After nine years of fighting, the Greeks still haven’t captured the city of Troy so that they can return Queen Helen to her loving husband. Luckily, Odysseus has come up with a clever plan that no one will expect. Will he and his men be able to sneak the Greek army into the city without waking the Trojans? Of course! That doesn’t mean that it will be easy, though. 

Author Saviour Pirotta’s stories are always exciting to read, but this one is the most suspenseful in the series. He and illustrator Jan Lewis focus on the feelings of the Greek warriors. As they wait inside the Trojan horse, they wonder, “Will the horse be taken into the city or thrown into the sea?” All they can do is sit silently and hope. Their slow creep across the city to the gates, stepping over sleepers and trying not to wake dozing guards builds all kinds of tension, so that it seems like the battle is really won when the other soldiers arrive. The book skips the actual war, but you won’t even miss it. It’s also nice that for once Helen’s husband Menelaus is the kind and forgiving husband that he is in the Iliad. Serious Homeric scholars will see plenty of Agamemnon in the grumpy, doubtful Greek King, too. 

Saviour Pirotta and Jan Lewis’ First Greek Myths series provide adaptations of myths perfectly suited for newly independent readers. The text is kid-friendly, and the cartoonish images are colorful and exciting. Affordable copies are readily available on most used book websites. – Krishni Burns