Make a Wish, Midas! (Mini Myths)

by Joan Holub, Leslie Patricelli (Illustrator)

Overview

Midas wants everything to be his favorite color—yellow! He chooses yellow clothes, eats yellow foods, and uses only the yellow paint at his easel. But when he impulsively paints his beloved green Dinoboo, Midas discovers that too much of a good thing is a big mess! Joan Holub’s carefully crafted text is brought to life by Leslie Patricelli’s famously humorous illustrations. Includes a summary of the original Midas’s Wish myth at the end.

Also available in the Mini Myths series: Don't Get Lost, Odysseus and Good Job, Athena!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419709524
Publisher:	Abrams Appleseed
Publication date:	03/24/2015
Series:	Berner Reihe Philosophischer Studien
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	1 - 3 Years

About the Author

Joan Holub is an award-winning, bestselling author of over 130 children’s books, including the popular series Goddess Girls. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Leslie Patricelli has published more than 25 books for children, including Yummy Yucky and other titles in the bestselling Bald Baby board book series. She lives in Ketchum, Idaho.

Editorial Reviews

Holub has found an amusing way to adapt each [myth] to modern times, planting a little one in the middle of it, and Patricelli's artwork is expressive and cute, with vibrant colors, thick black lines and subtle gestures toward ancient Greece.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

2015-03-25
Like his Greek god namesake with the golden touch, toddler Midas loves yellow. A simple, initial double-page spread with just one word on each page makes this preference clear. He chooses yellow clothes, yellow food, and then yellow paint. Left to his own devices, Midas paints everything yellow, including his green dinosaur. The look on his face when he realizes what he's done is priceless. Fortunately, Dinoboo is washable. In a welcome touch, Midas is portrayed as a little brown boy with curly hair—a decision that may help this book find an audience. The story is clever, and the lesson—be careful what you wish for—is gently delivered. But what child of true board-book age has the conceptual sophistication for life lessons and the Greek myths? The simple retelling of "Midas and the Golden Touch" at the end of the book will be lost on young children, though Holub's skill in condensing the story to its essential elements is impressive. This will appeal to adults eager to jump-start their babies, but very young children would be better served with an age-appropriate board book with simple object-naming or shape- and sound-identification activities. Give babies Mother Goose; leave mythology for later. (Board book. 1-3)

Kirkus Reviews