Odus and the Long Way Home by Dare Delano Review

Valley Center, California – What do you get when you cross the classic tale of Odysseus returning home from the Trojan War with a magic portal into the modern day? The result is a fresh new book for kids ages seven to ten: Odus and the Long Way Home by Dare DeLano. The book has just been awarded the Gold Medal from the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for best children’s chapter book of 2014. Kirkus Reviews featured the book on their “recommended” page, and called it “well-written and laced with memorable lines.”

Presented by the Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher Magazine, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are designed to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and lifelong reading.

This debut title from California author Dare DeLano is the first in the Book Keeper series, intended for children in first through fourth grade. The series aims to introduce children to classic literature in a way that captures young readers’ attention and imagination. Similar in concept and reading level to the Magic Tree House series, the book will appeal to parents and educators as well as to children.

The story begins when Liz’s little brother Charlie picks up a mysterious looking book in their Aunt Gertrude’s room, and the two children find themselves transported into the pages of The Odyssey. There they meet the author, Homer, who explains that in order to get home, they must travel through the book, and help make sure that Odysseus returns to Ithaca safely: “For that is how the story ends. And it is only when the story ends that you may leave the pages.”
Kirkus Reviews noted the story was “well-paced, and the children blend seamlessly into the classic tale while still retaining their own concerns and initiatives.”

About the book:
Odus and the Long Way Home by Dare DeLano
ISBN: 978-0991095902
Publisher: Pink Chicken Press
Date of publish: September 2014
Pages: 88
S.R.P.: $7.95

About the author:
Dare DeLano is a freelance writer in San Diego County. Her adult fiction has been listed as a semi-finalist in the 2012 Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. The next two books in the Book Keeper series, based on A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick, are scheduled for release in four month stages.

My review;

I just finished reading, "Odus and the Long Way Home", and I thought it was a great way for children to learn about history without them ever suspecting it.  This is the first book in the Book Keeper series. We are treated to the beginning of the second book called "Two Cities". It is a short book and I was able to read it quickly although I think that children will take longer. The series storyline is wonderful and the 2 children are fun, strong characters. I give this book a 4/5. I was given this book for the purpose of a review and all opinions are my own.