MEDUSA JONES
by Ross Collins
A fast-paced and funny middle-school drama about popularity and teasing with a mythological twist. Medusa Jones—yes, she has snakes for hair and can turn people to stone—and her two friends, Chiron the centaur and Mino the Minotaur, are deemed “freaks” and teased mercilessly by the beautiful and popular “Champions”: Cassandra, Perseus and Theseus. When the group is forced to go on a camping trip together to Mount Olympus, a rock slide traps the Champions on a ledge and they find themselves in desperate need of help. Despite the suffering they have endured at the hands of the Champions, Medusa, Chiron and Mino work together to rescue them and, upon returning to town, find that they have been dubbed the new “Champions” for their heroic efforts. Lively and engaging illustrations complement this lighthearted look at being different and treating others not as they have treated you, but as you would you like to be treated. Would work especially well alongside a unit on Greek mythology. (Fiction. 8-12)