Zeus: King of the Gods by George O'Connor

Zeus: King of the Gods by George O'Connor is a graphic novel telling the story of Zeus's rise to power among the Olympians. It begins with Gaea, mother earth, and her creation of the sky, Ouranos, to end her loneliness. Together, they spawned the Titans, the one-eyed Cyclopes, and the fifty-headed Hekatonchieres. Ouranos was so disgusted by his monstrous children that he banished them to a deep chasm called Tartarus. Gaea was so upset by this she asked her Titan children to fight against their father. Only Kronus was brave enough to take the sickle Gaea offered and attack Ouranos. After a mighty fight, Kronus won, but he did not free his brothers from the depths of Tartarus! Gaea cursed him to the same fate as his father - that a son of his own would one day defeat him and take over the world. As a result, Kronus ate every single one of his newborn children... until his wife got smart and fed him a stone instead of his final child. Instead, Zeus was raised far away from his father's rule. When he grew up, Gaea gave him a plant to feed his father that would cause all of his children to be vomited up and freed. When Kronus saw Zeus, he immediately ate him! But, because he also ate the special plant, he violently threw up Zeus and all of his brothers and sisters: Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia. These OIympian Gods fought together against Kronus and the Titans for years, until finally The Olympians won. Zeus imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus, punished anyone else who had fought against him, and began his rule over the heavens and earth from his seat in Mount Olympus.

This was a really cool book! I already knew the story of Zeus's rise to power, so it was really cool to see it in pictures! The battle scenes were awesome! I actually read this book aloud to my family and showed the pictures on each page. It was a great way to spend a Saturday evening. Everyone loved it - from the 6 year old boy to the 16 year old girl to my 34 year old husband! Here is a link to the author's blog, Olympians Rule!