Athena's Son by Jeryl Schoenbeck is a brand new book by a brand
new author that exemplifies one of the reasons I love the Kindle: this book is
self-published by a 6th grade history teacher who knows his material and loves
his students enough to produce a remarkable work of historical fiction. Thanks
to the democratic revolution that e-readers have brought to the publishing
industry, Mr. Schoenbeck was able to offer this book to all of us, without the
obstacles that stood between readers and writers in the past.
When I assigned Athena's
Son as part of our ancient history studies, it was based on nothing
but the preview on Amazon. When I was able to borrow it for free through Amazon
Prime, that was an added bonus. But my 11-year-old son loved it so much, he
spent his own money to buy a copy "so I can come back to it again and
again." Then he asked if he could write a paper.
Without any plot details, I'm sold on a book that makes my
writing-phobic son volunteer a paper! When that was followed up with a personal
reply from the author, offering a signed copy of the book to my son, I decided
to move Athena's Son from
the middle of my to-be-read pile to the top.
It's been a busy two weeks, so I'm only halfway through, but I can
already tell you: this book should be required reading for everyone studying
ancient history.
You know how we study the Egyptians, take a test, and then study
the Greeks? Each civilization, from the Phoenicians to the Romans occupies its
own space on the academic calendar, rarely crossing these artificial lines that
we've constructed. As an adult, I remember being startled to discover that Cleopatra
was a Greek queen, not an Egyptian, and later that the Greeks had been
fascinated with the Egyptians in much the same way that the Romans were
fascinated with the Greeks.
I know trading happened. But I'd never thought about encounters
between these civilizations, their customs, their gods. Athena's Son vividly
illustrates just that, bringing the cultures and civilizations of the ancient
world together and centering them around the childhood of Archimedes, whose
intelligence earns him the title, "Athena's Son."
My aspiring engineer/inventor reveled in the story of a boy who
would have been a fascinating friend, and I am likewise enjoying the very
palatable and provocative history lesson.
Maybe if enough of us buy a copy of Athena's Son, Mr. Schoenbeck
will give us the happy privilege of reading his next book!
