surface for six months, in this story loosely based on the “Hades and Persephone” myth. Ashton has penned two sequels, Everbound and Evertrue.
[SSHEL S Collection S. As38e]

Barrett, Tracy.
King of Ithaka. 2010.
When sixteen-year-old Telemachos and his two best friends, one a centaur, leave their life of privilege to undertake a quest to find Telemachos’s father Odysseus, they learn much along the way about what it means to be a man and a king.
[SSHEL S Collection S. B2756k]

Block, Francesca Lia.
Love in the Time of Global Warming. 2013.
Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) mirrors Odysseus’ journey after a devastating earthquake robs her of her family. Pen is back in the second installment, The Island of Excess Love, which closely resembles the Aeneid.
[SSHEL S Collection S.B622l]

Cabot, Meg.
Abandon. 2011.
A near-death experience, a horrible incident at school, and a move from Connecticut to Florida have turned seventeen-year-old Pierce’s life upside-down, but when she needs him most John Hayden is always there, helping, but reminding her of her visit to the Underworld. Read more about Pierce in Underworld and Awaken.
[SSHEL S Collection S. C1121ab]

Childs, Tera Lynn.
Oh. My. Gods. 2008.
When her mother suddenly decides to marry a near-stranger, Phoebe, whose passion is running, soon finds herself living on a remote Greek island, completing her senior year at an ancient high school where the students and teachers are all descended from gods or goddesses. Sequel Goddess Bootcamp adds to the hilarity.
[SSHEL S Collection S. C4379o]

Cooney, Caroline B.
Goddess of Yesterday. 2002.
Taken from her home on an Aegean island as a six-year-old girl, Anaxndra calls on the protection of her goddess while she poses as two different princesses over the next six years, before ending up as a servant in the company of Helen and Paris as they make their way to Troy.
[SSHEL S Collection S. C783go]

Coville, Bruce.
Juliet Dove, Queen of Love. 2003.
Juliet Dove is so shy that whenever anyone pays attention to her she says nasty things to distract them. But when she receives a magical amulet from the Magic Shop, she suddenly finds herself the center of more attention than she’d ever imagined in her worst nightmares. To free herself from the spell, she’ll have to resolve the problems of Cupid and Psyche and learn to interact with others in a different way.
[SSHEL Oak Street S. C838ju]

Deary, Terry.
The Fire Thief. 2005.
Retelling of the tale of Prometheus, in which Prometheus becomes a time traveler in order to escape the wrath of the gods and befriends a Victorian orphan. Two sequels, Flight of the Fire Thief and The Fire Thief Fights Back, follow.
[SSHEL S Collection S. D348f]

Deming, Sarah.
Iris, Messenger. 2007.
After discovering that the immortals of Greek mythology reside in her hometown of Middleville, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Iris listens to their life stories, gaining wisdom, beauty, and startling revelations about her past.
[SSHEL S Collection S. D395i]

Druitt, Tobias.
Corydon and the Island of Monsters. 2006.
Perseus is leading an army of heroes to destroy the monsters forever; Medusa, the Minotaur, and the Sphinx have gathered an army of monsters to defend themselves. Corydon, a shepherd boy imprisoned as a “monster” unites the monsters and leads them in fighting for survival and a place to call their own. The story is continued in two sequels: Corydon and the Fall of Atlantis and Corydon and the Siege of Troy.
[SSHEL S Collection S. D843c]

Falcone, L. M.
Walking with the Dead. 2005.
Alex’s dad brings home an ancient Greek corpse for the museum of Oddities and soon Alex and his friend Freddie find themselves on a mission to the underworld to help the corpse and its lost soul.
[SSHEL Oak Street S.F182w]

Franco, Betsy.
Metamorphosis: Junior Year. 2009.
High school artist Ovid’s journal recasts his classmates’ lives and loves as modern-day Roman mythology, while slowly revealing his own struggles with parents who need him to be the perfect son in the wake of his meth-addicted sister’s disappearance.
[SSHEL S Collection S. F848me]

Friesner, Esther.
Nobody’s Princess. 2007.
Determined to fend for herself in a world where only men have real freedom, headstrong Helen, who will be called queen of Sparta and Helen of Troy one day, learns to fight, hunt, and ride horses while disguised as a boy, and goes on an adventure throughout the Mediterranean world. Sequel Nobody’s Prize follows Helen’s adventures.
[SSHEL S Collection S. F915n]

Friesner, Esther.
Temping Fate. 2006.
Ilana thinks she’s found the perfect job – temping at the same place her older sister used to work! But when she shows up for her first day, she realizes there was a reason her sister never told anyone about her job…exactly how is Ilana supposed to fill in for the Fates of Greek mythology?
[SSHEL S Collection S. F915t]

Geras, Adele.
Troy. 2001.
Told from the point of view of female protagonists, Troy portrays the last weeks of the Trojan War, when women are sick of tending the wounded, men are tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses find ways to stir things up.
[SSHEL S Collection S. G312tr 2001]

Halam, Ann.
Snakehead. 2008.
Compelled by his father Zeus to accept the evil king Polydectes’s challenge to bring the head of the monstrous Medusa to the Aegean island of Serifos, Perseus, although questioning the gods’ interference in human lives, sets out, accompanied by his beloved Andromeda, a princess with her own harsh destiny to fulfill.
[SSHEL S Collection S. H128sn]

Hennesy, Carolyn.
Pandora Gets Jealous. 2008.
When Pandora (Pandy for short) comes across a simple box said to contain a mystery both terrifying and forbidden, she thinks it will be perfect to bring to school as her class project. However, when the box is accidentally opened all sorts of evils are loosed on the world of men. Brought before Zeus and the other immortals, Pandy must bring back all the evils from the box within a year’s time. Pandora’s mythic misadventures continue in plenty of sequels!
[SSHEL S Collection S. H3928p]

Kindl, Patrice.
Lost in the Labyrinth. 2002.
Xenodice tries to save her half-brother, the Minotaur, from the Athenian prince. Theseus, aided by Ariadne, Icarus, and Daedalus, spreads tragedy as all become entangled in a web of passion and politics.
[SSHEL S Collection S. K576l]

Marsh, Katherine.
The Night Tourist. 2007.
After fourteen-year-old classics prodigy Jack Perdu has a near fatal accident he meets Euri, a young ghost who introduces him to New York’s Underworld, where those who died in New York reside until they are ready to move on, and Jack vows to find his dead mother there. Continued in The Twilight Prisoner.
[SSHEL S Collection S. M352n]

McMullan, Kate.
Have a Hot Time, Hades! 2002.
Hades tells the true story behind the Greek myths in these tongue-in-cheek chapter books, beginning with Cronus’ swallowing his children. The first book in the Myth-o-mania series.
[SSHEL S Collection S. M229h]

Miles, Elizabeth.
Fury. 2011.
After high school junior Emily hooks up with her best friend’s boyfriend, and football quarterback Chase’s life spirals out of control, three mysterious Furies — paranormal creatures that often assume the form of beautiful women — come to town to make sure that Emily and Chase get what they deserve. The first in a trilogy.
[SSHEL S Collection S. M594f]

Moulton, Erin E.
Keepers of the Labyrinth. 2015.
Lil Bennet is haunted by her mother’s death. When she gets the chance to attend a Future Leaders conference on the Island of Crete — a conference her mother once attended — she jumps at it. Once on the island, she finds herself entangled in a labyrinthine mystery of mythic proportion.
[SSHEL S Collection S. M8623k]

Riordan, Rick.
The Lightning Thief. 2005.
Percy Jackson is just trying to make it through sixth grade without getting expelled – again. But then he discovers his pre-algebra teacher is a monster, his best friend is a satyr, and he is a half-blood, son of a mortal woman and a god. To prevent war and destruction between the gods, Percy must go on a quest to retrieve a powerful magic tool stolen from Zeus. The first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
[SSHEL S Collection S. R479p]

Riordan, Rick.
The Lost Hero. 2010.
Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for “bad kids,” find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself. Begins Heroes of Olympus series, in which there are many cross-overs from the Percy Jackson series.
[SSHEL S Collection S. R479lo]

Shipton, Paul.
The Pig Scrolls. 2005.
A translation of an ancient Greek manuscript written by Gryllus, a talking pig who was once a man, which describes the many adventures that he and his companions — a junior prophetess named Sybil and a bumbling goatherd — experience while traveling to Delphi to try to prevent the universe from coming to an end. Gryllus comes back in The Pig Who Saved the World.
[SSHEL S Collection S. Sh649p]

Spinner, Stephanie.
Quicksilver. 2005.
A novelization of the Greek myths narrated by the trickster-god Hermes as he navigates his day-to-day business.
[SSHEL Oak Street S. Sp469q]

Whitman, Emily.
Radiant Darkness. 2009.
Persephone runs off to the Underworld with Hades, with whom she has fallen in love, but when her mother Demeter threatens to destroy the earth to save her, Persephone finds a way to come back once a year, bringing spring.
[SSHEL S Collection S. W592ra]

Beyond the Greek Gods: Global Myths Revisited

Myths might be the tales as old as time, but authors have never stopped updating their stories and characters. While many readers are familiar with the ever-popular Greek and Roman gods and heroes, other countries and cultures have a wealth of equally exciting narratives to explore. This bibliography barely scratches the surface of the mystical and adventurous tales available – the full extent could fill entire libraries – but it does provide a place to start in Celtic, Welsh, Egyptian, and Norse mythology for readers who love the Greek and Roman myths but are looking for something new.

To find children’s and young adult works of fiction about mythology, combine a subject search of “juvenile fiction” with a subject search of “mythology, Egyptian” (or Norse, African, Celtic, Aztec – the combinations are endless).

You can also combine your “juvenile fiction” subject search with a keyword search for a particular story or character (for example, a keyword search of “Osiris”).

Celtic and Welsh Mythology

Black, Holly.
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. 2002.
Sixteen-year-old Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny. Sequels Valiant and Ironside continue the adventure.
[SSHEL S Collection S. B5614t]

Cooper, Susan.
Over Sea, Under Stone. 1965.
Three children find an ancient manuscript and become involved in a quest to discover the true story of King Arthur. This is the introduction to the Dark is Rising quartet, which includes Arthurian legend and a variety of Celtic and Welsh myths in a fantastical struggle between good and evil forces.
[SSHEL S Collection S. C787O]

Garner, Alan.
The Owl Service. 1967.
A contemporary retelling of the story of Blodeuwedd, a character from Welsh mythology, in which three young people find themselves reenacting an old tragedy.
[SSHEL Oak Street S. G186O]

Guard, David.
Dierdre: A Celtic Legend. 1977.
According to this ancient legend, at her birth, a wise Druid foretold that Dierdre’s beauty would tear Ulster apart.
[SSHEL Oak Street S.398.21 G931D]

Jones, Diana Wynne.
Fire and Hemlock. 1985.
A complex retelling of the legend of Tam Lin that focuses on Polly, a teenager with two sets of memories – one perfectly normal, and the other strange and mystical.
[SSHEL S Collection S. J713f]

Lanagan, Margo.
The Brides of Rollrock Island. 2012.
On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings — and to catch their wives. The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal — and for a price, a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may tell himself that he is her master, but from his first look into those wide eyes, he will be just as transformed as she, and the witch will have her true payment.
[SSHEL S Collection S. L22br]

McBride, Regina.
The Fire Opal. 2010.
While invading English soldiers do battle in sixteenth-century Ireland, Maeve grows up with a mystical connection to a queen who, centuries before, faced enemies of her own, and uses her special gifts to try to save her mother whose spirit has left her.
[SSHEL S Collection S. M459f]

Nimmo, Jenny.
The Snow Spider. 1987.
Gifts from Gwyn’s grandmother on his tenth birthday open up a whole new world to him, as he discovers he has magical powers that help him heal the breach with his father that has existed ever since his sister’s mysterious disappearance. The story continues to unfold in sequels Emlyn’s Moon and The Chestnut Soldier.
[SSHEL S Collection S.N617s 1987]

O’Shea, Pat.
The Hounds of the Morrigan. 1986.
Pidge and his sister Brigit become involved with creatures from ancient Celtic myth when Pidge buys a book that is actually the prison of the evil serpent, Olc-Glas.
[SSHEL Oak Street S. OS4H]

Shepard, Aaron.
The Mountain of Marvels: A Celtic Tale of Magic: Retold from The Mabinogion. 2007.
A thousand years ago, in the Celtic kingdoms of Wales, great lords gave great feasts for their fighting men and courtiers. In between the meals, the storyteller rose and spun his tales of times long past. Many of these tales are collected in this retelling of The Mabinogion.
[SSHEL S Collection S.398.209429 Sh471m]

Stiefvater, Maggie.
The Scorpio Races. 2011.
Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
[SSHEL S Collection S. St522sc]

Egyptian Mythology

Ewing, Lynne.
The Summoning. 2007.
Three fifteen-year-old girls living in Washington D.C. learn that they are the direct descendants of Egyptian pharoahs, with special powers that will allow them to battle demonic members of the Cult of Anubis, who are trying to return the universe to the chaos from which it sprung. The Summoning begins the Sisters of Isis series.
[SSHEL S Collection S. Ew54su]

Hoover, P.J.
Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life. 2014.
King Tut was granted immortality and now lives life stuck as an 8th grader in Washington, D.C. Now he must ward off an evil general and the cult of Set determined to destroy Tut.
[SSHEL S Collection H7693t]

Houck, Colleen.
Reawakened. 2015.
New York teen Lily Young wasn’t expecting for her fate to become entangled with that of Amon, an Egyptian god, but now that it is, the pair must travel to the Valley of Kings, join forces with Amon’s brothers, and defeat the god Seth, who wants to take over the world.
[SSHEL S Collection S.H812r]

Maurer, Gretchen.
Call Me Isis: Egyptian Goddess of Magic. 2014.
As goddess-queen of Egypt, Isis is destined for a charmed life. But when she loses everything — including her magic — in one fell swoop, she is determined for the sake of her son Horus and for all of Egypt to put things right.
[SSHEL S Collection S.M4422c]

Nayeri, Daniel and Dina.
Another Pan. 2010.
The Nayeris blend the story of Peter Pan with Egyptian myth with the tale of Wendy Darling and her brother John, who discover an ancient book that opens a labyrinth underneath their school.
[SSHEL S Collection S.N231an]

Riordan, Rick.
The Red Pyramid. 2010.
After their father’s research experiment at the British Museum unleashes the Egyptian god Set, Carter and Sadie Kane embark on a dangerous journey across the globe — a quest which brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs in the beginning of The Kane Chronicles.
[SSHEL S Collection S. R479r]

White, Kiersten.
The Chaos of Stars. 2013.
Sixteen-year-old Isadora, the mortal daughter of Isis and Osiris, is sick of being in the middle of family drama so she jumps at the chance to leave Egypt and start a new life in San Diego with her brother.
[SSHEL S Collection S.W5846c]

Norse Mythology

Armstrong, K. L.
Loki’s Wolves. 2013.
Matt Thorsen is a direct descendant of the order-keeping god Thor, and his classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke are descendants of the trickster god Loki. When Ragnarok — the apocalypse — threatens, the human descendants of the gods must fight monsters to stop the end of the world.
[SSHEL S Collection S. Ar57l]

Barnhouse, Rebecca.
The Coming of the Dragon. 2010.
Barnhouse weaves Norse gods, blood feuds, and a terrifying dragon into this spectacular retelling of the end of the Old English poem Beowulf.
[SSHEL S Collection S. B2661c]

Coville, Bruce.
Thor’s Wedding Day by Thialfi the Goat Boy. 2005.
The stealing and retrieval of Thor’s hammer as told by his goat boy, Thialfi. A humorous look at an episode in Norse mythology.
[SSHEL S Collection S.C838t]

Farmer, Nancy.
The Sea of Trolls. 2004.
Jack, captured by Viking berserkers, goes on a quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.
[SSHEL S Collection S.F229s]

Gaiman, Neil.
Odd and the Frost Giants. 2009.
An unlucky twelve-year-old Norwegian boy named Odd leads the Norse gods Loki, Thor, and Odin in an attempt to outwit evil Frost Giants who have taken over Asgard.
[SSHEL S Collection S.G127o]

Gratton, Tessa.
The Lost Sun. 2013.
In an alternate U.S.A. (the United States of Asgard), Soren Bearskin, the son of an infamous berserker, and Astrid Glyn, daughter of a renowned seer, embark on a road trip to find Baldur, the missing god whose absence has caused panic throughout the country.
[SSHEL S Collection S. G774l]

Harris, Joanne.
Runemarks. 2008.
Maddy Smith, who bears the mysterious mark of a rune on her hand, learns that she is destined to join the gods of Norse mythology and play a role in the fate of the world.
[SSHEL S Collection S. H2421r]

Jones, Carrie.
Captivate. 2010.
High school junior Zara and her friends continue to try to contain the pixies that threaten their small Maine town, but when a Valkyrie takes Zara’s boyfriend, Nick, to Valhalla, the only way to save him is to trust a pixie king, Astley.
[SSHEL S Collection S.J7123c]

Lake, A.J.
The Coming of Dragons. 2006.
A king’s son and sea captain’s tomboy daughter journey across magical lands and face the Norse god Loki in the first book of the Darkest Age series.
[SSHEL S Collection S.L148co]

Livingston, Lesley.
Starling. 2012.
Mason Starling, a champion fencer at Gosforth Academy, finds her school overrun with terrifying creatures after a mysterious storm falls on Manhattan and the stranger who saves her life becomes her only ally as they work together to discover his past and learn of Mason’s family’s dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods.
[SSHEL S Collection S.L7626s]

Lunge-Larsen, Lise.
The Adventures of Thor the Thunder God. 2007.
Stories of Norse Thunder God Thor, adapted for modern young audiences.
[SSHEL S Collection Q. S.398.2 L972a]

Paulson, Ingrid.
Valkyrie Rising. 2012.
While visiting Norway, sixteen-year-old Ellie must step out of the shadow of her popular older brother, join forces with his infuriating best friend, and embrace her Valkyrie heritage to rescue teen boys kidnapped to join the undead army of the ancient god, Odin.
[SSHEL S Collection S. P2856v]