Just thought of two more books I should have mentioned before.

One of them is a children's book called Adventures in Ancient Greece. It's by Linda Bailey, and is part of the terrific Good Times Travel Agency series. The premise is that three children -- two fraternal twins, twelve years old or so, and their little sister Libby, who's three or four -- keep going to this travel agency run by some old geezer. Whenever they talk about a place they'd like to go, he gives them a travel guide about it. As soon as they open the books, they're transported to whatever place the guide is about -- ancient Greece, Egypt, China, Viking times, the Middle Ages, whatever. They have to read the book all the way through, and then they're transported back.

The places are never quite what the kids expect, and they always run into difficulties, especially with their mischievous little sister keeping life interesting. This series is incredibly fun to read, and gives lots of information without feeling like it's droning at you. It's definitely one to read to your kid as an excuse to read it yourself, because it's a great introduction to ancient Greece.

The other book is a collection of poetry I just found at the library called "The Infinite Moment: Poems from Ancient Greek." It's poetry that ranges from before the fifth-century Classical Greek era to the sixth century C.E. It's translated by Sam Hill and has a wonderful foreword and afterword by him. Really gives the flavor of the time and place.

--Deborah