Goddess Girls – Persephone the Grateful

Joan Holub's Persephone the Grateful is a Goddess Girls story for 8 year olds about a goddessgirl trying very hard not to be jealous.

What happens

Persephone is the goddessgirl of spring and growing things, and she goes to Mount Olympus Academy with all the other young gods. On a free morning she rides down to the Underworld with her crush, Hades, hoping to spot some interesting plants.

Instead they visit a stinky, sludgy river and meet Minthe. She's a water nymph who looks after it, she's lonely and she's clearly got a crush on Hades too. He doesn't seem to notice at all (typical!). Persephone definitely does.

So she makes herself two promises. She'll be more grateful for all the lucky things in her life. And she'll keep her jealous feelings in check. Keeping them turns out to be much harder than making them.

Meanwhile, back at school, her Science-ology teacher announces a competition called geo-dashing. It's a sort of treasure hunt, with teams racing all over Greece to find plants, animals and rocks. The winners get trophies! Persephone is thrilled to be on Hades's team. Then she finds out he's been asked to help set the clues, so he's not allowed to play after all.

These books are all about friendship and feelings, dressed up in Greek myths. Everything has a jokey school twist. Lessons are Garden-ology and Science-ology, the bell is a lyrebell, and dinner is nectaroni and ambrosia pudding. Persephone's best friends Athena, Aphrodite and Artemis are always on hand with advice (and pom-poms, since they're all on the cheer squad).

It's also really good on the small stuff that feels huge at school. There are two mean boys who call her a klutz. There's the embarrassment of wondering if your sandals smell. And there's that horrible feeling when she snaps back at someone and then wishes she hadn't. Haven't we all been there?

It's a comfy, cheerful read with a bit of adventure and nothing scary. It isn't the first Goddess Girls book, and there are lots of nods to earlier stories, but everything you need is explained as you go.

What to read next

For another girl in the same world whose big feelings get her into trouble, try Medea the Enchantress. When Medea gets cross her eyes flash (she once glared so hard at some seashell thieves that they got sunburn!), and her aunt has just predicted that a handsome thief is on his way.