Phone Home, Persephone!

Myth-O-Mania #2

by Kate McMullan

The story about how Hades kidnapped Persephone when she was picking flowers? Totally false! Zeus made that story up to make himself look better. What else would you expect from a total myth-o-maniac? The truth is, Persephone was trying to escape her overprotective mother, Demeter. King Hades, Ruler of the Underworld, is here to set the record straight.

Genres: Mythology, Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Greek Mythology, Retellings

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Kate McMullan is an American children's book author.
She is the author of the Dragon Slayers' Academy series. She is married to author and illustrator James McMullan.

She also has books published under the name: Katy Hall.

Reviews

[Bart Everson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is squarely aimed at the kiddies, yet as a full grown adult with some gray whiskers I found I enjoyed it nonetheless. In fact I thought it was better than Gods Behaving Badly, which has a similar concept but with an adult orientation. Actually that book attempts to bring the Olympian gods into the modern era, whereas Phone Home Persephone is simply a re-telling of the ancient tale in ancient times. The perspective is modern, but the setting is still ancient. It's full of wry humor, and while the narrator (Hades) subverts the familiar Demeter-Persephone myth, it's also full of authentic details. It's light and fluffy and only took me an hour to read, but I laughed out loud more than once, and I don't laugh easy.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

lore olympus!Persephone would smack this version's face so hard

[PurplyCookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did Hades really kidnapped Persephone according to Greek myth? Not really, according to Hades, the King of Underworld, who claims Zeus is "a myth-o-mania" (old Greek for 'liar'.)

Hades writes how he meets Persephone, the goddess of spring, learns about her surprising over-bearing mother Demeter, and the ending is a good one. Imagine all those residents of the Underworld and Mt. Olympus actually agreeing on something.

I'd definitely recommend this to anybody who knows the real story of Persephone and those who enjoy reading about classic Greek myths in a totally new, skewed light.


Book Details:

Title Phone Home, Persephone! Book #2 (Myth-O-Mania)
Author Kate McMullan
Reviewed By Purplycookie

[Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

the characters felt too one-dimensional, which is fine for a short children's book, especially as it seems the humor and greek myths were supposed to be the center of it all. I also didn't like any of the characters, and I think I needed that in order to enjoy the plot more.

It just didn't hit well for me, but is fine overall.

[Julian P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finished reading Phone Home Persephone by Kate McMullen. The book is about Hades meeting a goddess named Persephone. Hades likes living alone in his kingdom but Persephone wants to tag along on a ride to the underworld. Hades won't let her but she sneaks onto his chariot and tags along to the underworld. When they reached his kingdom he noticed Persephone was on the cart with him and he was furious. He was tempted to take her to the surface but he was too tired so he just took her to his palace. After the day Hades took her back to the over world and she was upset because he left her in a place far away from the entrance of his kingdom. A few days later he felt sort of bad so he went up to the over world and had a picnic with her. During the picnic Cupid shot Hades and made him fall in love with Persephone. They went to the underworld and planned a wedding but Demeter ( Persephone's mom) got all of the Olympians to storm the underworld and they fought the ghosts while Hades and Persephone went to the over world and had a wedding. If I was Hades and I knew that I was shot by Cupid I would be furious at Persephone for hiring him.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hades gets tired of his brother, Zeus, being a a myth-o-maniac (liar) and has to set the record straight on a couple of stories.

Hades tells us about the time he met Persephone and how they ended up married. He runs into her one day and she sneaks a ride down to the Underworld and starts turning things topsy-turvy.

I glanced at Persephone thinking she'd be shivering and frightened. But instead, she was waving at the ghost, as if she were some sort of Underworld Homecoming Queen!"

He is even more perplexed to hear what Persephone has been thinking about.

"Hades, Persephone has such a crush on you!"
I stood frozen to the spot.
Never in my life had I heard such horrible, terrible words."

Hades' friends, the Furies are thrilled about the idea, but Hades isn't so sure. It might take a little extra help from another god...

I like this series. It's simple and fun. I like to revisit it every once in awhile.


Review #1 - December 2015
Super fun series. This one is a little more ridiculous than the others and probably one of my least favorite, but it's still great.

[Kamons · Rating 3 out of 5]

เทพเพี้ยนเปลี่ยนตำนาน ตำนานฮสเดสฉุดเทวีแห่งฤดูใบไม้ผลิลงยมโลกจะเปลี่ยนไปในอีกแง่มุมนึง เพราะเทวีต่างหากเป็นฝ่ายรุกและวางแผนจับเทพผู้ครองยมโลกต่างหาก (โดยมีคิวปิดช่วยเหลือ) ให้สามดาวเพราะความกาวอีกแล้ว

[Morgan O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Owen]

This is the second book in the seres about Hades's true stories about the greek myths. In this book Hades tells the story of how he met/married Persephone. It is like nothing that you would imagen.

I can make a text-to-self connection to this book. In the book Hades was fraimed for steeling Persephone and takeing her to the underworld. It is just like being framed for something you didnt do but no body believes you.

I would give this book 5 stars because it is one of my favorate books. You cant put it down and it never gets boring. I would reccomend this book to people of all ages. It is a very fun book.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am the worst, really one of the very worst at remembering who was who in the different mythos. So with that in mind, I don't think I will forget at this point who Persephone, Demeter, or Hades are. Pretty good for a fourth grade level book. *grin* It was fun taking it from my daughters book shelf for a day.

[Anthony Y]

I have read phone home persephone. this is part of my favret series myth-o-mania. this book realy setes a tone of the charictors that is very importent. it also proves how mush of Zues's persilality gos in to his kids. to fined out how read this amazing athers grate book.(sory about the spelling arers. spell check is off.)

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My fourth graders love this series, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was definitely silly and fun, but I found some of the over-the-top characters to be very two dimensional and annoying. The plot was also very random and easily resolved, but I can definitely see the appeal of humor.

[Jakey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like when Demeter invents winter, Florida, and vacation.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking at the old covers and seeing these new covers (via Sora where I've borrowed a few of these) the news ones aren't necessarily an improvement BUT the content speaks for itself. In a world where there's so much darkness in middle grade and YA lit, kids just want FUNNY books and I borrowed the one about Pandora and then Persephone in the last day and read them because I needed some myth after hearing too many freshman talk about loving Percy Jackson.

And these are a great addition to the myth world. My favorites will forever be the George O'Connor graphic novels, but these have more quirk and fun to them than even those as narratives rather than a graphic novel. It's about the myth mania of the stories and where the truth lies. The stories are narrated by Hades and I haven't actually read THE FIRST ONE, diving in to the characters that I was most interested in, but I want to see how McMullan laid the ground work.

It's an entertaining way to keep the mythology alive, so I think I might buy them for our high school library. The lively dialogue and narration keeps you engaged as a reader.

[ForeverDaydream · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I liked the first Mythomania book, and I generally like reading Hades and Persephone retellings, especially when Persephone is not kidnapped but trying to escape an overbearing mother, but this was cheapened by constant allusions to modernity. Horses named Harley and Davidson? Really? A cell phone? Really? Pizza? TV? It felt inauthentic, gimmicky. And this gimmickiness rubbed off on the characters, too: they all felt like diet-soda, cookie-cutter pop-cultured versions of themselves. Furies in miniskirts? Really? Talking to Persephone about fashion and throwing the wedding of the century? It's so unoriginal. I feel like too many children's stories are like this--one of the female characters might be an artist, a scientist, or a bookworm, but they're all fashion plates and love to shop, dress up, and party. That's not what adult life is about--I think this trend could set up dangerous expectations and blind people to all the other options there are out there. It shouldn't be a given that girls love fashion. There are so many other things out there.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read - it had its laugh out loud moments, and it took the traditional Persephone myth in a whole new direction. There were great contemporary references that would make it quite appealing to its target audience (upper middle school/lower high school readers) and the kind of humor that would appeal to that audience as well. Because I'm a fan of deconstructionist revisions of classic literature (myths, fairy tales, and other classic literature), I found this quite appealing myself. My favorite characters in this story - Demeter and her mother Rhea. They were hilarious!!

Was it GREAT/AWESOME - not really, but it was enjoyable enough for a 4-star rating. And, it does make me want to read other titles in the Myth-O-Mania series.

[theodore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tıpkı ilk kitapta olduğu gibi, bu kitaba da bayıldım! Meğer tam da ihtiyacım olan bu seriymiş ama maalesef sadece iki kitabı çevrildi. O sebeple bulabilirsem devam kitaplarına İngilizce olarak devam edeceğim. İnanılmaz eğlenceli, tam reading slump ilacı bir kitap diyebilirim. Hades’in Persephone’yi kaçırıp yeraltı diyarına götürdüğü hikayesini bilmeyenimiz yoktur ama Hades, bunun Zeus’un yazdığı sahte hikaye olduğunu söyleyip bize gerçekte neler olduğunu anlatmak istiyor. Tepetaklak Mitoloji diye dilimize çevrilen serinin orijinal adı Myth-O-Mania, yani yalan söyleme alışkanlığı. Bunun sebebi de serideki kitapların, tanrı ve tanrıçaların hikayelerine alternatif bakış açıları getirip Zeus’un bize yalan söylediğini iddia eden karakterler.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middle grade Hades/Persephone retelling. It's told from Hades' perspective and he explains how Persephone hitched a ride on his chariot; however, his ridiculous brother, Zeus, told her mother, Demeter, that he'd kidnapped her. There's also trickery on both Hades' part to get Persephone to leave and on Persephone's part to get Hades to fall in love with her. It's kind of a weird mix of traditional Greek stuff like chariots and modern things like phones and pizza parlors, which is where it kind of lost me. It's definitely meant for a younger audience, but the bones of the myth are there. I would probably rate the retelling itself 4 stars, but the book as a whole for me was a 3.

[Alexandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of this book! One of my favorite parts of the novel is when Demeter creates winter, and although I realize this may not be the case, I have to feel something, whether that's sadness or happiness for the season and situation in our modern world.

I love how Persephone, Goddess of Spring, is described throughout the novel. Although it is uncouth how she becomes married, it's still a sweet, little love story for the ages.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun take on Greek Myths from Hades perspective as the misunderstood big brother. We've been studying Greek Myths and were ready for some light hearted fun after reading several books written in traditional style. A humorous take on the original myths following the outline of the traditional versions of the stories from the perspective of the first born of Chronos.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is this book a joke? I read this because I thought this book might have some fun insights on Greek mythology. Turns out, the author of this book decided it would be a good idea to confuse people, and make them think greek mythology was completely backwards. If you want a good read that's actually accurate, read d'aulaires book of greek myths. It accurately describes Greek myths.

[Alicia J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not too verse on Greek mythology so I never heard about Persephone or knew anything about her. I enjoyed this retelling of debunking what Zeus has let us all to believe. I got really excited when Cupid made an appearance and I’m UBER excited that Medusa story is next.

I definitely intend to finish this series. It is so entertaining.

[Krayfish1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is adorable. It's the story of Persephone & Hades from Hades point of view, told like Persephone is a modern teenager. Hades affection for Cerberus is really cute. I want to read the other ones.

[Brice Culhane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I blame this book for my entry into romance and my obsession with the Hades and Persephone myth. I know this is for children but it is done very well, and although I don't like how Persephone treats Cerberus her and Hades are a cute couple.

[Heidi A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked that this book was one long storyline about Hade marrying Persephone. The first two books in series were good & seemed close to real Greek myths from my memory. Don’t believe I’ll continue on with series but did enjoy what I read.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hmm. Perhaps this is the reason why some misled classicists think Persephone eloped with Hades rather than being kidnapped by him. …nah. Still a great book though, with a very good version of the Persephone story. Also, Demeter moves to Florida at the end, which is glorious.

[Danielle Loiodice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Same tone as book I. Clever, and nice glossary at the end explaining some greek words for kids. Easy read for a 10-year old but not boring. You don’t need to have read the first one to enjoy this one, but it definitely helps with a handful of references between God-siblings.

[Echo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, over the top characters, references to modern things as if gods had invented them eons ago and we only got to play with them recently. Lots of fun.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this humorous twist on the ancient Greek myths.

[Randelina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this story as much as the first. Still a fun interpretation of the myth. I am looking forward to Medusa's story in book three.