Read Little Goddess Girls – Athena & the Magic Land free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams's Athena & the Magic Land is a funny magical adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who gets blown all the way to Mount Olympus.
Athena is eight and she wants a dog more than anything. Her mum says not yet. So she makes do with Oliver, the little white dog in her favourite tablet game.
Walking home from the bus, she runs into Medusa from school. Medusa is never nice to anyone, and she's quick to laugh at Athena for losing the game.
Then a sparkly purple storm sweeps Athena right off her feet. When she lands, her shoes are gone and so is her tablet. But guess who comes running up with a red collar on? Oliver! And he's REAL.
This is a land where owls chat, a street sign says hello back, and a tiny glowing goddess called Hestia pops in and out. A pair of golden winged sandals flies straight onto Athena's bare feet. And they won't come off.
That's a problem, because Medusa is here too. Except now her braids are hissing green snakes, and she doesn't seem to remember Athena at all. She wants those sandals badly.
The only way home is to follow the Hello Brick Road to Sparkle City and ask Zeus for help. On the way Athena makes a new friend. Persephone has flowers growing in her hair and a bad case of what she calls bad luck-itis.
It's a very easy, bouncy read. The chapters are short and the jokes are silly (a pair of grumpy plum trees juggle the girls like batons) and the sound effects keep coming (Boink! Thonk!). Grown-ups might spot a certain yellow road from another famous story!
What's nice underneath the fun is Athena herself. She isn't good at her game and she's not great at flying yet. Medusa makes her feel small. But she keeps thinking her way out of trouble, and she's kind even to a pair of sulky sandals.
There's a moment where Medusa turns Oliver to stone. Very young dog lovers might gasp, but Athena doesn't give up on him.
This is the first Little Goddess Girls book, and the girls haven't reached Sparkle City by the end. So it's really the start of a longer journey.
If they want to keep walking the road, Persephone & the Giant Flowers picks up with the two friends. A driverless chariot appears, and the ground splits open right in front of them.
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