Description
Recreated from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," these stories, ballads, and headline news articles let the Minotaur, King Midas, Arachne, Bacchus, Persephone, and many more haunting figures walk the Earth once more. Full color.
Praise for Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses…
Powerfully illustrated, this is a handsome introduction to some of the best-known stories about the Greek gods and goddesses and their legendary powers of transformation. Adrian Mitchell's vivid verse and prose retelings reflect the humor, pathos and often downright tragedy of each story by capturing the reasons for the shape-shifting and the usually devastating consequences of it.…The Guardian
There's just time to mention an actual classic, Ovid's Metamorphoses, as reimagined by the late, great Adrain Mitchell. Shapeshifters humbles every other entrant on the list with its humanity. Smuggle it into the adults' stockings, too.…The Independent on Sunday
There’s enough about humanity’s dreams and fears in Shapeshifters to last a child for life.…The Times London
Adrian Mitchell's Shapeshifters is sub-titled Tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses. But the late poet was no dry-as-dust antiquary, and this collection remains super-accessible throughout. Sometimes in prose, elsewhere in poetry, it retells famous myths from King Midas to Orpheus in the Underworld. Sumptuously illustrated by Alan Lee, it is a book for ever as well as for all ages… The Independent UK
Transforming Ovid’s epic Metamorphoses into a book for children sounds like a tall order but the late poet Adrian Mitchell has pulled it off in style. SHAPESHIFTERS, with exquisite illustrations by Alan Lee, is a magical collection of stories and poems that bring to life the myths of Persephone, Icarus, King Midas and many more.…Daily Express UK
Older children who like poetry and the ancient world will relish the powerful Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Adrian Mitchell with sinister but brilliant illustrations by Alan Lee Part poetry, part prose, it tells both familiar stories Persephone, Orpheus, the Minotaur and many less well known but just as dramatic.…The Spectator UK






