Athens is saved!: First marathon

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In each book in this series, the author tells the tale of a big event in history, capturing the excitement and action in a narrative account based on the facts as we know them today. The text is broken up by witty line illustrations.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-A novel loosely based on the legend of the runner Pheidippides and the Battle of Marathon. Cimon, a young Athenian involved in military training, participates in the battle and is chosen to be the messenger bearing the news of victory. Because of his stutter, he is often the brunt of jokes, but his competence as a soldier and athlete brings him to the attention of those in command. Decorated with black-and-white drawings and caricatures, the text is often stilted with short choppy sentences. Dialogue is filled with modern expressions ("Wow!"; "You bet!") and characters are flat and undeveloped. With its amusing, tongue-in-cheek newspaper format presenting historical and social background, Anton Powell and Philip Steele's The Greek News (Candlewick, 1996) does a better job of arousing interest in history.-Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.