In this picture book Guy Billout pairs short profiles of mythological figures on each left-hand page with an image on the right-hand one. The images themselves are not overtly mythological. Rather, they show contemporary scenes of mostly urban spaces (and in many instances of identifiable places in New York City). People are rarely pictured, and the built environment tends to take center stage. Readers are invited to think about the connection between the picture and the corresponding mythological profile. For instance, in the spread devoted to Hephaestus we see a partially open, steaming utility hole, red-hot within, and a factory smokestack. The illustration for “Underworld: Hades, Lord of the Dead” presents a policeman and his dog awaiting a subway train which is about to emerge from a dark tunnel. Human structures often assume a monumentality of their own, like the bridges pictured in “Rainbow: Iris, the Messenger,” which echo and dwarf the rainbow in the background of the image. Other times, human constructions are shown as subject to larger natural forces, as the aerial cable car swinging midair in “Wind: Aeolus, Keeper of the Winds.” Only the last spread directly depicts a Greek deity: Zeus with a thunderbolt stands on the balcony atop a skyscraper, while King Kong looks down on him from an even higher building. In this image, and throughout the book, Billout asks us to meditate on the various and shifting relationships among humans, the things they build, the stories they tell, and nature. Billout does not present a thesis or offer a conclusion: that’s not the point. Instead, this is a book for musing, for visiting and revisiting. Guy Billout’s Thunderbolt & Rainbow is a reminder that picture books aren’t just—and in some instances aren’t even primarily—for young readers. Although the writing in Thunderbolt & Rainbow isn’t difficult, the overall project as well as the spare, sophisticated aesthetic of the illustrations may be more appealing to older audiences. – Rebecca Resinski