Fill the Stage

Daniel Dignan

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The Tale of Troy

May 10, 2025 by Daniel Dignan Leave a Comment

An actor, teacher, and friend of C.S. Lewis, Roger Lancelyn Green was a gifted storyteller who wrote several short stories for children. (He encouraged Lewis to publish The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.) The Tale of Troy is about the Trojan War and the heroes’ return home.

If your son or daughter is not quite ready to read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, this story is a good place to start. While staying true to the ancient stories, he shortened and simplified them, enabling a retelling of the whole. His version includes the background, main events, what happened to the heroes, and Odysseus’s journey home to his wife, son, and kingdom.

The tales of the central characters — Agamemnon, Menelaus, Paris, Helen, Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Aeneas, Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope — are told.

Green’s book offers students a solid introduction to the West’s literature. The book is well-written, action-packed, and moves quickly. I recommend inserting it into your student’s reading lineup or reading it to your student.

Finally, the illustrations are by Pauline Baynes, the original illustrator of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Filed Under: Personal Growth Tagged With: Homer, Roger Lancelyn Green, The Odyssey, The Tale of Troy, Trojan War