World Myths and Legends: 25 Projects You Can Build Yourself

Build it Yourself

by Kathy Ceceri, Shawn Braley (Illustrator)

All societies have their own myths and legends, but they're much more than just stories. Myths and legends tell us about a people’s history, science, and cultural values—the things they knew, the things they believed, and the things they felt were important.

World Myths and Legends retells tales from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. From the Greek myths to ancient epics like Gilgamesh and the trickster tales of Anansi the Spider, it helps readers think about why the same themes, characters, and events may show up in different parts of the globe.

Along the way kids will also find lots of fun and interesting projects that let them experience the stories first-hand. World Myths and Legends unveils wonders of the ancient world as it takes readers on a fascinating adventure of mystery and imagination.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Kathy Ceceri is the author of STEAM books for kids and families including "Making Simple Robots," "Musical Inventions," and "Paper Inventions" from the publishers of Make magazine, and "BOTS" and "Video Games: Design and Code Your Own Adventure" from Nomad Press. Online, she was the Homeschooling Expert for Thoughtco, a founding editor of GeekMom.com, and a top writer for Wired's GeekDad blog. When she's not busy writing, Kathy presents hands-on workshops for students and educators.

Reviews

[R. C.]

This is a unique book. At first I wasn't sure I liked it because I couldn't quite fit it into my head anywhere. It isn't a collection of myths, but it does have short synopsis of the most important stories of all world cultures. It isn't an introduction to religions, but it does briefly explain all the Pagan cultures that myths and legends come out of. Also, it's more info than crafts, but the crafts are big deal stuff, like planting a garden. In the end I decided I adore this book because it fills a void. It actually touches on the whole wide world's mythology and the belief systems that those myths come out of in a meaningful way for kids ages seven to twelve or so. That's pretty great. I'm using it and so glad it's here.