In the Beginning

In The Beginning

Virginia Hamilton

This wonderful collection of creation myths is a book I've had my eye on for a few years now. I rapidly devoured this book, as most of the creation myths are only a page or two, and there are beautiful full-page illustrations throughout. There were a handful of myths I was familiar with, and I think there were only two myths in the entire collection I did not enjoy. Toward the end of the collection, Hamilton presents myths I found very familiar--Greek myths and Judeo-Christian myths. I feel that most readers would be familiar with these tales, so it makes sense to save them for the end of the book, but as I read them I found myself longing for more "original" tales from Africa, from North America, from Russia. Perhaps a second volume of creation myths is necessary; it's one I'd gladly read!

--Mikie


Mikie brought this book to my attention when he added it to our list, and I was really excited to read it. (I actually ordered it months in advance - since we had to have physical copies of this one. With my parents visiting (yay!) I got started reading it after Mikie did, but it went super fast when I started reading it. It was a beautifully written book, and it was really interesting to read all the different creation myths. I agree with Mikie - I found myself enjoying the ones I wasn't familiar with more than the ones I'd been semi-aware of. 
I listen to a podcast called "Myths and Legends" and it's a similar concept - a telling of basic myths and legends from all over the world. I always find these interesting, and I enjoyed reading these ones, too. 
-Cat