The Mythomaniacs - Kindle edition by Bass, Jules, Christmas, Lawrence. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. (original) (raw)
Customer reviews
13 global ratings
How customer reviews and ratings work
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon
Review this product
Share your thoughts with other customers
Images in this review
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2014
Author, Jules Bass, certainly has a rich and
zany imagination to have created so many wacky
original characters in The Mythomaniacs. There
is the quest - and within the quest many worlds
that our hero, 15 year old Gilbert Myrddin, must
pass through in order to reach his goal – and each
world has its own set of madcap characters:
To name but a few: E. B. Webmaster (the murderous
spider) and his evil crew: The Batty Brothers –
who are introduced with a hilarious creepy poem:
“They’ll claw your eyes and tangle your hair,
Nibble your nose ‘till it’s meatless and bare,
Grasp your tongue in their prehensile paws,
Chomp your ears with their steel-trap jaws,
Bleed out you neck with their dagger fangs,
Beware if the rat-bird who upside-down hangs.”
Not a creature to be unwary of. And there’s
Dapper-Whipper-Snapper (where does the
author get these names?) – with his sharp
frog-tongue…The One-Eyed-SighClops: all
of whom live at the Webmaster’s lair:
“My lair is gone at morning sun,
When misty air is said and done,
And a thousand lovely webs are spun,
Dare visit me – IT WON’T BE FUN !
Young Gilbert meets up with friends who can help:
led by Zook, a misshapen zucchini and his family
of hilarious squashes.
I could go on for many pages of descriptions: of The Cat
Who Could Change Colors, The Giant, Chewlwyd
Mighty-Grasp, The Lucky-Devil, Eviticus (more snake
than man!)...Santa Junior who takes his father’s sleigh
on a joy ride and joyous it’s not to be. My favorite
was EvilFishMaster who walks on land with the aid
of his trident spears…Merlin, as you’ve never seen
him before (Jules paints him as quite the comedian),
along with the beauteous witch, Viv, who pretends to love
him in oder to steal his powers.
And the places: Dead Man’s Garden, The Room Of
Riddles, Pumpkin Island. (Ok. I’ll stop, and allow you
to discover the rest for yourself. All I can say is you
won’t be disappointed as the pages and original,
colorful illustrations by Lawrence Christmas, whiz by.
All this from the writer who gave us ThunderCats!
If you have a KindleFire just tap twice on the illustrations
and they will jump up to full screen I’m sure you’ll
read it straight through (322 pages) as I did at one sitting,
before I sent a copy to my twelve year old grandson who
loves to read mythological stories.
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2013
This is a book of quests and they keep coming as the boy tries
to overcome difficult situations and odds in order to rescue his
sister (a major character) and his friends (I won’t add a “spoiler”
here and tell you what the situations entail; suffice to say that by
the end of the 322 pages I’m sure the reader will be left wishing
it was longer).
I am an adult who loves to read good youth-oriented literature
(like The Wind In The Willows, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Dickens,
Twain, and especially Seuss and Thurber.) I note that the New
York Times Sunday Book Review now lists middle grade books
as a separate category, and since I like to read this genre of books
before I give them as gifts to my young readers, this is a bonus.
The Mythomaniacs manages to be both myth and a reasonably
believable adventure story at the same time. Not an easy writing task.
I just bought a new Kindle HD and I noticed that if you tap twice on
the illustrations they jump to full screen. Give it a try. I hope that
this is just the start of a series
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2014
Many years ago my children grew up with "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer". When I heard that Jules Bass had written a new children's book, "The Mythomaniacs", years later I had to buy it to see what new magic he had come up with. The author has a marvelous way with words, complimented by the charming illustrations of Lawrence Christmas. This is a book that older children will enjoy, as it will give them the opportunity to use their imagination to visualize what the author is saying. And also this is a book that adults will love to read to the smaller ones using all the appropriate sound effects which will enhance the imaginations of the listeners. This is a five star charming children's book, so run, don't walk to buy it. You and your children won't regret it!
Lornak Zelenuik
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2013
The Mythomaniacs novel really moves along at
warp speed with new characters and situations
In almost every chapter – while the main plot is
clear and compelling. The novel-length book
starts with a quest and like all quests there are
roadblocks at every turn – all of which have to
be overcome if our hero, fifteen year old Gilbert
is to save the day (I won’t include a spoiler to tell
you how he does this and how close he comes to
failure.
I also loved the fact that I could read the individual
quest stories (which are self-contained) to my younger
sister (who really appreciated the many colorful illustrations
pictures which helped her visualize the action.
Whatever your age you won’t be disappointed.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2014
The Mythomaniacs is a cute and entertaining story, as well as a collection of short fables. The story centers around Gilbert Myrddin, a fifteen year old boy who loves to help create myths and fables with his father. Somehow, Gilbert wakes up after an accident to find out that he has changes bodies with the mythic magician Merlin. He must figure out how to get his body back, kicking off his adventure. Throughout this main story, we also are introduced to myths and stories that Gilbert has created with his dad.
I think that this would be a really great chapter book to read to a classroom, possibly Kindergarten to 3rd graders. Because there are small fables throughout the story, it would be possible to stop after a fable and talk about the lesson learned in each one, or to talk about the problem and solution, etc. The story also has interesting vocabulary, which I could also use to talk about to my class.