These simple joys were slowly taken away from her as she entered puberty. She and her dog Argentus often sailed a small boat out in the sea. As a child, Medusa enjoyed being outdoors, walking around the village where she lived and along the shore. In Burton’s Medusa, Medusa was the mortal daughter of minor sea deities, and her older sisters Stheno and Euryale were also immortals. This is a novel about violence against girls, the trauma that is attached to that, and learning to reclaim one’s own life despite what outsiders want you to think about yourself. Medusa is a relevant story for all those, especially girls, who are judged and valued solely because of their appearances and who cannot seem to escape attention and harmful comments. She imagines what the girl Medusa might have been like and the circumstances that resulted in her cursed life. Jessie Burton takes the story in a slightly different and much better direction. Perseus eventually beheaded Medusa with the help of Athena. In the original myth, Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena’s temple, causing Athena to punish Medusa with the snakes and a curse. This YA novel (for 9th grade and older) with beautiful illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill, reimagines the myth of Medusa, a woman with snakes for hair whose glance could turn men to stone. This book would fit for the snake or monster squares as well. Cbr14bingo Shadow Medusa lives in a cave, hides in the shadows from Perseus and is a shadow of herself because of what happened to her.
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