The Iliad

Article from The Illustration Cupboard’s blog

PUBLISHERS NOTES

Gillian Cross’s brilliant retelling and Neil Packer’s glorious illustrations bring to life Homer’s Iliad, one of the greatest stories ever told. The team behind The Odyssey (2012) now tell the story of the Trojan War. Cross’s vivid adaptation begins with a beauty contest: the prize, a golden apple. In return for securing her victory, the goddess Aphrodite helps Prince Paris abduct Helen, wife to the king of Sparta. Enraged, the king and his Greek allies wage war on the Trojans. Nine years later, the fighting still rages on, but the Greeks are beginning to quarrel among themselves – Achilles and Agamemnon’s petty argument has dire consequences for everyone caught in the crossfire. Neil Packer’s pictures capture the beauty and remoteness of the setting, and bring a profound humanity to one of the finest literary achievements of Greek civilisation.

REVIEW: School Library Journal.

Homer. The Iliad. retold by Gillian Cross. illus. by Neil Packer. 160p. Candlewick. 2015. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9780763678326.
Gr 6-9–Cross presents a fluid and highly readable version of this celebrated tale. The text follows the essential plot structure of the classic work, beginning with Helen’s capture and concluding with Hector’s demise. The book includes an introduction to the Odyssey (retold by this creative team in 2012) and provides brief historical context of the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. A helpful spread groups the characters by their allegiance (Greek or Trojan). Cross conveys the various personalities of the story’s many heroes and gods, including jealous Achilles and courageous Hector. The gods weave in and out of the text. Packer’s dreamlike illustrations illuminate the stories with bold, solid colors, the stylized figures influenced by poses and perspectives from ancient pottery. Some white-on-black illustrations are particularly striking, exhibiting strong emotion and movement. Images range in size from one-quarter of a page to full spreads. In addition, the illustrations often include the names of characters and places in Greek script, a nice feature also found in ancient art. The text dramatizes the intense battle sequences, but there isn’t much blood or gore. Central elements of the story, including death and hardship, are presented in a forthright manner. The content and the imagery are appropriate for readers who need something more serious than sanitized versions but who might be a few years away from more mature-themed retellings, such as Gareth Hinds’s The Odyssey (Candlewick, 2010). VERDICT A beautiful, fluid, and action-packed retelling of a timeless classic.–Jeffrey Meyer, Mt. Pleasant Public Library, IA

Review: Wall Street Journal. 25th September 2015

OLD IS NEW AGAIN

Children who thrill to the adventures of wily Odysseus on Homer’s wine-dark sea—his blinding of the Cyclops, his encounters with sorceresses and Lotus-Eaters—usually have to wait until high school to hear how he was occupied before his homeward journey. No more, with Gillian Cross’s excellent retelling of the first Homeric epic in “The Iliad” (Candlewick, 160 pages, $19.99), an arrestingly handsome volume for readers ages 7-14.

Neil Packer’s mesmeric illustrations work here—as they did in his 2012 collaboration with Ms. Cross on “The Odyssey”—to heighten our sense of both the antiquity and immediacy of the Trojan War. That capricious gods would send divine mists or false dreams to affect human battles seems a distant thing; that men fight, sulk and bluster is as true today as it was 3,000 years ago. Commendably, Ms. Cross minimizes the saga’s gore without losing its force, ferocity or emotional power.

Review from MIDDLE GRADE STRIKES BACK. 27/09/15

My Sunday best this week is not a novel; instead, it’s a Homeric retelling by a renowned author, given yet more depth and meaning by superlative illustration.

Most kids who like reading delve at some point into the realms of Greek mythology; for the enduring popularity of the Graeco-Roman pantheon, you only have to look at Rick Riordan’s best-selling Percy Jackson series, featuring half-human kids with Olympian parentage and astonishing powers, as well as the library-loads of anthologies by luminaries such as Geraldine McCaughrean. The Odyssey, with its variegated cast of monsters and marvels and its sly, indomitable hero, has frequently been retold for children, too (I remember a highly dubious televised version shown at primary school, which, at the time, I adored). But the Iliad, full of bloodshed, anger, and the gulf between men and gods, is a trickier proposition.

To me, Gillian Cross’ Iliad achieves the near-impossible; it conveys the complexities of mortal and immortal motivation within this great poem of glory and death in a clear, direct and memorable register, simple enough for children and sophisticated enough for classically-minded adults. And Neil Packer’s images, full of helmeted heads, towering gods and twining, interwoven Greek script, are breath-taking. The figures’ distorted scale gives the impression (wholly fitting to the source text) that the camera has ‘zoomed in’ on a significant moment on the battlefield, or that the disproportionate gods have taken a casual hand in the affairs of men. Packer’s black ships, his showers of spears, his flattened, twisting heroes and his colour scheme all suggest that the most vivid of black-figure pottery has come to life, transporting the reader deep into the rich, precarious world of the epic.

Cross’ elegant prose, meanwhile, frequently has the impact of poetry: “Looking down from high Olympus, Zeus listened to Achilles prayer. And he granted half of it”. She is adept at giving the reader the essential flavour of Homeric similes (“as loyal and savage as mountain wolves”). This gorgeous, enticing volume provides an introduction to the goddesses’ feud over the golden apple before the opening of the Iliad proper, as well as a look at what happens afterwards – Achilles’ death and the Fall of Troy – and a thought-provoking epilogue, “Is The Iliad a true story?” But the retelling of the poem itself is undoubtedly the main event. From the poignant detail of Hector’s baby son, Astyanax, who cries with fear at the sight of his father’s helmet, to the heart-breaking moment when Priam ransoms Hector’s body from his killer (“I’ve done what no other father could bear – put my lips to the hand that killed my son”), this Iliad is spare, limpid and superb – the work of two masters, equally matched.

Review by: Imogen Russell Williams
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Review: Inis Reading Guide

‘This retelling of Homer’s Trojan War epic is beautifully put together, a treat for those familiar with the story as well as for those reading it for the first time. Cross has done a fine job of adapting the text into modern prose, but it is Neil Packer’s illustrations that really stand out, breathing new life into the story. His artwork blends classical aesthetics with modern illustration techniques to great effect, entirely appropriate for a retelling of a classical text for a new audience.’ Inis Reading Guide

REVIEW: Booklist October 2015

Similar in concept and format to Cross and Packer’s The Odyssey (2012), this handsome companion volume offers a pared-down, prose version of Homer’s epic, telling how “a quarrel that began on Olympus boiled over into the human world.” Paris, a prince of Troy, is asked to select the most beautiful of three goddesses. Bribed by Aphrodite, he chooses her and takes the king of Sparta’s wife, Helen, as his prize. Outraged, the Greeks sail for Troy and wage war against the city for nine long years of battles, heroism, honor, dishonor, and sorrow. Cross writes well, setting up and vividly recounting particular scenes rather than simply summarizing the plot. While the large cast of characters can be confusing, a useful double-page spread displays the names and faces of 12 significant figures on each side of the conflict. The striking mixed-media artwork varies from large, richly colored scenes to others using a minimum of color very effectively. Packer uses forms, particularly human forms, in expressive, inventive ways. An eye-catching introduction to the classic story. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

REVIEW: Literary Features Syndicate.

Rediscover Homer’s epic poem that pitted the ancient Greeks against the fearsome Trojans in this superb retelling of The Iliad by Carnegie Medalist Gillian Cross, who also refitted the Odyssey for a younger audience. Cross has managed to take this daunting work and wrangle a fluid and enjoyable version full of action and adventure. The book opens with helpful a character map and concludes with the Greek alphabet and an appendix dedicated to discussing whether or not the Iliad was based on a true story. Illustrator Neil Packer, who collaborated on Cross’s Odyssey (2012), returns here to render the scope of human emotions with his instantly recognizable gouache and pen and wash art. (His work ought to be familiar to Folio Society fans: previous commissions for that publishing house include Umberto Eco’s The Name of The Rose (2001) and 2004s illustrated version of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.) Here, Greeks and Trojans locked in eternal battle are rendered in bold colors and appear as if they’ve been plucked directly from some ancient amphora, and it’s wonderful. (Readers interested in seeing Packer’s art for themselves can do so through October 24 at the Illustration Cupboard in London.) Printed in a large-format volume, this Iliad is a welcome addition to the picture-book world, filling the void between overly sanitized editions and those with blood practically oozing from the binding. A masterful gift for the ages.

REVIEW: The Guardian (The best children’s books of 2015).

A sumptuous book with stunning illustrations, this retelling by award-winning Gillian Cross keeps the stories simple but the language resonant. While the gods are always near at hand, it is the Greeks and Trojans who are at the forefront of the drama, making this more a story of human strength and frailty than a battle between divinities. The result is both credible and memorable. (9+)

Julia Eccleshare

REVIEW: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Homer’s The Iliad tends to get short shrift compared to The Odyssey, but Gillian Cross’s retelling, combined with Neil Packer’s rousing illustrations, will hopefully make some converts among young readers. Geared toward advanced middle-grade readers and pre-teens, this edition captures the excitement and terror of Homer’s original story, which ultimately shows that war is catastrophic for both sides and is only ever “won” in the most technical sense. The exchange between Hector and his wife Andromache remains one of the most powerful examples of pathos in literature across all time.”

Lauren Gallagher